Passion islam June 13 24page.indd

Passion Islam I June 2013 SPECIAL FEATURE I 25
The Fall of Rome
A Quranic Prophecy
The following are the beginning
verses of Surah Room: “The Romans
have been defeated in the near land
(to al-Hijaz) and after their defeat
they will soon be victorious in a few
years time.”
To understand the prophecy, it is
preferable to refer to the commentary
made by Allamah Ahmad Uthmani.
This is as follows: “It means within
nine years, the Greeks shall
overcome the Persians, because
in the Arabic lexion and in Hadith
the word mentioned in the aforementioned
aayah, implies a period
ranging from three to nine years. In
this verse the Holy Quran has made
a wonderous prophecy, which is the
proof of its truthfulness. The fact is
that the two great empires of the time
– the Persian and Roman Empires
– were in conflict for a long period of
time. They remained fighting from
602 CE to 614 CE and onwards.”
Our Prophet Muhammad Peace and
Blessings be upon him was born
in 517 CE and was bestowed with
prophethood at the age of forty, as
given in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
News of the battle between both
sides reached the Makkans now and
then.
Meanwhile, the claim to
prophethood by the Holy Prophet
Peace and Blessings be upon him
and the establishment of the Islamic
movement created a special interest
for the Makkans in the news coming
from the war-zone.
The Persian fire worshippers had
a special relation with the Makkan
idolaters, whereas the Muslims were
related (due do their belief in a single
Supreme Being) to the Romans,
who were followers of the Christian
religion.
Whenever the news of the victory
of the Persians came, the idolaters
became glad and thereby took the
prophecy of their own victory over
the Muslims, leading them to cherish
good hopes for the future. Muslims
were naturally shocked that the
Christians who were known as the
people of the book should be overpowered
by the fire worshippers.
After the year 614 CE when 45
Lunar years had passed by since
the birth of the Prophet Peace and
Blessings be upon him of which
the last five years consisted of his
prophethood, Kosros II (the Persian
Emperor) gave a crushing and
decisive defeat to the Romans.
The Middle East, Asia Minor etc.
were by now in the hands of the
Persians. Heraclitus (the roman
leader) was forced to take refuge
in Constantinople and the Roman
capital was also in danger. Priests
were either slain or made prisoners.
Caesars sovereignty no longer
existed. Now it seemed that
the Romans had no longer the
power to free these lands from
the Persian occupation. By
acknowledging these conditions,
the Makkan idolaters were
overjoyed and they teased the
Muslims.
They were ambitious and hopeful
to such an extent that they remarked
to Hadhrat Abu Bakr May Allah be
pleased with him, “Today our Persian
brothers have blotted out your
Roman friends, tomorrow we shall
exterminate you like them.”
This is when the Quraan made
a general proclamation against the
external factors that, no doubt the
Persians vanquished the Romans
for a while, but within nine years they
would again become triumphant.
On the basis of this prediction,
Hadhrat Abu Bakr May Allah be
pleased with him made a bet with
some of the idolaters (betting was
not prohibited at that time) that if the
Romans did not get victory within
nine years, he would give them a
hundred camels, otherwise they
would give him a certain number of
camels.
In the beginning Hadhrat Abu
Bakr May Allah be pleased with him
appointed ‘bidh’a sineen’ (a few
more years) as three years from
his own opinion. Bur afterwards, at
the bidding of the Prophet
Peace and Blessings be
upon him, the covenant
was made on the term of
nine years, which is the
real application of the
word ‘bidha’. On the
other side, the
Caesar of the
Roman
Empire was determined to regain
the lost power and vowed that if he
defeated the Persians, he would go
to ‘Baitul Maqdis’ by foot. Behold
the power of Allah! According to the
Quranic prediction, right within nine
years, after the passing of one year
of Hijrah, on the day of Badr, when
the Muslims were rejoicing in the
clear victory over the idolaters, by
the grace of Allah, became happier
with the news that Allah had made
the Romans (the people of the
book) to prevail over the Persians
fire-worshippers. In this way the
idolaters got a double blow of
disgrace.
Observing this Divine revelation
issued by the Holy Quran, many
people embraced Islam and Hadhrat
Abu Bakr May Allah be pleased with
him won a hundred camels from the
idolaters, about which the Prophet
Peace and Blessings be upon him
ordered that they should be given in
alms.
Praise be to Allah for his external
bounties and manifest signs.