Marked words appear in this translation and in no other English translation of this verse. Common small words and older spellings are not marked. The marks show where the wording differs, not where the meaning does.
Talal Itani· published 2012
Say, "Had God willed, I would not have recited it to you, and He would not have made it known to you. I have lived among you for a lifetime before it. Do you not understand?"
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
Say: If Allah had so willed I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. I dwelt among you a whole lifetime before it (came to me). Have ye then no sense
Sources
Translation 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
Edward Henry Palmer1840–1882 · published 1880
Say, 'Had God pleased, I should not have recited it to you, nor taught you therewith. I have tarried a lifetime amongst you before it;- have ye not then any sense
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
SAY: Had God so pleased, I had not recited it to you, neither had I taught it to you. Already have I dwelt among you for years, ere it was revealed to me. Understand ye not
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Say, if God had so pleased, I had not read it unto you, neither had I taught you the same. I have already dwelt among you to the age of forty years, before I received it. Do ye not therefore understand
Sources
Translation 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
Other languages (18)Shqip · Albanian
Thuaj: "Sikur të donte Allahu, unë nuk do t'jua lexoja e as Ai nuk do t'jua kumtonte atë (përmes meje). Unë kam jetuar mes jush një kohë të gjatë para kësaj (Shpalljes). Si nuk e kuptoni, vallë?!
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
(হে রাসূল!) তুমি তাদেরকে বলো: ‘আল্লাহ যদি চাইতেন, আমিও তোমাদের কাছে এটা তিলাওয়াত করতাম না এবং তিনিও তোমাদেরকে এ বিষয়ে জানাতেন না। আমি তো এর আগে তোমাদের মধ্যে জীবনের দীর্ঘকাল অবস্থান করেছি।(৮) তবুও কি তোমরা বুঝতে পার না?’(৯)
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
Reci: "Da Allah nije htio, ja vam ga ne bih učio niti bi vas On njime podučio. Ja sam prije poslanstva dugo među vama boravio – zar ne razumijete?"
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
Reci: "Da Allah nije htio, ja vam ga ne bih učio niti bi vas On njime podučio. Ja sam prije poslanstva dugo među vama boravio – zar ne razumijete?"
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
Maaku : "Sinno Alla muuyuno, mi janngataano nde e dow mooɗon, mi aanndintaande mon kadi. Gooŋɗii mi ñiiɓiino e mooɗon nguurndamado may- re. e on haqqiltaa?".
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
უთხარი მათ (ო, მოციქულო): «თუ ალლაჰი ისურვებდა, მე არ წაგიკითხავდით მას [ყურანს] და არც თქვენ გექნებოდათ ცოდნა მის შესახებ, მე ხომ მთელი ჩემი ცხოვრება თქვენ შორის გავატარე [სანამ გამოცხადება არ გადმოვიდა]. ნუთუ არ დაფიქრდებით?»
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
Sag: „Hätte Allah gewollt, würde ich ihn euch nicht verlesen, und Er würde euch nicht davon Kenntnis geben. Ich habe bereits vor ihm ein Leben lang unter euch verweilt. Begreift ihr denn nicht?“
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
Πες (ω, Προφήτη): «Αν ήθελε ο Αλλάχ, δε θα το απήγγειλα (το Κορ’άν) σε σας, ούτε θα σας έκανε να μάθατε τίποτε γι' αυτό (το Κορ’άν). Έμεινα ανάμεσά σας μια ζωή (σαράντα χρόνια) πριν απ' αυτό (το Κορ’άν να αποκαλυφθεί, και κατά τα οποία χρόνια ούτε ήξερα να γράφω, ούτε να διαβάζω, ούτε με είδατε να ψάχνω γι' αυτό το θέμα). Μα δεν συλλογίζεστε (για να καταλάβετε ότι αυτό που σας έφερα είναι από τον Αλλάχ);»
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
आप कह दें : यदि अल्लाह चाहता, तो मैं तुम्हें इसे पढ़कर न सुनाता और न वह तुम्हें इसकी ख़बर देता। फिर निःसंदेह मैं इससे पहले तुम्हारे बीच जीवन की एक अवधि व्यतीत कर चुका हूँ। तो क्या तुम नहीं समझतेॽ[4]
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Di’: «Se Allāh non lo avesse rivelato, non l’avrei mai recitato a voi, né l’avrei mai usato per informarvi. Sono stato tra di voi per una vita, prima di ciò: ma non riflettete?»
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
16. Sakyk (Muchammedai ﷺ): „Jei Allahas būtų panorėjęs taip, aš nebūčiau jums to recitavęs, nei Jis būtų padaręs tai žinoma jums. Iš tiesų, aš buvau tarp jūsų visą gyvenimą prieš tai. Argi jūs neturite proto?“
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
Jedhi “Odoo Rabbiin fedhee, silaa ani isa isin irratti hin dubbisu. Innis (Rabbis) isa isin hin beeksisu. Dhugumatti, ani isa dura yeroo dheeraa (waggaa 40) isin keessa jiraadheera. Sila isin sammuu hin qabdanii?” jedhiin.
