What does the Qur'an say about purity before touching the text - and does this verse settle it?

Key findingsEditorial

One finding for each passage this study carries, in the order the study reads them. Each is the reason that passage was signed into the study, in full and unedited - including, where the renderings disagree, the disagreement.

01 56:77–79 In as ONE PASSAGE because the three lines are one sentence and the argument is unreadable without all three: THAT (THIS) IS INDEED A NOBLE QUR'AN - IN A BOOK KEPT HIDDEN - WHICH NONE TOUCHETH SAVE THE PURIFIED. The middle line is the whole difficulty: what is being touched is described as a book kept hidden, and any reading of the third line has to say what that means. Carried entire and never split.

In plain wordsEditorial written by the editors, not a translation

Written by the editors. Not a translation, and not a source. It is an editorial restatement of the verses in this study and carries their name because someone has to answer for it.

Three lines, and the reading of them is genuinely open. This study carries both readings and settles neither, because settling it would mean asserting the thing that is actually in dispute.

The passage: that this is a noble Qur'an - IN A BOOK KEPT HIDDEN - which none touch save the purified.

The FIRST reading takes it as a rule about handling a copy. The purified are people in a state of ritual purity; the touching is physical; the verse regulates who may pick up a mushaf. This is the reading behind the practice of performing ablution before handling one, and behind the notices printed inside many copies.

The SECOND reading takes the whole passage as describing the heavenly original. The middle line is the reason. What is being touched is a BOOK KEPT HIDDEN - concealed, guarded, preserved. On this reading the purified are the angels, and the verse is saying that the text in its hidden form is handled only by them. It is a statement about the Qur'an's origin, in a passage that is otherwise about God's oath and the greatness of the revelation, and not a rule about human hands at all.

Both readings are held by serious people. Both have to account for the same three lines. The first has to say what the hidden book is doing in the middle of a rule about ablution. The second has to say why the passage has been read as a rule for so long by so many.

This platform cannot show you that argument in its own words. No has cleared the rights audit, so we cannot name a commentator, quote him, or give his dates - and summarising the schools from memory is exactly the fabrication this method exists to prevent.

What we can do is refuse to present one reading as the verse's plain sense. A reader who has been told the Qur'an requires ablution before touching it should know that the requirement rests on a contested reading of one verse, and that the contest is about the verse's own subject rather than about a detail of it. Whatever the practice's other supports in the law, this verse does not settle it by itself.

AALAMIN Editor · signed 17 September 2026

not a scholar — what this signature means

I am not a scholar, and nothing here asks you to treat me as one. The plain words on this site are my restatement of what the five translations shown above say, together with counts derived from the text itself — nothing more. I sign them so that a named person is accountable for every sentence, not so you'll take my word for anything. The authority on this page is the text and its translators. If my words don't match theirs, mine are the ones that are wrong.

Scope of this study

This platform shows the verse, its easy-read line, its translations, a plain-words reading, and each verse among its neighbours. It does not supply occasion of revelation, interpretation (tafsir) or history, and it never invents them.

What this study does not answer, and which source would be needed. It does not say on what occasion any of these verses was given: this study holds no source whose usage rights can be verified. It does not report how any commentator has read them: this study holds no either - the Arabic of , and is public domain by age, but no English edition with verifiable usage rights exists. And it offers no academic-historical reading: this study holds no such scholarship. Each of those is an absence with a named cause, not an omission.

What this rests on

Opens with 56:77–79.

Easy-read is a simplified pronunciation, not authoritative — a rule-by-rule romanisation, not a reading. Each verse ends in its pause form, as it is said when you stop there. Pauses inside a verse and other tajwid rules are not shown. It is derived from the Tanzil Simple edition, while the Arabic above is the Uthmani edition; both are cleared, but they are not the same edition and their orthography differs.

The versesSource fact 1 passages, each with every cleared translation

1 passages, chosen for this question and signed as part of it. Each carries the reason it is here, and each renders in full: the Arabic, then every cleared translation of that verse under its translator's name.

Each verse opens on the translation that comes first in the site's fixed order, which runs from the newest translation to the oldest. The order is not a preference. Open Compare translations on any verse to read the others.

