Prophecies in the Quran: Difference between revisions

This famous Quranic passage does not mention the Persians (Sasanids), though it was understood in tafsir (commentary) tradition to be a reference to the long-running war between the Byzantines (Romans) and their Sasanian (Persian) imperial rivals. In 614 CE, the Sasanids captured Jerusalem from the Byzantine empire, a moment of great dispair for the Christian world and seems to be the defeat mentioned in Q. 30:2. In 622 CE the Byzantines had a significant victory over the Sasanids in Anatolia, modern Turkey. This marked the end of the first stage of the war and is commonly claimed to be the fulfilment of the prophecy. Fighting continued, with the Romans increasingly successful. The end of the war came in 628 CE when the Byzantine emperor Heraclius accepted the surrender of the Sasanids, regained Jerusalem and returned to that holy city the relic of the "true cross" which the Sasanids had taken as spoils of war during their conquest of Jerusalem 14 years earlier (see [[w:Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]]).

The Arabic word translated "a few" years in verse 4 is ''biḍ'ʿi'', which traditionally and in Arabic dictionaries indicates a range of three to nine (though there is some doubt about this definition, discussed below). Three to nine years would fit the eight year gap between the capture of Jerusalem and the Byzantine victory under Heraclius in Anatolia, though critics sometimes point out that this was by no means the end of the war, which did not come until some years later (628 CE, fourteen years after Jerusalem was captured in 614 CE). Rather, Anatolia marked what turned out to be a turning point in Byzantine fortunes. Indeed, the prophecy most likely is an attempt to predict the final outcome of the war rather than an intermediate battle. As set out below, wars between these two sides were often the topic of prophecies in late antique eschatalogical tradition, in which the final victory of the Romans (Byzantines) over the Persians was seen as an apocalyptic prelude to the end times.

See Ghaffar's English summary of his arguments in the thread surrounding [https://x.com/GhaffarZishan/status/1783821366212313561 this post on X.com] - 26 April 2024 (requires login to view)</ref> as well as from Medhy Shaddel, who points out that known ex-eventu prophecies in late antique apocalypses have a 2-part structure: an ex-eventu prophecy (to gain the reader's trust) followed by an attempted actual apocalyptic prediction about the future, unlike the Quranic passage.<ref>[https://x.com/MayShaddel/status/1001770032760684544 X.com thread by Medhy Shaddel - 30 May 2018 (requires login to view)</ref>

Nevertheless, the passage read as a whole is generally understood to be intended as a prophecy. While a proposed eschatalogical aspect is contested by academic scholars, it is very likely that the passage is at least meant to prophecise the concluding outcome of the Byzantine-Sasanid conflict (not merely the first Byzantine victory) and the timing thereof. The contemporary expectations and prophecies mentioned above were always about the final outcome of the war, and there are linguistic considerations too (detailed below).

Given the late antique context set out above, in which any prophecy about the Byzantine-Sasanid wars would be understood to refer to a final triumph of the Byzantines, as an important event in sacred history (perhaps with apocalyptic connotations), it is unlikely that the Quranic prophecy in verses 3-4 was intended as anything less than the ultimate triumph of the Byzantines over the Sasanids. Critics would point out that this would not in fact come until 14 years after the Byzantines lost Jerusalem to the Sasanids and not within the 3-9 years predicted in Surah al-Rum. The verb ghalaba which occurs repeatedly in Q. 30:2-3 means "to overcome", "conquer", "become superior"<ref>Ghalaba - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000063.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 2279</ref>, and elsewhere in the Quran is used in contexts of decisive victory, not an intermediate win without having yet established superiority.<ref>[https://quranx.com/Analysis/Root/ghayn-lam-ba Concordance for the verb Ghalaba in the Quran] - Quranx.com</ref>

The Byzantine victory in Anatolia in 622 CE is often presented as the fulfillment of the Quranic prophecy within the required timeframe. However, that Roman victory marked the end of the first stage of the war, after which point the Byzantines became increasingly successful, culminating in the Sasanid capitulation to Heraclius which did not come until 628 CE.

The idea of judgment day being imminent was a common belief in late antiquity, with many prominent Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian writings preaching the eschaton (the purposeful end of the world as part of God's divine plan for judgement day) was about to happen, which continued in early Islam.<ref>For examples of sudden end times being promised due to political movements in Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrianism literature in the centuries preceding Islam, see Shoemaker, Stephen J. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv16t6jmh. ''The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam.''] University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. Chapters 1 - 4 And for early Islam, see chapters 5 and 6.</ref> Although not a consensus belief, many academic scholars have argued Muhammad preached this belief in the Qur'an.<ref>Ibid. pp. 124-132</ref>{{Quote|{{Quran|54|1}}|<b>The Hour has drawn near</b> and the moon is split.}}(See also e.g. {{Quran|40|18}} and {{Quran|53|57}} where it's imminence/closeness is implied in the words ''azifati / āzifat''<ref>Lane's Lexicon Quranic Research [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/01_A/067_Azf.html for root ازف] Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_0053.pdf أَزِفَتِ / (ءَازِفَة Book 1. pp 53.]</ref>)

===Contradictiory prophecies regarding the last day and punishment of disbelievers===

Is Paradise a better accommodation or the tree of zaqqum? Indeed, We have made it a torment for the wrongdoers. Indeed, it is a tree issuing from the bottom of the Hellfire, Its emerging fruit as if it was heads of the devils. And indeed, they will eat from it and fill with it their bellies. }}

Regarding these verses and others, see the article [[Contradictions in the Quran]].