The Byzantine and Persian Empire were two leading super powers in the seventh century. In the year 602 CE, the world watched on as they went to all-out war. From the beginning, the Persian war machine overwhelmed the Byzantines who were facing internal rebellion and thus were at a disadvantage. After a series of devastating losses, the Byzantines couldn’t stop the Persian onslaught. Then the unthinkable happened, the city of Jerusalem, which was the heart of Christianity, was captured and desecrated by the Persians. The True Cross, a relic which Christians believe was the actual cross that Jesus was crucified on, was stolen and taken back to Persia. The Byzantines were Christian and the loss of Jerusalem was a major psychological blow for them.
The war between the two empires was not just purely a political or economically motivated one, there was a religious element to it. The world was one in which Christianity and Zoroastrianism were opposed to one another.
This great loss of the Byzantine Christians to the Persians made the idol worshippers of Arabia happy and they used this incident to mock the Muslims. Muhammad’s close companion Ibn Abbas noted at the time: “The idolaters wanted the Persians to prevail over the Byzantines, because they were idol worshippers, and the Muslims wanted the Byzantines to prevail over the Persians, because they were people of the Book (Christians)”
Ref: Tafsir ibn Kathi, abridged, volume 7, Daruslaam, p.518
In response to these losses, Muhammad ﷺ received some new revelation. The Qur’an made the following bold prediction: The Byzantines have been defeated in a nearby land. They will reverse their defeat with a victory, within three to nine years. The whole matter rests with God before and after victory.
Ref: Qur'an 30:2-4
The Qur’an prophesied that within 9 years the whole situation would be completely reversed with a Byzantine victory over the Persians. This prophecy was revealed in the year 615 CE when the Persians had completed their conquest of Syria
Ref: Abul A’la Mawdudi, Towards Understanding the Quran, p. 65.
This prediction of a Byzantine victory is the exact opposite of what political commentators would have predicted at the time, because the Byzantine Empire was badly losing and on the verge collapse. The Historian Edward Gibbon highlights the unlikelihood of the prophecy coming true: Placed on the verge of the two great empires of the East, Mahomet [Muhammad ﷺ] observed with secret joy the progress of their mutual destruction; and in the midst of the Persian triumphs, he ventured to foretell, that before many years should elapse, victory should again return to the banners of the Romans. At the time when this prediction is said to have been delivered, no prophecy could be more distant from its accomplishment, since the first twelve years of Heraclius announced the approaching dissolution of the empire.
Ref: Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 5, pp. 73-74.
Even after Muhammad received revelation about a Byzantine victory, the situation for the Byzantines remained precarious. At one point, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius considered moving the Government that was based in the capital Constantinople to Carthage in Africa
Ref: Walter Emil Kaegi, Heraclius: Emperor of Byzantium, p. 88.
However, Persian conquests continued and they went on to defeat the Byzantines in Egypt and take over that province. As the Byzantines conceded territory they lost much needed tax revenues, and to add to their misery a plague broke out in 619 CE, which further damaged their tax revenues. After conquering Egypt, the Persian emperor Khosrow sent Heraclius the following letter: Khosrow, greatest of Gods, and master of the earth, to Heraclius, his vile and insensate slave. Why do you still refuse to submit to our rule, and call yourself a king? Have I not destroyed the Greeks? You say that you trust in your God. Why has he not delivered out of my hand Caesarea, Jerusalem, and Alexandria? And shall I not also destroy Constantinople? But I will pardon your faults if you submit to me, and come hither with your wife and children; and I will give you lands, vineyards, and olive groves, and look upon you with a kindly aspect. Do not deceive yourself with vain hope in that Christ, who was not able to save himself from the Jews, who killed him by nailing him to a cross. Even if you take refuge in the depths of the sea, I will stretch out my hand and take you, whether you will or no.
Ref: Norman Davies, Europe: a history, p. 245.
The situation for the Byzantines got so bad that according to the seventh century Armenian historian Sebeos, when the Persians reached Chalcedon, a city close to Constantinople which was the very heart of M the Byzantine Empire, Heraclius had agreed to stand down and was ready to become a client of the Persian emperor [134].
Ref: Parvaneh Pourshariati, Decline and fall of the Sasanian empire: the Sasanian-Parthian confederacy and the Arab conquest of Iran, p. 141.
Even though the Byzantine Empire was very far from a victory, in the year 622 CE, just 7 years after the Qur’an made its bold prediction, they started a counter attack. The Persians had set up an ambush in Cappadocia in modern day Turkey. This backfired when it was preemptively discovered by Heraclius, so he lured the Persians into a trap and crushed them. This unexpected turn of events caught the Persians of guard and thus began of a series of attacks by the Byzantines in which they recovered their prestige and their lands. In 624 CE, exactly 9 years after the Qur’an made its prophecy, the Byzantines had managed to avenge Jerusalem. They invaded the Persian heartland, defeated their army and then destroyed the famous Persian fire temple of Takht-i-Suleiman. Just as the desecration of Jerusalem and the theft of the True Cross was a psychological blow to the Christians, the destruction of the fire temple sent shock waves through Persia. Theophanes, a ninth century Byzantine historian, expressed his astonishment at this reversal of fortunes: The Romans captured their (Persians’) camp and all their gear. They raised their hands on high and thanked God; they also eagerly prayed for the Emperor, who led them well. For before they had never thought to see Persian dust; now they had found and plundered their still pitch tents. Who could have expected the invincible Persian race ever to show its back to the Romans?
Ref: Theophanes, p. 15.
The prophecy came true in exactly the time frame that the Qur’an stipulated. There are so many ways in which this prophecy could have gone wrong if Muhammad ﷺ was guessing. For example, if the Byzantines started their counter attack in year 625 rather than 622 then the fulfilment of the prophecy would have been outside of the 3 to 9 year time frame. If Muhammad was guessing then he would have said that the Persians will win as that was the trend at the time. Why would he risk the Qur’an’s reputation by claiming that a Byzantine battlefield victory would happen in such a short time ?
Copied From Book: Forbidden Prophecy
