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
God cites the example of a bonded slave, who has no power over anything; and someone to whom We have givenplentiful provision, from which he gives secretly and openly. Are they equal in comparison? All praise belongs to God, but most of them do not know.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
Allahcoineth a similitude: (on the one hand) a (mere) chattel slave, who hath control of nothing, and (on the other hand) one on whom we have bestowed a fair provision from Us, and he spendeth thereof secretly and openly. Are they equal? Praise be to Allah! But most of them know not
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
God has struck out a parable; an owned slave, able to do nothing; and one whom we have provided with a good provision, and who expends therefrom in alms secretly and openly:- shall they be held equal?- Praise be to God, most of them do not know
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
God maketh comparison between a slave the property of his lord, who hath no power over anything, and a freeman whom we have ourselves supplies, and who giveth alms therefrom both in secret and openly. Shall they be held equal? No: praise be to God! But most men know it not
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
God propoundeth as a parable a possessed slave, who hath power over nothing, and him on whom we have bestowed a good provision from us, and who giveth alms thereout both secretly and openly: Shall these two be esteemed equal? God forbid! But the greaterpart of them know it not
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
Allahu ju sjell si shembull një rob që është pronë e dikujt tjetër, i cili s'ka asgjë në dorë dhe atë që i kemi dhënë rrizk të mirë, prej të cilit jep fshehurazi e haptazi. A mund të jenë të barabartë? Lavdërimi i takon Allahut, por shumica e tyre nuk dinë.
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
আল্লাহ উপমা দিচ্ছেন অন্যের অধিকারভুক্ত একজন দাসের, যে কোনো কিছুর ওপর ক্ষমতা রাখে না এবং একজন (স্বাধীন লোকের) যাকে আমি আমার পক্ষ থেকে উত্তম রিযক দিয়েছি, অতঃপর সে তা থেকে (ইচ্ছেমতো) গোপনে ও প্রকাশ্যে ব্যয় করে। তারা কি উভয়ে সমান হতে পারে?(২৪) সমস্ত প্রশংসা আল্লাহর। বরং তাদের অধিকাংশই জানে 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
Allah navodi kao primjer roba u tuđem vlasništvu koji ništa nema i onog koga smo Mi bogato obdarili i koji udjeljuje iz toga, i tajno i javno – zar su oni jednaki? Neka je hvaljen Allah! Ali većina njih ne zna.
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
Allah navodi kao primjer roba u tuđem vlasništvu koji ništa nema i onog koga smo Mi bogato obdarili i koji udjeljuje iz toga, i tajno i javno – zar su oni jednaki? Neka je hvaljen Allah! Ali većina njih ne zna.
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
Alla piyii misal maccuɗo jeyaaɗo, mo waawaa hay huunde, e on mo min arsiki immorde e amen arsike moƴƴo, hara on wintoo e ɗuum gunndoo e kene. Hara ɓeen no fota? Yettooree woodanii Alla! Ko woni, ko ɓuri ɗuuɗude e maɓɓe anndaa.
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
ალლაჰს იგავად მოჰყავს მონა, რომელიც სხვის საკუთრებაშია და არაფრის ძალა არ შესწევს [უფლება შეზღუდული], და ის, ვისაც ჩვენ ვუბოძეთ კეთილი სარჩო, საიდანაც იგი ხარჯავს ფარულად და ცხადად. განა თანასწორნი არიან? ქება-დიდება ალლაჰს! მაგრამ მათგან უმეტესობამ არ იცის.
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
Allah führt als Gleichnis einen leibeigenen Sklaven an, der über nichts Macht hat, und einen, dem Wir von Uns her eine schöne Versorgung gewährt haben, so dass er davon geheim und offen spendet. Sind sie etwa gleich? Der Lob gebührt Allah! Vielmehr wissen die meisten von ihnen 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
Ο Αλλάχ παρουσιάζει ένα παράδειγμα ενός σκλάβου υπό την ιδιοκτησία κάποιου, ο οποίος (σκλάβος) δεν έχει τίποτα, και ενός (ελεύθερου) ανθρώπου στον οποίο δώσαμε καλά αγαθά από Μας, και έτσι ξοδεύει απ' αυτά κρυφά και φανερά, είναι αυτοί οι δύο ίσοι; Όλος ο έπαινος ανήκει στον Αλλάχ! Αλλά οι περισσότεροι απ' αυτούς (τους ειδωλολάτρες) δε γνωρίζουν!
