Tafsir of Ar-Rum 30:5-8

Surah Ar-Rum (The Romans): Verses 5–8

[5] By the help of Allah, He helps whom He wills.

Regarding His saying: {By the help of Allah, He helps whom He wills} (referencing a similar structure in Al-Anfal: 62), the maṣdar (verbal noun) is placed before the verb. Conversely, in the verse {He supports him with His help} (referring to a different context), the verb precedes the maṣdar.

This difference in ordering is due to the intended focus:

1. Here (in this verse): The focus is on establishing that the power of granting aid rests solely with Allah. If He wills aid, He grants it; if not, He does not. The emphasis is on the source of the aid (the maṣdar being primary).
2. In the other context: The focus is on demonstrating the occurrence and act of the aid being bestowed upon the believer (the verb being primary). The subsequent mention of the source clarifies that this action originates from Allah.

[5] ... and He is the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.

Allah mentions these two Names for two reasons:

1. If He does not aid the beloved (believer) and instead allows the enemy to prevail, this is due to His Al-ʿAzīz (All-Mighty/Irresistible), signifying His self-sufficiency and lack of need.
2. If He aids the beloved, this is due to His Ar-Raḥīm (Most Merciful) towards them. Alternatively, if He aids the believer, it is due to His Might (He needs no one) and His Mercy upon the believer. If He withholds aid, it is still due to His Might (He is independent of the believer) and His Mercy, which will reach the believer in the Hereafter.

[6] It is the promise of Allah. Allah does not fail in His promise, but most of the people do not know.

This means they will surely overcome, as Allah has promised them victory. Allah’s promise is infallible. {but most of the people do not know}: They do not know of His promise, nor that He never fails in it.

[7] They know only an outward appearance of the worldly life, and of the Hereafter they are heedless.

Their knowledge is confined to the transient world. Furthermore, they do not even know the reality of the world; they only know its outward appearance—its pleasures and amusements—but not its inner reality, which consists of harms and troubles. They know its apparent existence but not its eventual annihilation. {and of the Hereafter they are heedless}: The second pronoun hum (they) is added for emphasis, indicating that this heedlessness originates from them. This is similar to saying, "You were heedless of my matter," and the response being, "So-and-so occupied me," to which one replies, "What occupied you? Rather, you occupied yourself."

[8] Have they not reflected upon themselves? Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term. And indeed, many of the people, of the meeting with their Lord, are disbelievers.

Regarding His saying: {Have they not reflected upon themselves?} Since the disbelievers denied Allah’s promise and its infallibility (as mentioned in {but most of the people do not know}), and they denied the Resurrection (as mentioned in {and of the Hereafter they are heedless}), this verse clarifies that their heedlessness stems from a failure to contemplate Allah’s decree, even though the means for reflection are readily available.

If they reflected upon their own selves, they would know Allah’s Oneness and affirm the Resurrection.

• Proof for Oneness: Allah created them in the best possible form (aḥsan taqwīm). To illustrate the perfection of their creation, consider just a fraction of one part in a million: Allah created the stomach, which digests food to nourish the limbs. It has two openings: one for intake, one for exit. When food enters, the second opening seals tightly, preventing any particle or moisture from escaping until digestion is complete, whereupon it exits through the other opening. Beneath the stomach, He created fine, firm vessels like a sieve. The refined essence descends to the liver, while the dregs flow to the intestine situated below the stomach, directed towards exit. The vessels leading to the liver are called masārīqā in Hebrew (Hebrew is often corrupted Arabic; e.g., Moses is Mīshā, God is Īl). Masārīqā means "vessels containing the liver." The liver further refines the substance. Any excess liquid from the food moving to the liver thins it out and flows into those fine vessels. In the liver, this water is no longer needed, so it separates and flows from the convex side of the liver to the kidney, accompanied by a small amount of blood that nourishes the kidney and other parts. The pure blood exits the liver through a large vessel, which then branches into streams, which branch into channels, which branch into capillaries, reaching the entire body. This is one aspect of wisdom in human creation, sufficient proof that Allah is an active, choosing, capable, perfect, and all-encompassing agent. Such a being must be One; otherwise, if a partner existed, He would be powerless against the partner’s opposing will.
• Proof for Resurrection: When a person reflects upon himself, he sees his powers diminishing and his parts tending toward dissolution. He has necessary annihilation. If there were no other life, creating him this way only to perish would be futile. This is alluded to in {Did you think that We created you in vain?} (Al-Mu’minūn: 115). This is evident because anyone who acts in jest, no matter how exquisitely they perfect their work, will be laughed at. Since He created man for permanence, and permanence requires a subsequent meeting, the Hereafter is inevitable.

