The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 585
PT. 21 AR-RŪM CH. 30 بِنَصْرِ اللهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَّشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ With the help of Allah. He. 6 الرَّحِيمة helps whom He pleases; and He is the Mighty, the Merciful. 2992 وَعْدَ اللهِ لَا يُخْلِفُ اللهُ وَعْدَهُ وَلكِنَّ Allah has made this promise. 7 اَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ "Allah breaks not His promise, but most men know not. 2993 "3:195; 39:21. been hard pressed to explain it away. Rodwell says that the vowel points of the Arabic expression were left undecided so that it would read either way, i. e. sa-yaghlibūn meaning, "they will be victorious" or as sa-yughlabūn meaning, "they will be defeated. " He even adds that the ambiguity was intentional. The Rev. gentleman pretends not to understand this simple fact that the vowels of an expression which had been recited hundreds of times in daily Prayers and otherwise could hardly be left undecided. Mr. Wherry goes a step further. He says: "Our daily newspapers constantly forecast political events of this kind. " The less said about this futile attempt to explain away and belittle the importance of this mighty prophecy, the better. If in the circumstances when Christianity lay humbled in the dust and Persian armies were knocking at the very gates of Constantinople and Heraclius had in vain sued for peace, a person situated as the Holy Prophet was, could forecast that within the short space of only eight or nine years the victors would become vanquished and the forces of Chosroes would receive a crushing defeat at the hands of the same Heraclius who only a few years back had very humbly but 2499 unsuccessfully sued for peace and the proud and mighty Persians would lie prostrate and exhausted, the forecast must indeed be considered to have proceeded from a superhuman source. What added to the remarkable character of the prophecy was the fact that the news of the victory of the Romans over the Persians reached the Muslims exactly at the time when they were themselves rejoicing over their own victory in the Battle of Badr. The words: "Allah's is the command before and after that," mean that it is God's eternal and unalterable decree that disbelief is always defeated and humbled, and truth triumphs and progresses. 2992. Commentary: The allusion in the words, "with the help of Allah," is to the help and succour which God vouchsafed to Muslims on the battlefield of Badr (3:124-126). On that day it was established beyond doubt that "Allah is the Mighty, the Merciful. " The disbelievers, to their bitter dismay and mortification experienced the force of God's might and the Muslims that of His mercy. 2993. Commentary: The reference in the words, "Allah