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
अल्लाह ने एक उदाहरण[29] दिया है; एक पराधीन दास है, जो किसी चीज़ का सामर्थ्य नहीं रखता। और एक वह व्यक्ति है, जिसे हमने अपनी ओर से उत्तम जीविका प्रदान की है। तो वह उसमें से गुप्त रूप से और खुल्लम-खुल्ला खर्च करता है। क्या दोनों समान हो सकते हैं? सब प्रशंसा अल्लाह[30] के लिए है। बल्कि उनमें से अधिकतर लोग (यह बात) नहीं जानते।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Allāh ha portato come esempio un servo in cattività, che non può nulla contro colui che abbiamo provvisto, da parte Nostra, di molti beni, da cui quello dona in segreto e apertamente: sono i due pari? La Lode sia ad Allāh +! Ma la gran parte di loro non sa.
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
75. Allahas iškelia pavyzdį (dviejų vyrų – tikinčiojo ir netikinčiojo). Vergas (netikintysis) priklausantis kitam, jis neturi jokios galios. Ir (kitas) vyras (tikintysis), kuriam Mes suteikėme gerą aprūpinimą iš Savęs, ir jis leidžia jį slaptai ir atvirai. Ar gali jie būti lygūs? (Jokiu būdu). Visas šlovinimas ir padėka yra Allahui. Ne, (bet) dauguma iš jų nežino.
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
Rabbiin fakkeenya taasiseera gabricha horatamaa, kan homaa irratti dandeettii hin qabneefi nama Nuti nu biraa soorata gaarii isaaf kennine, inni isa irraa dhoksaafi ifattis kan arjoomu (isaafi wantoota isaan alaatiif) (fakkeenya taasiseera). Sila isaan wal qixxaatanii? Faaruun kan Rabbiiti. Dhugumatti irra hedduun isaanii hin beekan.
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
Аллах привёл примером раба, находящегося во владении, который не способен ни на что, и того, кого Мы наделили от Себя благим уделом, и он расходует из него тайно и явно. Равны ли они? Хвала Аллаху! Нет, напротив, большинство из них не знает.
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
Аллах наводи пример роба у туђем власништву, који ништа нема, и онога коме смо Ми дали лепу опскрбу и који удељује из тога, и тајно и јавно – зар су они једнаки?! Нека је хваљен Аллах! Али, већина њих не зна!
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
Mwenyezi Mungu amepiga mfano wa mtumwa aliyemilikiwa, asiyeweza kitu, na mwingine tuliyemruzuku riziki njema inayotoka kwetu, naye akawa anatoa katika riziki hiyo kwa siri na dhahiri. Je, hao watakuwa sawa? Alhamdu Lillahi (sifa zote njema ni za Mwenyezi Mungu)! Lakini wengi wao hawajui.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Gud framställer en liknelse: en ägd slav som inte förmår något, och en [fri person] som vi gett riklig försörjning och som ger av den i hemlighet och öppet. Är de lika? All lovprisning tillkommer Gud! Men de flesta förstår inte detta.
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
Allah hiçbir şeye gücü yetmeyen, başkasının mülkiyetinde bulunan bir kul ile kendisine tarafımızdan güzel bir rızık verip de ondan gizli ve açık verip, duran kişiyi örnek verir. Bunlar hiç eşit olur mu? Hamt Allah’a mahsustur, fakat onların çoğu bilmezler.
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
اللہ تعالیٰ ایک مثال بیان فرماتا ہے کہ ایک غلام ہے دوسرے کی ملکیت کا، جو کسی بات کا اختیار نہیں رکھتا اور ایک اور شخص ہے جسے ہم نے اپنے پاس سے معقول روزی دے رکھی ہے، جس میں سے وه چھپے کھلے خرچ کرتا ہے۔ کیا یہ سب برابر ہوسکتے ہیں[1] ؟ اللہ تعالیٰ ہی کے لیے سب تعریف ہے، بلکہ ان میں سے اکثر نہیں جانتے.