56:77–79

Why this passage is in the study finding 01

إِنَّهُۥ لَقُرْءَانٌ كَرِيمٌ

Easy-read · not authoritative

Easy-read (simplified)innahu laqur'aanun kareem

DIN 31635ʾinnahu laqurʾānun karīmun

EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

The translators word this verse differently

Talal Itani published 2012

It is a noble Quran.

Compare translations (4)

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall published 1930

That (this) is indeed a noble Qur'an

Edward Henry Palmer published 1880

that, verily, this is the honourable Qur'an

John Medows Rodwell published 1861

That this is the honourable Koran

George Sale published 1734

that this is the excellent Koran

Sources

EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Uthmani, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Receipts Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1

Edition: Uthmani, Version 1.1
Custodian: Tanzil Project
Layer: canonical text
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Commercial use: yes
Modification: contradictory
Licence text: read verbatim
Review state: cleared
Retrieved: 24 August 2026
Digest: 203f0f1bf3158b1e5be4ab9f8f6870e5…
Located at: https://tanzil.net/pub/download/index.php?quranType=uthmani&outType=xml
Convention: Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.

CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.

Every source and rights decision →

فِى كِتَٰبٍ مَّكْنُونٍ

Easy-read · not authoritative

Easy-read (simplified)fee kitaabin maknoon

DIN 31635fī kitābin maknūnin

The translators word this verse differently

Talal Itani published 2012

In a well-protected Book.

Compare translations (4)

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall published 1930

In a Book kept hidden

Edward Henry Palmer published 1880

in the laid-up Book

John Medows Rodwell published 1861

Written in the preserved Book

George Sale published 1734

the original whereof is written in the preserved book: None shall touch the same

Sources

EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Uthmani, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Receipts Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1

Edition: Uthmani, Version 1.1
Custodian: Tanzil Project
Layer: canonical text
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Commercial use: yes
Modification: contradictory
Licence text: read verbatim
Review state: cleared
Retrieved: 24 August 2026
Digest: 203f0f1bf3158b1e5be4ab9f8f6870e5…
Located at: https://tanzil.net/pub/download/index.php?quranType=uthmani&outType=xml
Convention: Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.

CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.

Every source and rights decision →

لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلْمُطَهَّرُونَ

Easy-read · not authoritative

Easy-read (simplified)laa yamassuhu illaa l-mutahharoon

DIN 31635lā yamassuhu ʾillā l-muṭahharūna

The translators word this verse differently

Talal Itani published 2012

None can grasp it except the purified.

Compare translations (4)

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall published 1930

Which none toucheth save the purified

Edward Henry Palmer published 1880

Let none touch it but the purified

John Medows Rodwell published 1861

Let none touch it but the purified

George Sale published 1734

except those who are clean

Sources

EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Uthmani, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Receipts Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1

Edition: Uthmani, Version 1.1
Custodian: Tanzil Project
Layer: canonical text
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Commercial use: yes
Modification: contradictory
Licence text: read verbatim
Review state: cleared
Retrieved: 24 August 2026
Digest: 203f0f1bf3158b1e5be4ab9f8f6870e5…
Located at: https://tanzil.net/pub/download/index.php?quranType=uthmani&outType=xml
Convention: Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.

CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.

Every source and rights decision →

Other languages (18)

Shqip · Albanian

56:77 se, me të vërtetë, ky është një Kuran i nderuar,

56:78 në një Libër të ruajtur,

56:79 të cilin e prekin vetëm të pastrit.

Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5

বাংলা · Bengali

56:77 নিশ্চয় এটি মহিমান্বিত আল-কুরআন,

56:78 যা আছে সুরক্ষিত কিতাবে (আল-লাওহুল মাহফূযে),

56:79 পবিত্রগণ ছাড়া কেউ তা স্পর্শ করবে না।

Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Dawah Association in Rabwah, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.2

Bosanski · Bosnian

56:77 On je, zaista, Kur’an plemeniti

56:78 u Knjizi brižljivo čuvanoj.

56:79 Dodirnuti ga smiju samo oni koji su čisti!

