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
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?
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And Allahcoineth 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)
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
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
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
God settethforth 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
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
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
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 sjell edhe shembullin e dy burrave, njëri prej të cilëve është shurdhmemec dhe s'mund të bëjë asgjë, madje është barrë për të zotin e vet: kudo që e çon, nuk i sjell asnjë dobi. A mund të jetë njësoj ky me atë që urdhëron drejtësinë, duke qenë në rrugë të drejtë?!
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
আর আল্লাহ (তাদের প্রসঙ্গে আরেকটি) উপমা দিচ্ছেন, দু’জন ব্যক্তির: তাদের একজন বোবা, যে কোন কিছুর ওপর ক্ষমতা রাখে না, উপরন্তু সে তার মনিবের ওপর বোঝা। তাকে যেখানেই পাঠানো হয়, কোনো কল্যাণ বয়ে আনতে পারে না। সে কি ঐ ব্যক্তির সমতুল্য, যে ন্যায়ের আদেশ করে এবং সরল-সঠিক পথের ওপর বিদ্যমান রয়েছে?(২৫)
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 vam navodi kao primjer dvojicu ljudi, od kojih je jedan gluhonijem, koji ni za šta nije sposoban, i koji je na teretu gospodaru svome – kud god ga pošalje, nikakva dobra ne donese. Da li je on jednak onom koji traži da se pravedno postupa, a i sam je na Pravom putu?!
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 vam navodi kao primjer dvojicu ljudi, od kojih je jedan gluhonijem, koji ni za šta nije sposoban, i koji je na teretu gospodaru svome – kud god ga pošalje, nikakva dobra ne donese. Da li je on jednak onom koji traži da se pravedno postupa, a i sam je na Pravom putu?!
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 piyi kadi misal worɓe ɗiɗo: goɗɗo e maɓɓe ko mbobo, o waawaa hay huunde, kaŋko ko o donngal e hoore jeyɗo mo on; nokku kala ka on fewtiniri mo, o addataa moƴƴere; hara on ɗon fotay e on yamiroowo nuunɗal, hara himo e laawol pocciingol?
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
და ალლაჰს მოჰყავს იგავი ორ კაცზე: ერთი მათგანი მუნჯია, რომელსაც არაფერი ძალუძს და ტვირთად აწევს თავის პატრონს; სადაც არ უნდა გაგზავნოს, სიკეთეს არ მოიტანს. განა თანასწორია იგი იმასთან, ვინც სამართლიანობას ბრძანებს და თავადაც სწორ გზაზე დგას?
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
Und Allah führt als Gleichnis zwei Männer an. Der eine von beiden ist stumm und hat über nichts Macht; er ist seinem Herrn eine Last; wo auch immer er ihn hinschickt, bringt er nichts Gutes. Ist er etwa jemandem gleich, der Gerechtigkeit gebietet und sich auf einem geraden Weg befindet?
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 και ένα παράδειγμα δύο ανδρών, ο ένας απ' αυτούς είναι βουβός (και κουφός) και δεν μπορεί να κάνει τίποτα, ο οποίος είναι βάρος για τον κηδεμόνα του (που τον προσέχει), όπου και (ο κηδεμόνας) να τον στείλει, δε φέρνει κανένα καλό (επειδή ούτε μιλάει, ούτε ακούει), είναι ίσος μ' αυτόν που (μιλάει και ακούει, και) διατάζει τη δικαιοσύνη και βρίσκεται στον ίσιο δρόμο;
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
तथा अल्लाह ने एक (और) उदाहरण[31] दिया है; दो व्यक्ति हैं। जिनमें से एक गूँगा है। वह कुछ करने की योग्यता नहीं रखता और वह अपने मालिक पर बोझ है। वह उसे जहाँ भी भेजता है, कोई भलाई लेकर नहीं आता। तो क्या यह और वह व्यक्ति बराबर हैं, जो न्याय का आदेश देता है और वह (स्वयं) सीधे मार्ग पर है?
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E Allāh ha portato inoltre come esempio due uomini, di cui uno è muto, e non può nulla, in assoluta dipendenza dal padrone, a cui, ovunque lui lo mandi, non porta nulla di buono: sarebbe quello pari a chi invita alla giustizia e che si trova su una retta via?
