Miracle of Quran
1. Alif-Lam-Mim.
[These letters are one
of the miracles of the Qur'an, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their
meanings].2. The Romans have been defeated.3. In the nearer land
(Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine), and they, after their defeat, will be
victorious.
Quran The
Roman 30-1.3
These verses were
revealed around 620, almost 7 years after the idolatrous Persians had severely
defeated Christian Byzantium in 613-14. In fact, Byzantium had suffered
such
heavy losses that
it seemed impossible for it even to survive, let alone be victorious again.
Following their defeat of the Byzantines at Antioch in 613, the Persians seized
control of Damascus, Cilicia, Tarsus, Armenia, and Jerusalem. The loss of
Jerusalem in 614 was particularly traumatic for the Byzantines, for the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed and the Persians seized the "True
Cross," the symbol of Christianity.174 In
addition, the Avars, Slavs, and Lombards also were posing serious threats to
the Byzantine Empire. The Avars had reached as far as the walls of
Constantinople. Emperor Heraclius ordered the gold and silver in churches to be
melted and turned into money in order to meet the army's expenses. When this
proved insufficient, bronze statues were melted down in order to mint more
money. Many governors had revolted against Heraclius, and Byzantium was on the
point of collapse.175 Mesopotamia,
Cilicia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Armenia, which had earlier belonged to
Byzantium, were invaded by the idolatrous Persians.176
In short, everyone was
expecting Byzantium to be destroyed. But during this time, the first verses of
Surat ar-Rum were revealed, announcing that Byzantium would triumph in 3 to 9
years. This predicted victory seemed so impossible that the Arab polytheists
thought it would never come true.
Like all the other
predictions in the Qur'an, however, this one also came true. In 622, Heraclius
gained a number of victories over the Persians and conquered Armenia.177 In
December 627, the two empires fought a decisive battle at Nineveh, some 50
kilometres east of the Tigris river, near Baghdad. This time too, the Byzantine
army defeated the Persians. A few months later, the Persians had to sue for
peace with Byzantium, which obliged them to return the territories they had
taken from it.178
The Byzantine victory
was completed when Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persian ruler Khosrow II in
630, recaptured Jerusalem, and regained the "True Cross" for the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre.179 In
the end, "the victory of the Romans" proclaimed by Allah in the
Qur'an miraculously came true within the verses' stated "three to nine
years" time frame.
Another miracle
revealed in these verses is the announcement of a geographical fact that could
not have been known by anyone at that time: that the Romans had been defeated
in the lowest region of Earth. This Arabic expression adna al-Ard is
interpreted as "a nearby place" in many translations. However, this
is not the literal meaning, but rather a figurative interpretation. The
word adna, derived from the worddani (low), means “the lowest”. The
word ard means “the world.” Therefore, adna al-ardmeans
"the lowest place on Earth."
Some interpreters of
the Qur'an, considering the closeness of the region in question to the Arabs,
prefer the "closest" meaning of the word. However, the actual meaning
indicates a very important geological fact: The Dead Sea, one of the regions in
which the Byzantines were defeated in 613-14, is the lowest region on Earth.180
As stated earlier, for
Christian Byzantium, the loss of the True Cross was the heaviest blow in that
defeat in Jerusalem, located near the shores of the Dead Sea.
The Byzantines and the
Persians actually fought at the Dead Sea basin, which is situated at the
intersection point of the lands belonging to Syria, Palestine, and Jordan. At
399 meters below sea level, the Dead Sea is the "lowest" place on
Earth's surface.181
However, as only
modern measuring methods and equipment can prove this fact, it would have been
impossible for anyone living at that time to realise this truth. Yet, the
Qur'an states clearly that this region was the "lowest land" on Earth
and thereby provides further evidence that it is the Word of Allah.
Quran said this
miracle since 1400 years
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