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
Скажи: «Если бы Аллах пожелал, я бы не читал его вам, и Он не дал бы вам знать о нём. А ведь я жил среди вас долгие годы ещё до этого. Неужели вы не разумеете?»
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
Реци: „Да Аллах није хтео, ја вам Кур'ан не бих учио нити би вас Он њиме подучио. Ја сам пре посланства дуго боравио међу вама - зар не разумете?“
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
Sema, “Mwenyezi Mungu angelitaka, nisingeliwasomea, wala nisingelikuwa mwenye kukijua zaidi yenu. Kwani nilikwishakaa miongoni mwenu umri mzima kabla yake! Kwani, hamtii akilini?”
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Säg: ”Om Gud hade velat, skulle jag inte ha reciterat den för er, och han hade inte gett er kännedom om den. Jag har trots allt bott bland er en lång tid innan [den uppenbarades]. Använder ni inte ert förstånd?”
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
De ki: Eğer Allah dileseydi onu size hiç okumazdım ve onu size hiç bildirmezdi. Daha önce sizin aranızda bir ömür yaşadım, hiç akletmiyor musunuz?
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
آپ یوں کہہ دیجئے کہ اگر اللہ کو منظور ہوتا تو نہ تو میں تم کو وه پڑھ کر سناتا اور نہ اللہ تعالیٰ تم کو اس کی اطلاع دیتا [1] کیونکہ میں اس سے پہلے تو ایک بڑے حصہ عمر تک تم میں ره چکا ہوں۔ پھر کیا تم عقل نہیں رکھتے.[2]
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
About these translations
5 cleared translations, newest first, by year of publication, so the modern English comes before the historical ones. That is an ordering by date, not a judgement. Each is shown complete — this platform never excerpts a translation — and each renders under its translator's name. No translation here is marked as the correct one.
Which translations appear here is set by copyright: they are the ones whose rights could be documented and cleared. The selection is not a judgement that these are the best.
About easy-read
Easy-read
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.
Easy-read (simplified)wa'idhaa tutlaa 'alayhim aayaatunaa bayyinaatin qaala lladheena laa yarjoona liqaa'anaa ti biqur'aanin ghayri haadhaa aw baddilhu qul maa yakoonu lee an ubaddilahu min tilqaa'i nafsee in attabi'u illaa maa yoohaa ilayya innee akhaafu in 'asaytu rabbee 'adhaaba yawmin 'azeem
Talal Itani2012 And when Our clear revelations are recited to them, those who do not hope to meet Us say, "Bring a Quran other than this, or change it." Say, "It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I only follow what is revealed to me. I fear, if I disobeyed my Lord, the torment of a terrible Day."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when Our clear revelations are recited unto them, they who look not for the meeting with Us say: Bring a Lecture other than this, or change it. Say (O Muhammad): It is not for me to change it of my accord. I only follow that which is inspired in me. Lo! if I disobey my Lord I fear the retribution of an awful Day
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But when our evident signs are recited to them, those who hope not for our meeting say, 'Bring a Qur'an other than this; or change it.' Say, 'It is not for me to change it of my own accord; I do not follow aught but what I am inspired with; verily, I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the torment of a mighty day
John Medows Rodwell1861 But when our clear signs are recited to them, they who look not forward to meet Us, say, "Bring a different Koran from this, or make some change in it." SAY: It is not for me to change it as mine own soul prompteth. I follow only what is revealed to me: verily, I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the punishment of a great day
George Sale1734 When our evident signs are recited unto them, they who hope not to meet us at the resurrection, say, bring a different Koran from this; or make some change therein. Answer, it is not fit for me, that I should change it at my pleasure: I follow that only which is revealed unto me. Verily I fear, if I should be disobedient unto my Lord, the punishment of the great day
Talal Itani2012 Who does greater wrong than someone who fabricates lies about God, or denies His revelations? The guilty will never prosper.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Who doeth greater wrong than he who inventeth a lie concerning Allah and denieth His revelations? Lo! the guilty never are successful
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Who is more unjust than he who forges against God a lie, or says His signs are lies? verily, the sinners shall not prosper
John Medows Rodwell1861 And who is more unjust than he who coineth a lie against God, or treateth his signs as lies? Surely the wicked shall not prosper
George Sale1734 And who is more unjust than he who deviseth a lie against God, or accuseth his signs of falsehood? Surely the wicked shall not prosper
Talal Itani2012 And they worship, besides God, what neither harms them nor benefits them. And they say, "These are our intercessors with God." Say, "Are you informing God about what He does not know in the heavens or on earth?" Glorified be He, High above the associations they make.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 They worship beside Allah that which neither hurteth them nor profiteth them, and they say: These are our intercessors with Allah. Say: Would ye inform Allah of (something) that He knoweth not in the heavens or in the earth? Praised be He and High Exalted above all that ye associate (with Him)
Edward Henry Palmer1880 They worship beside God what can neither harm them nor profit them, and they say, 'These are our intercessors with God!' Say, 'Will ye inform God of aught in the heavens or the earth, that He knows not of?' Celebrated be His praise! and exalted be He, above what they associate with Him
John Medows Rodwell1861 And they worship beside God, what cannot hurt or help them; and say, "These are our advocates with God!" SAY: Will ye inform God of aught in the Heavens and in the Earth which he knoweth not? Praise be to Him! High be He exalted above the deities they join with Him
George Sale1734 They worship besides God, that which can neither hurt them nor profit them, and they say, these are our intercessors with God. Answer, will ye tell God that which He knoweth not, neither in heaven nor in earth? Praise be unto Him! And far be that from Him, which they associate with Him
These figures count the words the translations share. They measure wording, not meaning, and they do not say which translation is right.
