Ar-Rum

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الروم Ar-Rūm The Romans
Arabic text · English translation
Classification	Meccan
Other names	The Byzantines, The Greeks
Position	Juzʼ 21
No. of Rukus	6
No. of verses	60
No. of Sajdahs	none

Arabic text · English translation

Sūrat ar-Rūm (Arabic: سورة الروم‎‎, "The Romans") is the 30th surah of the Quran. It consists of 60 ayat. The term Rûm originated in the word "Romans" and in the time of Muhammad referred to the Greek-speaking Romans (Byzantine Empire), hence the title is sometimes also translated as "The Byzantines".

According to Theodor Nöldeke, ar-Rūm was the second-to-last Meccan surah and the eighty-fourth surah chronologically; however, he argues its 17th ayah was revealed during the Medinan period. While the first ayah of the surah refers to the defeat of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of the Sasanian Empire near Damascus in the spring of 614, Nöldeke notes that this does not necessarily indicate 614 was the year in which the surah was revealed.

The surah begins by noting the recent defeat of the Byzantines by the Persians at the Battle of Antioch. This defeat posed a significant theological and sociological problem for the early Muslim community because the Byzantines were Christians and considered monotheists while the state that defeated them were considered dualists because the official religion was Zoroastrianism. The surah is in part a response to the non-Muslim Meccans, who took this victory as a sign that the traditional polytheistic practices would win out over monotheism. In the third and fourth ayatayn, the Muslim community is promised that the Byzantines will reverse their defeat into a victory "in a few years' time".

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