Prophecy of the Romans Surah

The Romans have been defeated. In a land (adna al-Ard) close by; but they, (even) after (this) defeat of theirs, will soon (bıd-ı sinin) be victorious. Allah’s is the Command before and after this. In Allah's help to victory. He helpeth to victory whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

(Ar-Rum 2-5 Verses)

In the early 7th century, the two most powerful empires of the time were the Byzantine and Persian Sassanid Empires. In 613 –614 A.D., the two empires went to war when the Byzantines were severely defeated by the Persians. Damascus and Jerusalem fall into the hands of the Persian Empire.

The first verses of the Surah were sent down within the framework of associating the wars between Byzantium and the Sassanid empires with monotheism and idolatry. These verses were sent down in AD 615, when the Greeks were defeated by the Persians, which corresponds to the year of emigration to Abyssinia. Meanwhile, the Makkan polytheists pursued an intense and ruthless attack policy against the believers in order to spread the message of Islam and to destroy the activities aimed at eliminating their pagan order. The Makkan polytheists, who consider the victory of the pagan Persians against the Christian Byzantium as their own victory; “Here you can see the fire-worshiper Persians triumphing and ruining prophetic Christians. Likewise, we will destroy you and the religion you have called him will disappear ”.

God has made it known to them that this is not what they thought it would be, and that the situation will soon be reversed and that the pagans will be defeated. The verse gave good tidings of two victories to those who believed. One was the victory of the Greeks and the other was the victory of the Muslims. However, this seemed impossible depending on the situation that day.

Byzantine Persian Wars

At the time, the Greek Empire was so distraught that the state was inaigh by internal rebellions, its army was disbanded, its treasure was empty, emperor Herakleios even planned to leave Istanbul and flee to Carthage. The Sassanid victorious commanders offered the following peace with the drunkenness of victory: the Emperor will give everything to be asked of the Persians. From this sentence, a thousand loads of gold, a thousand loads of silver, a thousand loads of silk, a thousand horses, a thousand women will deliver. The Greek Empire accepted all these humiliating conditions and sent delegates to sign the peace on these principles.

When these delegates came to the Persians, King Chosroes of Sassanid said: "This is not enough. Emperor Herakleios himself must worship fire and the sun in exchange for his god, who is hanged and crucified in chains."

That's the defeat. In such a collapse, it was not normally possible to decide whether the Romans would come alive and prevail again in a few years.

This is just an allegory, because Hüsrev II was never, in reality, personally handed over to Herakleios.

In 622 Roman counter-attacks began. After the many attacks of Heraclius in the heart of the Persian territories, Persia was on the offensive again. In August 626, they attacked the capital together with their allies, the Avars, Slavs and Bulgars. They agreed that the Persians would attack from the east, and the others would attack from the west and the sea. The Byzantine navy was still strong and was able to defeat the enemies’ fleet, and then defeat the Persian land forces. The Persians allies were also defeated, which meant that the Persian invasion had failed, and the Persian troops were forced to retreat to Syria. In the autumn of 627, the decisive battle took place in Nineveh, in which the Persian army was completely destroyed. Heraclius continued his victories and at the beginning of the year 628, he occupied Dastagerd, and the final event that halted the fighting was the murder of Chosroes by his own son Kavadh-Siroe in spring 628, and Persia surrendered and asked for terms. By the terms of the peace treaty, Persia abandoned all the conquests that it had made earlier in the second decade of the seventh century. Kavadh-Siroe died within a year. After him, there was complete disorder in the Persian Empire, and during the next four years, there were a dozen kings, including two women. Indeed, within a few years the Persian Empire fell into the hands of the rising Muslim nation.

On the issue of the number of years between the Byzantine defeat and victory, the Quranic term "bıd-ı sinin" means few, but according to the majority of scholars, and linguists, it is a number under ten, some have pointed to a certain number, but the opinion that it is any number under ten is stronger. 

Since the emigrate of the Prophet (p.d.) was the thirteenth year of prophethood (623), it coincides with the year of "Badr¹The Battle of Badr is the first and most important battle between Muslims and the Qurayshi polytheists in the early Islamic history. It is mentioned in the Qur'an. Although Muslims are limited in number and resources, with their divine guidance and courage, especially Hz. Ali (r.a.) and Hz. Hamza (r.a.) resulted in the decisive victory of the Muslims.", the second year of the hijrah (624). The Greeks started to be victorious in the seventh year of their defeat, and at the same time as they began to be victorious, the Muslims rejoiced by winning the polytheists on the day of "Badr". Thus, at the end of exactly nine years, the absolute superiority is complete "They will be victorious in a few years." news has been realized in every aspect.

Lowest Place

Another miracle reported in the verses is the proclamation of a geographical fact that no one could discover at that time.

Importantly, the places where the main battles took place (in Damascus and Jerusalem) are located in a large area of a low-key area called the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley is a giant 5,000km fault line in the earth's crust stretching from northern Syria in asia's Middle-East to central Mozambique in East Africa. The northernest extension is through Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. The valley then extends south to the Gulf of Aden, heading towards East Africa and eventually ending up in the lower Zambezi River valley in Mozambique.

The word "Adna", which is used for the place of war in the verse, means the lowest, there is some logic in the linguistic interpretation of the term. When looking at some verses that use the same term in the Qur'an, (53: 8-9) means 'closest' in most cases, while other verses have uses such as 'less' (58:7) and 'low' (2: 61, 7:42).

Geologically located in the Great Rift Valley, the Dead Sea and basin is the lowest region in the world. The lowest land area is the Dead Sea coastline in Palestine, Jordan and Syria. It is about 413 meters or 1355 feet below sea level. While the waters of the Dead Sea decrease, the water surface level drops by more than 1 m per year. ²https://geology.com/below-sea-level/

God knows best of all.

Resources:
Kurtubi, el-Câmi’li Ahkâmi`l-Kur`ân, Beyrut (t.y), XIV, 10 vd.
http://static.dergipark.org.tr/..
https://www.islamreligion.com/..
https://sorularlaislamiyet.com/..

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  The Battle of Badr was the first and most important battle between the Muslims and the Quraysh polytheists in early Islamic history. It is mentioned in the Qur'an. Although the Muslims were limited in numbers and resources, with the divine guidance and courage they received, especially Hazrat Ali (r.a.) and Hazrat Hamza (r.a.), the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Muslims.
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  https://geology.com/below-sea-level/