Derived measure: mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the
lowercased word sets of the 5 renderings above —
0.64 on a scale
where 0 means identical wording and 1 means no shared words. It is
computed, not judged.
The page says a verse is worded differently only above the cut below. The cut is a stated convention, not a property of the text, and it can be changed.
The cut
0.644
Share of measured verses above it
33%
Verses above it
2,079
Verses measured
6,236
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.72
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.71
Talal Itani · George Sale0.69
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.68
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.67
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.67
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.64
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.59
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.51
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.49
One bar per pair of renderings, longest bar for the pair
sharing fewest words. Every pair is shown; none is singled out.
Method Wording differences — derived 13 September 2026
Method
Mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the lowercased word sets of the cleared translations of each verse. A verse is marked as worded differently when its score falls in the top third of the corpus — the cut set out in Analysis details.
As at
13 September 2026, 10:56 UTC
Gate
verify/divergence_gate.py re-derives and fails on drift
The platform does not say which is right, and does not
characterise what the difference means. The renderings are placed
together so the difference is visible; reading it is the reader's work.
7 sources
stand behind this page. Each is listed once, in the order the page first
cites it, with the licence it was cleared under and what was actually read.
Nothing on this page rests on a source that is not here.
Source Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1
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.
Parsed structurally from the EPUB: an h3 names the surah, one p per verse with its number in its own span. An unnumbered p is the basmala and is not a verse, except in surah 1 where the basmala IS verse 1. 112 unnumbered paragraphs were found, which is 114 surahs less surah 1 and surah 9. Text is stored VERBATIM: NFC normalisation and XML entity unescaping only, because CC BY-ND forbids modification.
CLEARED on a licence read first-hand from the translator's own download page, not from an aggregator. Tanzil also hosts this translation, but under a blanket "non-commercial purposes only" term that directs the user to the translator or publisher for permission - a hosting disclaimer, not a grant - so the grant was taken from the licensor directly. The "God" edition was ingested; ClearQuran also publishes an "Allah" edition, differing in how the divine name is rendered, which is not ingested.
CLEARED ON THE WORK, WITH TWO RECORDED CAVEATS ON THIS COPY. (1) Rights basis is the expired copyright term, NOT the redistributing repository's licence. That repository dedicates its contents to the public domain under the Unlicense while also redistributing plainly in-copyright translations (Abdel Haleem, Saheeh International, The Study Quran), so it is dedicating rights it cannot hold and its blanket grant is not relied upon here. (2) The file declares its own upstream as tanzil.net, and Tanzil attaches a non-commercial condition to its TRANSLATION distributions, though not to its Qur'anic text. Since Pickthall's copyright has expired, nobody holds rights in these words and no licence is required from anyone; Tanzil's terms are a contract binding those who download from Tanzil, which we did not. The chain is nonetheless not spotless and Anwar may prefer a clean digitisation of the 1930 printing. NOT VERIFIED: that this digital text matches the 1930 first printing rather than a later revised edition. No page images were collated. Recorded as unverified rather than presented as established. SERVED TEXT DIFFERS FROM THE CITED FILE AT ONE VERSE, 37:97: the file reads "red-hotfire" (a glued token, also in Gutenberg #16955); the served row reads "red-hot fire", restored 2026-09-13 from Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (London: George Allen & Unwin, printed for Alfred A. Knopf; 1930), p. 460, XXXVII 97 - scan archive.org in.ernet.dli.2015.216140, PDF page 475; banked data/derivation-sources/pickthall-1930-dli-2015.216140-text.pdf (sha256 70e81146c97fa3a590243a82e04e349108546074787e2551a78c616202138870) on Anwar Malik's grant.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is not stated by the redistributor and the printing is unverified. No statement of purpose is recorded for Palmer because none was sourced from his own preface in this pass; nothing is asserted on his behalf.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. TWO edition caveats. (1) The upstream is not stated by the redistributor. (2) Rodwell's own edition PRESENTS THE SURAHS IN HIS OWN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, not the mushaf order — he says so in his preface. This digital text is keyed to mushaf order, so it derives from a restored-order printing (such as the Everyman edition) rather than from Rodwell's own arrangement. Which printing is not stated and has not been established.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is NOT STATED by the redistributor, so the printing it represents is unverified; Sale's text was reprinted and re-edited many times between 1734 and 1900. Recorded as unverified rather than assumed to be the first edition.
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. Parallel edition, held in ayah_text_variants. It sits alongside the Uthmani spine for search normalisation and is never used to correct it.