The Romans (Al-Room)
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
۞ A. L. M. 1 The Romans have been defeated (by the Persians) 2 In a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome, 3 Within ten years - Allah's is the command in the former case and in the latter - and in that day believers will 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 Have they never learned to think for themselves? God has not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them without [an inner] truth and a term set [by Him]: and yet, behold, there are many people who stubbornly deny the truth that they are destined to meet their Sustainer! 8 Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth and beheld what happened in the end to those [deniers of the truth] who lived before their time? Greater were they in power than they are; and they left a stronger impact on the earth, and built it up even better than these [are doing]; and to them [too] came their apostles with all evidence of the truth: and so, [when they rejected the truth and thereupon perished,] it was not God who wronged them, but it was they who had wronged themselves. 9 Then the end of those who committed evil was evil, for they belied the signs of God, and they derided them. 10