The Romans (Al-Room)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
۞ Alif-Laam-Meem. (Alphabets of the Arabic language – Allah, and to whomever He reveals, know their precise meanings.) 1 The Romans are vanquished, 2 In the nearest land. But they, after their defeat, will overcome. 3 Within a few years. Allah's is the command before and after; and on that day the believers shall rejoice, 4 With the help of Allah; He helps whom He pleases; and He is the Mighty, the Merciful; 5 It is a promise of Allah. Allah faileth not His promise, but most of mankind 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 What, have they not considered within themselves? God created not the heavens and the earth, and what between them is, save with the truth and a stated term; yet most men disbelieve in the encounter with their Lord. 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 evil was the end of those who did evil, because they rejected the communications of Allah and used to mock them. 10