After presenting the evidence from the self (al-anfus), Allah presents the evidence from the horizons (al-āfāq): {Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term}.

• {except in truth}: This points to the evidence for Oneness, which we explained in Surah Al-ʿAnkabūt (29:44). We repeat it here because repetition aids retention. If creation is in truth (bi-l-ḥaqq), it contains no falsehood (bāṭil). If it contains no falsehood, it contains no corruption (fasād), because every corrupt thing is false. If there were no corruption, these entities could not be gods, for if they were gods, corruption would ensue, as Allah says: {If there were therein any deities other than Allah, there would have been corruption in both} (Al-Anbiyā’: 22).
• {and for a specified term}: This reminds them of the second point they denied—the end/Resurrection.

{And indeed, many of the people, of the meeting with their Lord, are disbelievers}: They do not know that after this life, a meeting and permanence are inevitable, either in bliss or misery.

First Issue: Here, the evidence of the self (al-anfus) is mentioned before the evidence of the horizons (al-āfāq). However, in {We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves} (Fussilat: 53), the horizons are mentioned first. The principle is that when a teacher conveys a point, if the student grasps the first explanation, well and good. If not, the teacher descends to a clearer explanation. Conversely, the student first grasps the clearest point, then ascends to understand the more subtle point mentioned later. What the teacher mentions last is what the student understands first. Applying this:

1. Here: The address is directed at the listener: {Have they not reflected upon themselves?} This refers to what they initially understood—the self—and implies they have not yet ascended to the second level of understanding (the horizons).
2. In Fussilat: The action is attributed to the Teacher (Allah): {We will show them Our signs in the horizons...}. He mentions the horizons first. If they don't grasp that, He mentions the self, because a person cannot easily ignore the signs within themselves. This sequence is also observed in the description of those who remember Allah: {who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides} (Āl ʿImrān: 191)—meaning they recognize Allah through the signs of the self in all states—{and reflect upon the creation of the heavens and the earth}—meaning through the signs of the horizons.

Second Issue: The evidence of creation in truth for Oneness is clear. How does it prove the Resurrection? The intellect can only confirm the possibility of the heavens and earth being destroyed and recreated. Their actual occurrence can only be known through revelation (samʿ), because Allah is capable of making a created thing permanent forever, just as He will make Paradise and Hell permanent after creating them. Creation itself proves the possibility of non-existence, because a created thing is not inherently necessary to exist (qidam), so non-existence is possible for it. If a truthful messenger reports an event whose possibility is established, the rational person must believe and submit. Furthermore, since the world was created in truth, there must be another, permanent life after this one, because this life is merely play and amusement, as stated: {And this worldly life is not but diversion and amusement} (Al-ʿAnkabūt: 64). Creating the heavens and earth for mere amusement would be futile, and futility is not truth. Since creation is in truth, a subsequent life must exist.

Third Issue: Here the text says {many of the people} (kathīran min an-nās), whereas previously it said {but most of the people} (wa lākinna akthara an-nās). This difference relates to the presentation of evidence:

1. Before the evidence: The verse used akthara (most), as no clear proof had been presented to sway the majority.
2. After the evidence: Since clear proofs and manifest arguments have been presented, belief after evidence is stronger than belief before it. Thus, after the evidence, a group from that majority must believe, meaning the majority status changes. Therefore, the text shifts to {And indeed, many} (wa inna kathīran).
3. Furthermore, after presenting evidence that is impossible to ignore (the heavens and the earth—it is unlikely a person ignores the sky above or the earth beneath), the text mentions what is more easily ignored: the state of their peers and the accounts of those like them.

[9] Have they not traveled through the earth and observed how the end of those who were before them was? They were stronger than them in might, and they cultivated the earth and inhabited it more than they have inhabited it, and their messengers came to them with clear proofs. So Allah would not have wronged them, but they were wronging themselves.