Adapted from Tafsir Ibn Ashur

Themes and purpose:

This Makkan surah opens with a profound geopolitical prophecy. Its primary purpose is to prove the truth of the Quran by challenging the polytheists with the prophecy of the Romans’ victory over the Persians within just a few years of their resounding defeat at their hands. It also serves as a reassurance for believers that history unfolds in accordance with God’s decree. The surahgoes on to use the predictable cycles of nature and human life as evidence to prove Monotheism, the Resurrection, and the innate truth of Islam.

Context of Revelation:

Era: Makkan by unanimous agreement.

Context: It was revealed after the Persian polytheists defeated the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) forces, who were Christians, hence people of scripture and closer in faith to the Muslims. The Makkan polytheists celebrated this victory, seeing it as validation of their own ways. Allah revealed the surah to counter their joy, prophesying the Byzantine victory "within a few years" [3]. 

Chronology: It has been counted as the 84th surah in the order of revelation, revealed after Sūrat al-Inshiqāq and before al-ʿAnkabūt.

Name and Ayah Count:

Name: The surah's established name is "Sūrat al-Rūm" (The Byzantines). It is the only surah in the Quran to mention these people (made up of intermixed Greeks and Romans) by name, and it contains the prophecy concerning their conflict with the Persians.

Ayah Count: 59 ayahs (Madīnah/Makkah) or 60 (Kūfah/Shām/Baṣrah).

Surah Overview:

• The opening prophecies that the defeated Byzantines will soon be victorious over the Persians. This reversal will coincide with joy for the believers. [1-6]
• Exposing the pagans for their shallow reading of events: they fail to reflect on the divinely-governed causes of nations’ rise and fall, and they neglect the Hereafter and lessons of prior shirk nations. [7-10]
• Establishing Resurrection and Monotheism together through signs in the cosmos and in human life. [11–27]
• Moral programme [28–42]: The surah contrasts Islam’s moral order with the instability and moral decay of polytheism—exposing its incoherence [28–29], portraying people’s turn to God in distress then relapse into polytheism when relief comes [33–36], commanding social obligations and sincere giving while unmasking usury as a false “increase” [38–39], and warning that corruption and the downfall of peoples follow from human wrongdoing [41–42].
• These lessons are reinforced by “revival” signs: dead earth brought to life [19; 24; 48–50], the human cycle of weakness and strength [54], and the Byzantines’ reversal after defeat [1–6].
• Islam is the innate disposition (fiṭrah) upon which Allah created humanity, and any deviation is an attempt to distort Allah’s creation. [30-32]
• Commanding the Prophet (ﷺ) and the believers to be steadfast and hold fast to the religion. [31, 43, 60]
• Returning to Resurrection, then concluding with a promise of victory and strength for the Prophet (ﷺ) and the believers. [54-60]