Texts of Islam

The Qur'ân, ed. Palmer (SBE9): XXX. The Chapter of ...

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This is a translation of Surah Ar-Rum (The Romans/Greeks), the 30th chapter of the Qur'an, taken from E.H. Palmer's 1880 English translation published in the Sacred Books of the East series. The surah opens with a historically specific prophecy: the Byzantine Greeks, recently defeated by the Persians, will recover within a few years — a claim the editor's footnotes explain refers to the Persian conquest of Jerusalem circa 614 CE and the Byzantine resurgence of 625 CE. The bulk of the chapter is theological and homiletic, presenting a series of "signs of God" (creation of humans from dust, the institution of marriage, diversity of languages and peoples, sleep, lightning, rain, wind) as evidence for divine sovereignty and the reality of resurrection and judgment. It contrasts believers who recognize these signs with those who remain heedless of the hereafter, worship false partners alongside God, and divide into sectarian factions. The surah also contains practical ethical directives — giving to kin, the poor, and travelers, and a notable condemnation of usury as opposed to charity. Palmer's edition includes scholarly footnotes contextualizing the historical allusions, reflecting the Victorian-era academic project of rendering Eastern sacred texts accessible to Western comparative religious study.

The Qur'ân, ed. Palmer (SBE9): XXX. The Chapter of ...

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