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 2.0.4

Hrvatski · Croatian

56:77 On je, zaista, Kuran plemeniti

56:78 u Knjizi brižljivo čuvanoj.

56:79 Dodirnuti ga smiju samo oni koji su čisti!

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1

Fulfulde · Fulani

56:77 Pellet nee ko alqur'aanaare konde teddunde,

56:78 won'de e deftere reenaande

56:79 meemataa nden si wonaa laɓɓinaaɓe ɓeen;

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2

ქართული · Georgian

56:77 ჭეშმარიტად, ეს [რაც წაგიკითხეს] უეჭველად პატივცემული ყურანია.

56:78 დაცულ წიგნში (ლავჰულ მაჰფუზში).

56:79 მას არ ეხებიან, გარდა განწმენდილებისა.

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.7

Deutsch · German

56:77 Wahrlich, das ist ja ein ehrwürdiger Quran

56:78 in einem wohlverwahrten Buch,

56:79 keiner darf ihn berühren, außer die (vollkommen) Reinen;

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.15

Ελληνικά · Greek

56:77 Ότι αυτό είναι πράγματι ένα Ευγενές Κορ’άν!

56:78 (Το οποίο είναι) σε ένα διατηρημένο Βιβλίο (Αλ-Λάουχ Αλ-Μαχφούδ).

56:79 Δεν το αγγίζουν παρά μόνο οι εξαγνισμένοι (οι Άγγελοι).

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2

हिन्दी · Hindi

56:77 निःसंदेह, यह निश्चित रूप से एक प्रतिष्ठित क़ुरआन है।

56:78 एक छिपाकर रखी हुई[7] किताब में (अंकित) है।

56:79 इसे कोई नहीं छूता सिवाय उनके जो बहुत पवित्र किए गए हैं।[8]

Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5

Italiano · Italian

56:77 In verità è il Generoso Corano,

56:78 in un Libro ben custodito

56:79 che non toccano se non i puri,

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2

Lietuvių · Lithuanian

56:77 77. Iš tiesų, tai yra garbingas (Korano) recitavimas.

56:78 78. Knygoje, tinkamai apsaugotoje (pas Allahą danguje, vadinamoje Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz).

56:79 79. Kurios niekas negali liesti, išskyrus tyrieji (t. y. angelai).

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.8

Afaan Oromoo · Oromo

56:77 Inni Qur’aana kabajamaadha. [7]

56:78 Kitaaba akkaan eegamaa (Lawhal Mahfuuz) keessatti tahe.

56:79 Warra qulqulluu malee (eenyulleen) isa hin tuqu.

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.0

Русский · Russian

56:77 Воистину, это — благородный Коран,

56:78 в сокрытой Книге.

56:79 Его касаются не иначе как очищенные.

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1

Српски · Serbian

56:77 Он је, заиста, Кур'ан племенити

56:78 у Књизи брижљиво чуваној.

56:79 Додирнути је смеју само они који су чисти!

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.4

Kiswahili · Swahili

56:77 Hakika hii bila ya shaka ni Qur-ani Tukufu.

56:78 Katika Kitabu kilichohifadhiwa.

56:79 Hapana akigusaye ila waliotakaswa.

Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5

Svenska · Swedish

56:77 att detta förvisso är en ädel Koran,

56:78 i en bevarad bok,

56:79 som ingen vidrör förutom de renade [änglarna].

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2

Türkçe · Turkish

56:77 Şüphesiz bu, değerli bir Kur'an'dır.

56:78 Gizli/korunmuş bir kitaptadır.

56:79 Ona ancak temizlenmiş olanlar dokunabilir.

Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.4

اردو · Urdu

56:77 کہ بیشک یہ قرآن بہت بڑی عزت واﻻ ہے.[1]

56:78 جو ایک محفوظ کتاب میں درج ہے[1]

56:79 جسے صرف پاک لوگ ہی چھو سکتے ہیں.[1]

Translated by Muhammad Ibrahim Junagarhi, developed under the supervision of the Rowwad Translation Center. The original translation is available for the purpose of expressing opinion, evaluation, and continuous development.

