This chapter begins with a promise from God that the Romans will defeat the Persians a few years after their rout at the latter’s hands during the days when this chapter was revealed. From here, it shifts to discuss the greatest promise of all, which is the promise of a day on which everyone will return to God. It provides proof of the Resurrection, accompanying this with those signs of God’s lordship and Divine Attributes specific to this event. Finally, God concludes the chapter by promising divine assistance to His Prophet, emphasizing this with a powerful statement: So be patient! Allah’s promise is indeed true. And do not let yourself be upset by those who have no conviction (30:60). By which point something similar to this has already been said: …and it was a must for Us to help the faithful (30:47).
The ultimate goal of this chapter, then, is to convey God’s certain promise that He will grant His religion victory. He precedes this with a promise to grant victory to the Romans over the Persians several years after the time of this chapter’s revelation to show that just as He fulfils this promise, so too will He fulfil that one. Equally, He uses it to demonstrate alongside rational arguments that He will fulfil His promise regarding the Day of Reckoning in which there is no doubt.
