غُلِبَتِ ٱلرُّومُ
Ghulibatir Room
Bizantyjczycy zostali zwyciężeni
The Romans have been defeated
Rome's defeat by Persia is the only contemporary foreign event the Qur'an reports, and it arrives as bad news about the side Meccan believers were inclined toward. Early readers differed over the vowelling: taken as ghulibat the Romans have been beaten and will win, taken as ghalabat they have won and will be beaten. The received reading is the first, and a datable term is attached to the reversal a line later.