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.
The lightning almost snatcheth away their sight from them. As often as it flashethforth for them they walk therein, and when it darkeneth against them they stand still. If Allah willed, He could destroy their hearing and their sight. Lo! Allah is able to do all things
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
Compare translations (4)Talal Itani· published 2012
The lightning almost snatches their sight away. Whenever it illuminates for them, they walk in it; but when it grows dark over them, they stand still. Had God willed, He could have taken away their hearing and their sight. God is capable of everything.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
The lightning well-nigh snatches off their sight, whenever it shines for them they walk therein; but when it is dark for them they halt; and if God willed He would go off with their hearing and their sight; verily, God is mighty over all
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
The lightning almost snatcheth away their eyes! So oft as it gleameth on them they walk on in it, but when darkness closeth upon them, they stop! And if God pleased, of their ears and of their eyes would he surely deprive them: verily God is Almighty
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
the lightning wanteth but little of taking away their sight; so often as it enlighteneth them, they walk therein, but when darkness cometh on them, they stand still; and if God so pleased, he would certainly deprive them of their hearing and their sight, for God is almighty
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
Vetëtima pothuajse ua merr shikimin. Sa herë që u bën dritë, ata ecin e, kur errësohet, ndalen. Po të donte Allahu, do t'ua merrte dëgjimin dhe shikimin. Vërtet Allahu është i Plotfuqishëm për çdo gjë.
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
বিদ্যুৎ চমক তাদের দৃষ্টিশক্তি ছিনিয়ে নেয়ার উপক্রম করে । যখনই তাদের সামনে আলো উদ্ভাসিত করে, তখন তারা পথ চলতে থাকে। আর যখন তাদের উপর অন্ধকারাচ্ছন্ন হয়, তখন তারা থমকে দাঁড়ায়। আল্লাহ ইচ্ছে করলে, তাদের শ্রবণশক্তি ও দৃষ্টিশক্তি নিয়ে নিতে পারেন। নিশ্চয় আল্লাহ সবকিছুর ওপর সর্বশক্তিমান।
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
Munja samo što ih ne zaslijepi: kad god im osvijetli – oni krenu, a čim ih tami prepusti – zastanu! A da Allah hoće, On bi im oduzeo i sluh i vid. Allah, uistinu, sve može.
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
Munja samo što ih ne zaslijepi: kad god im osvijetli – oni krenu, a čim ih tami prepusti – zastanu! A da Allah hoće, On bi im oduzeo i sluh i vid. Allah, uistinu, sve može.
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
Majal ngal na ɗeɓa diftaade gite maɓɓe kala nde ngal yaynii ɓe njaha heen so niɓɓiɗii ɓe ndaroo, so Alla welano nawa nanɗe e gite maɓɓe sabu Alla ko kattanɗo kala huunde.
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
ლამისაა წართვას ელვამ მხედველობა; როგორც კი გაიელვებს, მაშინვე ამოძრავდებიან მისით (ელვის სინათლეზე) და, სიბნელე რომ ჩამოწვება, ჩერდებიან. ალლაჰს რომ ენება, უეჭველად, წაართმევდა მათ სმენასაც და ხედვასაც. ჭეშმარიტად, ალლაჰი ყოვლისშემძლეა.
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
Der Blitz raubt ihnen beinahe das Augenlicht. Jedes Mal, wenn er ihnen (etwas Helligkeit) leuchtet, gehen sie darin. Und wenn es finster um sie wird, bleiben sie stehen. Und wenn Allah wollte, würde Er ihnen gewiss ihr Gehör und Augenlicht fortnehmen. Wahrlich, Allah hat zu allem die Macht.
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
Παραλίγο η αστραπή να αρπάξει την όρασή τους, όποτε αστράφτει γι' αυτούς, περπατούν στο φως της, και όταν σταματάει και τους καλύπτει το σκοτάδι, στέκονται ακίνητοι. Και αν ήθελε ο Αλλάχ, θα έπαιρνε την ακοή και την όρασή τους. Στ’ αλήθεια, ο Αλλάχ είναι Ικανός για τα πάντα.
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
निकट है कि बिजली उनकी आँखों को उचक ले जाए। जब भी वह उनके लिए रोशनी करती है, तो उसमें चल पड़ते हैं और जब वह उनपर अँधेरा कर देती है, तो खड़े हो जाते हैं। और यदि अल्लाह चाहता, तो अवश्य उनके कान और उनकी आँखों को ले जाता। निःसंदेह अल्लाह हर चीज़ पर सर्वशक्तिमान है।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Il lampo quasi acceca loro la vista; ogni volta che fa luce, vanno avanti; ma se ritorna il buio, si fermano. E se Allāh avesse voluto, avrebbe tolto loro l’udito e la vista. In verità Allāh è Onnipotente.
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
20. Žaibas beveik atima jų regėjimą. Kai tik jis tvyksteli jiems, jie jame eina, o kai juos apgaubia tamsa, jie stovi nejudantys. Ir jei Allahas panorėtų, Jis galėtų atimti jų klausą ir jų regėjimą. Iš tiesų, Allahas yra Visa Galintis.
