The Romans (Al-Room)
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
۞ Alif Lam Mim. 1 The Romans have been defeated in a nearby land and after this defeat, 2 In a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome, 3 in a few years. All power belongs to Allah both before and after. On that day will the believers rejoice 4 With the help of Allah, He helps whom He wills, and He is the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful. 5 (It is) a Promise of Allah (i.e. Allah will give victory to the Romans against the Persians), and Allah fails not in His Promise, but most of men know not. 6 They know only the outside appearance of the life of the world (i.e. the matters of their livelihood, like irrigating or sowing or reaping, etc.), and they are heedless of the Hereafter. 7 Do they not ponder about their own selves? God has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them for a purpose and for an appointed time? Yet many deny they will ever meet with their Lord. 8 Do they not travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those before them? They were superior to them in strength: they tilled the soil and populated it in greater numbers than these have done: there came to them their messengers with Clear (Signs). (Which they rejected, to their own destruction): It was not Allah Who wronged them, but they wronged their own souls. 9 In the long run evil in the extreme will be the End of those who do evil; for that they rejected the Signs of Allah, and held them up to ridicule. 10