Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, related in his recent Friday Sermon about a prophecy in the Holy Qur’an about the victory of the Roman Empire, which had been foretold by the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. In 5 AH, Surah al-Rum was revealed, in which the victory of Rome was mentioned, just after they had been defeated by the Persian Army and were in a terrible state.
The Holy Qur’an relates in Chapter 30, verses 2-5:
Alif Lam Mim. The Romans have been defeated. In the land nearby, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious. In a few years (three to nine years)
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, may Allah always be His helper, continue to say:
‘The Persian and Roman empires were at war with each other and since the Meccans and Persians were both idolaters, the Meccans wished for the Persians to win. However, since the Muslims and Romans were both ‘people of the book’, the Muslims wished for the Romans to be victorious’.
In 602AD the Persians were victorious. For the next 20 years the Roman Empire was overrun by the Persian Empire, they captured Jerusalem in 613AD and were on the doors of Constantinople. In 616AD this prophecy was revealed that the Romans would be victorious within 9 years. No one could see it and the Quraish mocked the Holy Prophet, but in 622AD the Romans finally responded and by 624AD they advanced to Northern Media and destroyed the great fire-temple of Goudzak. Which happened within the 9 years!
Quoting Edward Gibbon, a Roman historian who, upon detailing the Roman victory, expressed his astonishment and amazement at the amazing accuracy of the prophecy made in this regard by the Holy Qur’an.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, may Allah always be His helper, said that ‘many youths write to him asking how they can know that Islam is the truth and the true religion as compared to others. The society around them has caused doubts to arise in their minds. However, they simply need to look back to history and such expressions of non-Muslims regarding these prophecies. Similarly, they need only to ponder over the prophecies which were made regarding our current times – the Latter Day. Parents should also understand these prophecies so that they may be able to teach their children. These prophecies are proof for the truthfulness of Islam. Indeed, there are thousands of proofs for the truthfulness of Islam. One need only increase their knowledge’.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, in volume 10 of Malfoozat (discourses) has said:
“All the Signs mentioned in Surah Takwir pertain to the Latter Days.
‘When she camels would be left abandoned’. (81:5)
It was an exposition of it, that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessing of ALlah be upon him said:-
‘then the she-camels will be abandoned, and no one will travel upon them’
which shows that the Promised Messiah would appear in those very days. In fact, these are the Signs of the early days of his period.
Therefore, one of the Signs of the Latter Days is that the camels will no longer be used to travel upon.
In the time of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, camels were vital to the Arabs. They were a very useful animal for the desert. Camels have thick fur to protect them from the heat, fat hump to serve as food storage, they rarely sweat, and can go for weeks without water.
For the Arabs they needed camels for going on long journeys in the sand, which would take weeks. They would then buy goods and transport them back to their city. Many camels would go together to make a caravan.
For the Arabs in the time of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to learn that the camels would be abandoned, and some other form of travel would take its place, must have been unthinkable for them. How could anything else get across the desert better than a camel? This continued for a long time afterwards. It was a puzzle.
Railways were first built in the early 1800’s in the UK. Railways changed the
landscape physically and culturally, putting Britain at the forefront of railway technology and architecture in the 19th century. Until the railways, most people rarely travelled further than the next market town, perhaps 10 miles away. Stations were gateways to journeys of over a hundred miles, completed in a few hours in futuristic machines. By 1804, the first crude early rails started at an ironworks in Wales.
Richard Trevithick
In 1825, with the opening of the Stockton & Darlington line, the world saw a proper steam locomotive haul wagons for the first time.
That locomotive was George Stephenson’s Locomotion, which reached speeds of 15mph on the opening day. Unfortunately, Stephenson’s engines proved so unreliable that horses were the mainstay for the first few years.
The first major railway line was the Liverpool & Manchester line in 1830. Originally conceived as a freight railway to reduce the cost and time of transporting goods, the line proved equally popular among intrepid travelers.
But this was still unthinkable for the Arabs. How could such a heavy machine replace their beloved camels?