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.
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
Молния едва не отнимает у них зрение; всякий раз, когда она осветит им путь, они идут при её свете, а когда мрак окутывает их, они останавливаются. А если бы Аллах пожелал, Он лишил бы их слуха и зрения. Воистину, Аллах всемогущ над всем сущим.
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
Муња само што их не заслепи: кад год им осветли - они крену, а чим их тами препусти - застану! А да Аллах хоће, Он би им одузео и слух и вид. Аллах, уистину, све може.
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
Unakaribia umeme huo kunyakua kuona kwao. Kila ukiwatolea mwangaza, wanatembea ndani yake. Na linapowawia giza, wanasimama. Na angelitaka Mwenyezi Mungu, angeliondoa kusikia kwao na kuona kwao. Hakika Mwenyezi Mungu ni Muweza mno wa kila kitu.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Blixten är nära att beröva dem synen. När den lyser upp [mörkret] går de framåt, men när mörkret faller över dem stannar de åter. Om Gud hade velat hade han berövat dem deras hörsel och syn. Gud har förvisso makt över allt.
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
(O esnada) şimşek onların gözlerini aniden alacakmış gibi olur. Şimşek parıldadığında yürürler, ortalık birden kararınca da orada dikilip kalıverirler. Eğer Allah isteseydi onların kulaklarını sağır ve gözlerini kör ederdi. Şüphesiz Allah her şeye gücü yetendir.
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
قریب ہے کہ بجلی ان کی آنکھیں اُچک لے جائے، جب ان کے لئے روشنی کرتی ہے تو اس میں چلتے پھرتے ہیں اور جب ان پر اندھیرا کرتی ہے تو کھڑے ہوجاتے ہیں[1] اور اگر اللہ تعالیٰ چاہے تو ان کے کانوں اور آنکھوں کو بیکار کردے[2]۔ یقیناً اللہ تعالیٰ ہر چیز پر قدرت رکھنے واﻻ ہے
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)aw kasayyibin mina s-samaa'i feehi zulumaatun wara'dun wabarqun yaj'aloona asaabi'ahum fee aadhaanihim mina s-sawaa'iqi hadhara l-mawti wallaahu muheetun bil-kaafireen
DIN 31635ʾaw kaṣayyibin mina s-samāʾi fīhi ẓulumātun waraʿdun wabarqun yaǧʿalūna ʾaṣābiʿahum fī ʾāḏānihim mina ṣ-ṣawāʿiqi ḥaḏara l-mawti wallāhu muḥīṭun bil-kāfirīna
Talal Itani2012 Or like a cloudburst from the sky, in which is darkness, and thunder, and lightning. They press their fingers into their ears from the thunderbolts, in fear of death. But God surrounds the disbelievers.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Or like a rainstorm from the sky, wherein is darkness, thunder and the flash of lightning. They thrust their fingers in their ears by reason of the thunder-claps, for fear of death, Allah encompasseth the disbelievers (in His guidance, His omniscience and His omnipotence)
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Or like a storm-cloud from the sky, wherein is darkness and thunder and lightning; they put their fingers in their ears at the thunder-clap, for fear of death, for God encompasses the misbelievers
John Medows Rodwell1861 Or like those who, when there cometh a storm-cloud out of the Heaven, big with darkness thunder and lightning, thrust their fingers into their ears because of the thunder-clap, for fear of death! God is round about the infidels
George Sale1734 Or like a stormy cloud from heaven, fraught with darkness, thunder, and lightning, they put their fingers in their ears, because of the noise of the thunder, for fear of death; God encompasseth the infidels
DIN 31635allaḏī ǧaʿala lakumu l-ʾarḍa firāšan was-samāʾa bināʾan waʾanzala mina s-samāʾi māʾan faʾaḫraǧa bihi mina ṯ-ṯamarāti rizqan lakum falā taǧʿalū lillāhi ʾandādan waʾantum taʿlamūna
Talal Itani2012 He who made the earth a habitat for you, and the sky a structure, and sends water down from the sky, and brings out fruits thereby, as a sustenance for you. Therefore, do not assign rivals to God while you know.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Who hath appointed the earth a resting-place for you, and the sky a canopy; and causeth water to pour down from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you. And do not set up rivals to Allah when ye know (better)
Edward Henry Palmer1880 who made the earth for you a bed and the heaven a dome; and sent down from heaven water, and brought forth therewith fruits as a sustenance for you; so make no peers for God, the while ye know
John Medows Rodwell1861 Who hath made the earth a bed for you, and the heaven a covering, and hath caused water to come down from heaven, and by it hath brought forth fruits for your sustenance! Do not then wittingly give peers to God
George Sale1734 who hath spread the earth as a bed for you, and the heaven as a covering, and hath caused water to descend from heaven, and thereby produced fruits for your sustenance. Set not up therefore any equals unto God, against your own knowledge
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 —
0.63 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 Rodwell0.72
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.69
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.67
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.63
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.62
Talal Itani · George Sale0.62
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.61
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.56
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.51
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.
Sources, editions and licences for everything above
ReceiptsSource fact
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.