Mushaf Al-Madinah
An-Nabawiyah


THE HOLY
QUR-AN


English Translation
Of the meanings and Commentary

Revised & Edited By

THE PRESIDENCY OF ISLAMIC RESEARCHES, IFTA,

CALL AND GUIDANCE

King Fahd Holy Qur-an

Printing Complex

By the Grace of Allah and His Help,
The Printing of This Holy Qur-an:
English Translation of
“The Meanings And Commentary”
is Completed at: King
Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex,
Al-Madinah Al-MunaWarah under The
Auspices of the Ministry of Hajj
And Endowments The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1410H


Appendix No. 5

FIRST CONTACT OF ISLAM WITH WORLD MOVEMENTS
The contemporary Roman and Persian Empires



Pg. 1198

Then came the rise of Macedonia and Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire (B.C. 330). This spread the Hellenic influence as far east as Central Asia, and as far south as Syria (including Palestine), Egypt, and Northern Africa generally. Rome in its expansion westwards reached the Atlantic and in its expansion eastwards absorbed the territories of Alexander’s successors, and became the mistress of all countries with a Mediterranean seacoast. The nation’s of the Roman Empire “insensibly melted away into the Roman name and people” (Gibbon, chp. ii).


Pg. 1199

6. When the seat of the Roman Empire was transferred to Constantinople (Byzantium) in the of Constantine (A.D. 330), the conflict between Rome and Persia became more and more frequent. The true Peninsula of Arabia was never conquered either by Rome or by Persia, although its outlying parts were absorbed in either one or the other at various times. It is interesting to know that the Roman Emperor Philip (A.D. 244-249) was a born Arab and that the Architect of the Nabataeans in the city of Petra and in Hijr shows a mixture of Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and indigenous Arab cultures.


Pg. 1200

10. The sixth century of the Christian era and the first half of the seventh centurywere, indeed a marvelous period in the world’s history. Great Events and transformations were taking place throughout the then known world. We have referred to the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire, which dominated the civilized portions of Europe, Africa and Western Asia. The only two other countries of note in history in those days were India and China. In India there was the glorious period of Harsha Vardhana(606-647 A.D.), in which art science, and literature flourished, political power was on a healthy basis, and religious enquiry was bringing India and China into close relationship. The famous Chinese Buddisttraveler Yuang-Chwang (or Yang-Tsang or Hsuan-Tsang) performed his pious pilgramage to India in 629-45. In china the glorious T’ang Dynasty was established in 618. The Chinese art of that Dynasty led the world. In political power Chinese extended from the Pacific in the east to the Persian Gulf on the west. There was unity and peace, and China-hitherto more or less isolated-received ambassadorsfrom Persia, Constantinople, Magadha, and Nepal, in 643. But all this pomp and glitter had in it the seeds of decay. Persia and Byzantium collapsed in the next generation. India was in chaos after Harsha’s death. The Chinese Empire could not long remainfree from the “Barbarians”: the Great Wall, began in the third century B.C., was soon to be out of date. By about 683 the Khitans from the north-east and the Tibetansfrom the south were molesting China. The Germans, the Goths and the Vandals were pressing further into the Roman Empire. From Asia the Avars and the Turks were pressing both on the Romans and the Persians, and sometimes playing off the one against the other. The simpler and less sophisticated nations, with their ruder but more genuine virtues, were gaining ground. Into all that, welter came the Message of Islam, to show up, as by galvanic action, the false from the truth, the empty from the external, the decrepit and the corrupt from the vigorous and the pure. The ground of History was being prepared for the
New Birth in Religion.