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
76. Ir Allahas iškelia (kitą) pavyzdį dviejų vyrų. Vienas iš jų kvailas, neturintis niekam jokios galios (netikintysis) ir jis yra našta savo šeimininkui – į kurią pusę šis nukreipia jį, jis neduoda nieko gero. Ar toks vyras yra lygus tokiam (tikinčiajam islamo monoteizmu), kuris įsako teisingumą ir pats yra Teisingame Kelyje?
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 namoota lama (mu’uminootaafi kaafirootaaf) fakkeenya taasiseera: tokkoon isaan lamaanii arraba hidhamaadha; homaa irratti dandeettii hin qabu; inni mootii isaa irratti ba’aadha; bakkuma inni isa erge hunda irraayyuu waan gaariin hin dhufu. Sila inniifi namni karaa qajeelaa irra jiraatee haqatti ajaju, wal qixa ta’aa?
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
И Аллах привёл пример двух людей: один из них — немой, который ни на что не способен, и он — обуза для своего господина; куда бы тот ни направил его, он не приходит ни с чем благим. Равен ли он тому, кто повелевает справедливость и находится на прямом пути?
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 вам наводи као пример двојицу људи од којих је један глувонем, који ништа нема и који је на терету господару свом – куд год га пошаље, никаквог добра не донесе. Да ли је он једнак оном који тражи да се праведно поступа, а и сам је на Правом путу?!
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
Na Mwenyezi Mungu amepiga mfano wa wanaume wawili. Mmoja wao ni bubu, hawezi chochote, naye ni mzigo kwa mlezi wake. Popote anapomuelekeza, haleti heri yoyote. Je, huyo anaweza kuwa sawa na yule anayeamrisha uadilifu, naye yuko kwenye njia iliyonyooka?
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Gud framställer ännu en liknelse: två män varav en är stum och helt hjälplös. Han är en börda för den som ser efter honom; vilket uppdrag han än får misslyckas han. Är han lik den som uppmanar till rättvisa och följer en rak väg?
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, şu iki adamı da örnek verir: Birisi hiçbir şeye gücü yetmeyen, efendisine yük olan bir dilsiz. Onu nereye yönlendirse bir hayır elde edemez. Hiç onunla adaleti emredip dosdoğru bir yol üzerine olan kimse eşit olur mu?
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 اور مثال بیان فرماتا ہے[1] ، دو شخصوں کی، جن میں سے ایک تو گونگا ہے اور کسی چیز پر اختیار نہیں رکھتا بلکہ وه اپنے مالک پر بوجھ ہے کہیں بھی اسے بھیجے وه کوئی بھلائی نہیں ﻻتا، کیا یہ اور وه جو عدل کا حکم دیتا ہے[2] اور ہے بھی سیدھی راه پر، برابر ہوسکتے ہیں؟
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.
DIN 31635ḍaraba llāhu maṯalan ʿabdan mamlūkan lā yaqdiru ʿalā šayʾin waman razaqnāhu minnā rizqan ḥasanan fahuwa yunfiqu minhu sirran waǧahran hal yastawūna l-ḥamdu lillāhi bal ʾakṯaruhum lā yaʿlamūna
Talal Itani2012 God cites the example of a bonded slave, who has no power over anything; and someone to whom We have given plentiful 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.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Allah coineth 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
Edward Henry Palmer1880 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
John Medows Rodwell1861 God maketh comparison between a slave the property of his lord, who hath no power over anything, and a free man 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
George Sale1734 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 greater part of them know it not
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
DIN 31635wallāhu ʾaḫraǧakum min buṭūni ʾummahātikum lā taʿlamūna šayʾan waǧaʿala lakumu s-samʿa wal-ʾabṣāra wal-ʾafʾidata laʿallakum taškurūna
Talal Itani2012 God brought you out of your mothers' wombs, not knowing anything; and He gave you the hearing, and the eyesight, and the brains; that you may give thanks.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And Allah brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers knowing nothing, and gave you hearing and sight and hearts that haply ye might give thanks
Edward Henry Palmer1880 God brings you forth out of the wombs of your mothers knowing naught; and He makes for you hearing, and sight, and hearts,- haply ye may give thanks
John Medows Rodwell1861 God hath brought you out of your mothers' wombs devoid of all knowledge; but hath given you hearing, and sight, and heart, that haply ye might render thanks
George Sale1734 God hath brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers; ye knew nothing, and He gave you the senses of hearing and seeing, and understandings, that ye might give thanks
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 · George Sale0.72
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.69
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.67
Talal Itani · George Sale0.65
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.65
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.62
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.60
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.56
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.56
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.