The first railway track in Arabia was opened in 1908 from Damascus to Medina. The Hejaz Railway was built to bring the Ottoman Empire closer together. One of the officials of the Ottoman Empire Haji Mukhtar Bey travelled from Damascus to Mecca while on his Hajj to trace a path for the planned railway track.
German engineers were engaged for the design and execution of the railway line. In 1900 a campaign was started to raise the public funding for the railway.
By 1908 the line was laid between Damascus and Medina. It reduced the pilgrimage time between the two cities from 45 days to 5 days.
The next verse in Sura Al-Takwir, Chapter 81, verse 6, relates:
“And when the wild beasts are gathered together”.
Whilst animals had been collected in the past, in Ancient Egypt, China, Roman etc. this was not for the public.
The very first zoo was opened in Vienna in 1752 and then in Paris in 1793. Therefore, it was in the Latter Days that ‘wild beasts were gathered together’.
The next verse, Chapter 81, verse 7, related:
“And when the rivers are drained away”.
We have seen in these days how giant dams have been used and how vast lands have been reclaimed, especially in Holland, through using Dykes, irrigation, etc., the ‘Wash’ in East Anglia in the UK and even in my town Hartlepool, land has been reclaimed. But when we look at another verse in the Holy Qur’an, Sura Al-Rahman, Chapter 55, verse 20:
“He has made the two bodies of water flow. They will one day meet”
Then these two bodies of water seem to be referring to the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
The Suez Canal was constructed in 1858 which united Europe and Asia. It was finally opened in 1869. The Panama Canal was constructed in 1914 and united the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. It was originally started in 1843 by Great Britian, but they failed to complete it.
Another remarkable thing was that in Chapter 55, verse 23, it states:
“There come out from both of them pearls and coral”
And curiously enough pearls and coral are found in both the Suez and Panama canals.
Going back to Sura Al-Takwir about the signs of the Latter Days, the next verse, chapter 81, verse 8 relates:
“And when various people are brought together”
When we look at the means of transport and communication today then we see how easy it is for a person to travel the world quickly in modern transport and through communications, like the telephone, but especially these days, the Internet, the world has become a global village.
The next verse chapter 81, verses 9-10 relates:
“And when the female-infant buried alive is questioned about, for what crime was she killed”
Sadly, in the time of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, some Arab tribes used to bury alive their female babies, as they felt it was a disgrace. Thankfully, that came to a stop with the coming of Islam and now of course, any such practice is a capital crime in any country. But we have also in modern times, that you are able to find out the sex of the baby in the womb, but sometimes if they feel that a person would rather have an abortion than have a girl, so they refuse to reveal the sex.
The chapter continues with more signs of the Latter Days, in the next verse, chapter 81, verse 11, it relates:
“And when books are spread abroad”.
Again, these days we see the system of libraries and reading rooms and the printing press, which enables books to be easily published and spread throughout the world. Nowadays, PDF can be made and spread through the Internet. Concerning the Holy Qur’an, the Muslims refused to translate it from Arabic and the only translations were from English non-Muslim writers, which the Muslims refused to accept and in Persian. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, may peace be upon him, stressed on the importance of translating the Holy Qur’an into different languages and so far, our community has translated the Holy Qur’an into 76 languages of the world and over 100 in selected verses of the Holy Qur’an. Furthermore, the Promised Messiah’s own books have been widely translated and spread all over the world, so that people can read about the true teachings of Islam.
Finally, I will give one more verse relating to the Latter Days, although there are many in the Holy Qur’an. Chapter 81, verse 12 relates:
“And when the heaven is laid bare”
Nowadays, with the aid of the Hubble telescope etc. scientists can see into the universe, and it is laid bare. Furthermore, with space travel, a thing unthinkable in the time of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, man has walked on the moon and sent rockets to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, sending pictures back and laying bare our solar system.
To think that these verses were revealed over 1,500 years ago, to a person in Arabia, which boasted no schools or universities and was considered backward and primitive by the great Empires of that time, who they themselves thought the earth was square and was the centre of the universe. These prophecies have all come true and proves that we are now in the Latter Days and therefore, the time that the Promised Messiah was to appear.