ABSTRACT
The Qurʾān itself contains references to the Byzantines. Indeed, Sūra 30, Sūrat al-Rūm (‘Chapter of the Romans’, meaning Byzantines) is named after them. Verses 2–5 read:
The Byzantines (al-Rūm) have been vanquished in the nearer part of the land; and, after their vanquishing, (they) shall be the victors in a few years. To God belongs the Command before and after, and on that day (when the Byzantines are victorious) the believers shall rejoice in God’s help; God helps whomsoever He will.
(This translation follows the generally accepted reading) Islamic exegetes placed this verse in the historical context of the great Byzantine-Persian war which led first to the conquest of Syria and Egypt by the Persians in the 610s and afterwards to Heraclius’ successful counteroffensive in the 620s. The Muslims’ fundamental affinity to the monotheistic Byzantines, whose conquest delighted them, in contrast to the Persians, who were initially not included in the group of People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb), is affirmed here and evidently reflects an early phase of the new faith (Crone 2013). Later Muslim literature presents quite a different picture, however. According to Ibn Isḥāq’s eighth-century hagiographical biography of Muḥammad, in 628 the Prophet wrote a letter to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius calling on him to convert to Islam. Heraclius, it tells us, was very impressed but did not dare to follow Muḥammad’s call in the face of his generals and the church (El Cheikh 2004: 21–54; Bonner and El Cheikh 2011: 265–9).