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The prediction about Persia and the Romans: sura ar-Rum, the Muslims wishing victory to the People of the Book, Abu Bakr’s wager with Umayya ibn Khalaf, the Roman victory and al-Ala ibn az-Zubayr’s testimony, from al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Abbas.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
al-Bayhaqi then introduced the story of Persia and the Romans, with the descent of Allah’s word:
“Alif, Lam, Mim. The Romans have been defeated, in the land nearby, and after their defeat they will be the victors, in a few years. To Allah belongs the command, before and after, and on that day the Believers will rejoice in Allah’s help. He helps whom He wills, and He is the Almighty, the Merciful.”
Sura ar-Rum, 1-5
He related, through the chain of Soufyan ath-Thawri, from Habib ibn Abi ’Amra, from Said ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas: the Muslims wished the Romans to prevail over Persia, for they were People of the Book, while the polytheists wished Persia to prevail over the Romans, for they were idolaters. The Muslims spoke of it to Abu Bakr, who spoke of it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); he said: “They shall prevail.” Abu Bakr spoke of it to the polytheists, who said: “Let us fix a term between us: if they prevail, you get such-and-such; if we prevail, we get such-and-such.” Abu Bakr spoke of it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who said: “Why did you not set it, I see, at less than ten years?” The Romans prevailed afterwards.
We cited the chains of this hadith in our book of exegesis, and we mentioned that Abu Bakr’s counterpart was Umayya ibn Khalaf, that the stake was five young she-camels, that the term was extended by as-Siddiq on the Messenger of Allah’s (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) order, and that the Romans’ victory over Persia occurred on the day of Badr, or the day of al-Hudaybiyya: Allah is most knowing.
He then related, through the chain of al-Walid ibn Muslim, from Ussayd al-Kilabi, that he heard al-Ala ibn az-Zubayr al-Kilabi narrate, from his father: “I saw Persia prevail over the Romans, then I saw the Romans prevail over Persia, then I saw the Muslims prevail over Persia and the Romans, and appear over Syria and Iraq: all of that in fifteen years.”