The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 584
CH. 30 AR-RŪM see in this discomfiture of Christian armies a happy augury for the overthrow and destruction of Islam. It was a shortly after this complete debacle of Roman forces that in 616 A. D. , came the revelation to the Holy Prophet which forms the subject- matter of the verse under comment and the two preceding verses. The verses possessed twofold significance. They foretold, in circumstances then quite inconceivable, that the whole position would be completely reversed within the short space of eight or nine years and the erstwhile victorious Persian armies would suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the utterly defeated, prostrated and humbled Romans. The Arabic word used in the verse to denote this period is (biḍ'un) which as shown under "Important Words," signifies a period from three to nine years. The significance of the prophecy embodied in the verses, however, lay in the fact that, within this short period, the foundations of the ultimate triumph of Islam and that of the defeat and discomfiture of the forces of disbelief and darkness would be firmly laid. The prophecy was fulfilled in circumstances beyond human calculation or comprehension. Regarding the extreme improbability of fulfilment of the prophecy under the prevailing circumstances, the following observation of Gibbon may be read with interest: In the midst of the Persian triumphs he (the Holy Prophet) ventured to foretell that before many years should elapse victory would return to the banners of the PT. 21 Romans. . . At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered, no prophecy could be more distant from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years of Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the Empire (Rise, Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 5, p. 74). After licking his wounds for several years, Heraclius was at last able to take the field against the Persians in 622, the year of the Holy Prophet's Migration to Medina. In 624 he advanced into northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of Gandzak (Gazaca) and thus avenged the destruction of Jerusalem. This happened exactly within nine years, the period foretold in the verse, and to add to its importance and significance it happened in the year when the power of the Quraish also suffered a very serious reverse in the Battle of Badr, which recalled a Biblical prophecy foretelling the fading of the glory of Kedar (Isa. 21:17). In 627, Heraclius defeated the Persian army at Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon. Chosroes fled from his favourite residence Dastgerd (near Baghdad), and after dragging on an inglorious existence was murdered by his own son, Siroes, on 19th February, 628. A. D. ; and thus the Persian Empire, from the apparent greatness which it had reached a few years earlier sank into hopeless anarchy (Enc. Brit. ). 2498 The fulfilment of the prophecy was so remarkable and unforeseen that prejudiced Christian writers have