A Wager on Rome

Another sign: there was continuous rivalry between the Roman and Persian empires — they were always at each other's necks, and these were the two superpowers of the world. Persia used to rule present-day Iran, part of Iraq, Afghanistan, maybe parts of Pakistan, and they went up north, so it was a huge empire. The Byzantine empire included Turkey and parts of Eastern Europe, and Azerbaijan and those areas, Armenia. So these were the two superpowers of the world at that time, and they were having constant warfare among themselves. In one critical battle, the Persians defeated the Romans. The pagans of Makkah were very happy, and the Muslims were sad at this outcome. Why is that? The reason is because the pagans felt more close to the Persians, because the Persians were worshippers of fire, so they are mushrikīn like them; therefore the mushrikīn of Makkah were happy when the pagans won, while the Christians were on the side of the Romans, because the Romans were Christian, People of the Book, who are closer to the Muslims. So the Muslims were siding with the Romans, while the pagans of Makkah were siding with the Persians. Now the Persians won, so the non-believers of Makkah are going around telling the Muslims, just like the Persians defeated the Romans, we are going to defeat you — pagans are winning.

Allah (swt) revealed a verse: Allah (swt) says that the Romans have been defeated, but they will be victorious, fī biḍʿi sinīn — biḍʿi sinīn means less than ten. Allah (swt) is here promising that the Romans will win within ten years. Abū Bakr, he learned of these verses, and he went to Abū Jahl, and he said, "I want to bet you that the Romans will win." Abū Jahl said, "Give me a timeframe." He said, "Less than ten years." And they had a bet on a hundred camels. Abū Bakr, obviously believing in the āyāt of Qurʾān, was willing to bet whatever number Abū Jahl would offer, and Abū Jahl was willing to enter into this bet, because it seemed that the Persians were going to roll over the Romans and wipe them out — according to the news of the day, it appeared that the Persians were rolling on, and nothing would stop them; they were winning, and they were doing so well that it appeared to the outsiders that the Romans had no hope. The Persians got their act together, and they were attacking, and they were winning one battle after another. The first year passed, the second year, the third year.

Now Allah (swt) says in that verse that the day the Romans win, the believers will be joyful, happy, pleased, due to the victory of Allah. What does one understand from this verse? The understanding that one gets is that the Romans will win, and the Muslims will be happy because Allah gave them victory, right? Reading the exact āyāt:

What one understands from this verse is that the Romans will win, and the Muslims will be happy when that happens; that day the believers will be pleased. Eight years passed, and the Romans won, and the news reached the Muslims. Now the Muslims, who were so enthusiastic in their support of the Romans and really wanted them to win — and Abū Bakr had gone and had a bet, a challenge, with Abū Jahl — when the news of the victory of the Romans reached the Muslims, they did not really care much about it. How come? Allah (swt) says that on that day the believers will rejoice, and now they received the news, but the news was secondary to them. What is the reason? SubḥānAllāh, because the day they received the news was the day they won the Battle of Badr. So the Battle of Badr and the news of the Muslims winning overshadowed everything else, and that was the true rejoicing of the believers — that was the true happiness in the decisive victory of the Muslims against the disbelievers.

Early on, when the bet happened and when these verses were revealed, the Muslims were watchers; they were not the major players in history, they were following the news of what was happening in the world around them. But when the news of the Romans reached them, they were the major players then — now the Muslims were the ones who were fighting the kuffār, and they were going to win against the kuffār. Because, remember, the whole thing in Makkah happened because the mushrikīn were telling the believers that when the Persians win, that is a sign that they would win against the Muslims — and SubḥānAllāh, the opposite happened: the Romans won against the pagan worshippers of Persia, and on the same day, the Muslims won against the pagans of Makkah.

But the miracle does not end there. There is another miracle in this āyah, which falls under the category of scientific miracles of the Qurʾān. The word that was used in the āyah says that the Romans were defeated in adnā al-arḍ. Adnā has two meanings in Arabic: one is the nearest, and the other one is the lowest. Nearest — this was the meaning that was adopted by the early scholars, because the nearest land to the land of the Arabs was al-Shām, Syria and Palestine, so that is how they interpreted it. But now, in light of science, there is a new way of understanding this verse, because it turns out that the battlefield, where the battle occurred, next to the Dead Sea, is the lowest point on the face of the earth — over four hundred feet below sea level.^** So that is another miracle mentioned in this āyah.

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and may peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.