From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.3

Show context

The verses around this oneSource fact

shown so it's never read alone

56:75

فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ

Easy-read (simplified)falaa uqsimu bimawaaqi'i n-nujoom

DIN 31635falā ʾuqsimu bimawāqiʿi n-nuǧūmi

Talal Itani2012 I swear by the locations of the stars.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Nay, I swear by the places of the stars

Edward Henry Palmer1880 So I will not swear by the positions of the stars

John Medows Rodwell1861 It needs not that I swear by the setting of the stars

George Sale1734 Moreover I swear by the setting of the stars

56:76

وَإِنَّهُۥ لَقَسَمٌ لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمٌ

Easy-read (simplified)wa'innahu laqasamun law ta'lamoona 'azeem

DIN 31635waʾinnahu laqasamun law taʿlamūna ʿaẓīmun

Talal Itani2012 It is an oath, if you only knew, that is tremendous.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And lo! that verily is a tremendous oath, if ye but knew

Edward Henry Palmer1880 and, verily, it is a grand oath if ye did but know

John Medows Rodwell1861 And it is a great oath, if ye knew it

George Sale1734 and it is surely a great oath, if ye knew it

56:77–79 — the verse above

56:80

تَنزِيلٌ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

Easy-read (simplified)tanzeelun min rabbi l-'aalameen

DIN 31635tanzīlun min rabbi l-ʿālamīna

Talal Itani2012 A revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 A revelation from the Lord of the Worlds

Edward Henry Palmer1880 A revelation from the Lord of the worlds

John Medows Rodwell1861 It is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds

George Sale1734 It is a revelation from the Lord of all creatures

56:81

أَفَبِهَٰذَا ٱلْحَدِيثِ أَنتُم مُّدْهِنُونَ

Easy-read (simplified)afabihaadhaa l-hadeethi antum mudhinoon

DIN 31635ʾafabihāḏā l-ḥadīṯi ʾantum mudhinūna

The translators word this verse differently

Talal Itani2012 Is it this discourse that you take so lightly?

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Is it this Statement that ye scorn

Edward Henry Palmer1880 What! this new discourse will ye despise

John Medows Rodwell1861 Such tidings as these will ye disdain

George Sale1734 Will ye, therefore, despise this new revelation

What this study rests on, and what it refusessigned with it3 of the 4 paragraphs signed with this study; the paragraph naming what it does not answer is at the top of the page

The selection above and this account of it are part of what was signed. Where the renderings disagree it says so; where the question runs past what has cleared the rights audit it says that too.

Read across the four public-domain translations - Sale 1734, Rodwell 1861, Palmer 1880, Pickthall 1930 - of 56:77-79, in full, and nothing else. This study consults no , no , no occasion of revelation and no biography, because none is yet available in an edition whose usage rights can be verified. Itani 2012, the fifth translation shown with these verses, was not consulted for this study.

How this set was arrived at. The verse set was chosen by the Editor before the study was written, and is NOT a search result. No word search was run, because on this question a word search would have found the wrong verses or missed the point of the passage. Every verse in that set was read in full before use and checked against the claim made for it; a verse whose text did not carry that claim was left out rather than forced.

Where the translations part company, named rather than resolved. How differently the translations word each verse is shown on that verse's page, and the study names the differences it turns on rather than choosing between them.

Sources & method

Translations Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired

Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an ·1880 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Translations George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired

George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an ·1734 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Translations John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired

John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an ·1861 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Translations Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·Public domain — copyright term expired

Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran ·1930 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Our method →

Translations Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Talal Itani, ClearQuran ·ClearQuran, "God" edition, EPUB·Talal Itani / ClearQuran.com ·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International·retrieved 7 Sep 2026

Translation by Talal Itani, ClearQuran.com https://clearquran.com

Editorial status

Editorial status: Editorially prepared · not independently reviewed — signed by the AALAMIN Editor; no external scholarly review
Theme: Purity
Review status: Editorial — not independently reviewed
Published: 6 September 2026
Updated: 17 September 2026

A dashed outline marks a tag the editors handle with extra care. It describes how this study is filed and shown, not what the verses say.

AALAMIN Editor

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