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)waya'budoona min dooni llaahi maa laa yamliku lahum rizqan mina s-samaawaati wal-'ardi shay'an walaa yastatee'oon
DIN 31635wayaʿbudūna min dūni llāhi mā lā yamliku lahum rizqan mina s-samāwāti wal-ʾarḍi šayʾan walā yastaṭīʿūna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 And yet they serve besides God what possesses no provisions for them in the heavens, nor on earth, nor are they capable.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And they worship beside Allah that which owneth no provision whatsoever for them from the heavens or the earth, nor have they (whom they worship) any power
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And they serve beside God what cannot control for them any provision from the heavens or the earth, and have no power at all
John Medows Rodwell1861 And they worship beside God those who neither out of the Heavens or Earth can provide them a particle of food, and have no power in themselves
George Sale1734 They worship, besides God, idols which possess nothing wherewith to sustain them, either in heaven, or on earth; and have no power
DIN 31635waḍaraba llāhu maṯalan raǧulayni ʾaḥaduhumā ʾabkamu lā yaqdiru ʿalā šayʾin wahuwa kallun ʿalā mawlāhu ʾaynamā yuwaǧǧihhu lā yaʾti biḫayrin hal yastawī huwa waman yaʾmuru bil-ʿadli wahuwa ʿalā ṣirāṭin mustaqīmin
Talal Itani2012 And God cites the example of two men: one of them dumb, unable to do anything, and is a burden on his master; whichever way he directs him, he achieves nothing good. Is he equal to him who commands justice, and is on a straight path?
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And Allah coineth a similitude: Two men, one of them dumb, having control of nothing, and he is a burden on his owner; whithersoever he directeth him to go, he bringeth no good. Is he equal with one who enjoineth justice and followeth a straight path (of conduct)
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And God has struck out a parable: two men, one of them dumb, able to do nothing, a burden to his lord wherever he directs him he comes not with success; is he to be held equal with him who bids what is just and who is on the right way
John Medows Rodwell1861 God setteth forth also a comparison between two men, one of whom is dumb from his birth, and hath no power over anything, and is a burden to his lord: send him where he will, he cometh not back with success. Shall he and the man who enjoineth what is just, and keepeth in the straight path, be held equal
George Sale1734 God also propoundeth as a parable two men; one of them born dumb, who is unable to do or understand any thing, but is a burden unto his master; whithersoever he shall send him, he shall not return with any good success: Shall this man, and he who hath his speech and understanding, and who commandeth that which is just, and followeth the right way, be esteemed equal
Easy-read (simplified)walillaahi ghaybu s-samaawaati wal-'ardi wamaa amru s-saa'ati illaa kalamhi l-basari aw huwa aqrabu inna llaaha 'alaa kulli shay'in qadeer
DIN 31635walillāhi ġaybu s-samāwāti wal-ʾarḍi wamā ʾamru s-sāʿati ʾillā kalamḥi l-baṣari ʾaw huwa ʾaqrabu ʾinna llāha ʿalā kulli šayʾin qadīrun
Talal Itani2012 To God belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth. The coming of the Hour is only as the twinkling of the eye, or even nearer. God has power over everything.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And unto Allah belongeth the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, and the matter of the Hour (of Doom) is but as a twinkling of the eye, or it is nearer still. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things
Edward Henry Palmer1880 God's are the unseen things of the heavens and the earth; nor is the matter of the Hour aught but as the twinkling of an eye, or nigher still! Verily, God is mighty over all
John Medows Rodwell1861 God's are the secrets of the Heavens and of the Earth! and the business of the last hour will be but as the twinkling of an eye, or even less. Yes! for all things is God Potent
George Sale1734 Unto God alone is the secret of heaven and earth known. And the business of the last hour shall be only as the twinkling of an eye, or even more quick: For God is almighty
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
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Talal Itani · George Sale0.69
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.65
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.64
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.63
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.63
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.62
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.62
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.61
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.60
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.