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.
And among the people is he who worships God on edge. When something good comes his way, he is content with it. But when an ordealstrikes him, he makes a turnaround. He loses this world and the next. That is the obvious loss.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And among mankind is he who worshippethAllah upon a narrowmarge so that if good befalleth him he is content therewith, but if a trial befalleth him, he fallethawayutterly. He loseth both the world and the Hereafter. That is the sheer loss
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 amongst men is one who serves God (wavering) on a brink; and if there befall him good, he is comforted; but if there befall him a trial, he turns round again, and loses this world and the next - that is an obvious loss
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
There are some who serve God in a singlepoint. If good come upon one of them, he resteth in it; but if trial come upon him, he turneth him round (to infidelity) with the loss both of this world and of the next! This same is the clearruin
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
There are some men who serve God in a wavering manner, standing, as it were, on the verge of the truereligion. If good befall one of them, he resteth satisfied therein; but if any tribulation befall him, he turneth himself round, with the loss both of this world, and of the life to come. This is manifestperdition
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
Prej njerëzve ka edhe të atillë që e adhurojnë Allahun duke qenë në mëdyshje: nëse u ndodh diçka e mirë, janë të kënaqur; por, nëse i godet ndonjë sprovë, kthehen në mosbesim, duke humbur kështu këtë botë dhe botën tjetër. Pikërisht kjo është humbja e qartë.
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
মানুষের মধ্যে কেউ কেউ এমন রয়েছে, যারা দ্বিধা-সন্দেহের সাথে আল্লাহর ইবাদাত করে। যদি তার কোনো কল্যাণ হয়, তবে সে তাতে প্রশান্ত হয়। আর যদি তার কোনো বিপর্যয় ঘটে, তাহলে সে তার আসল চেহারায় ফিরে যায়।(৬) সে দুনিয়া ও আখিরাত উভয় জগতেই ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত হয়। এটি হলো সুস্পষ্ট ক্ষতি।
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
Ima ljudi kao onaj koji Allaha obožava kolebljivo, na ivici: ako ga zadesi dobro, smiri se time, a ako ga zadesi iskušenje, on se potpuno okrene, pa tako izgubi i dunjaluk i ahiret. To je, uistinu, očiti gubitak.
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
Ima ljudi kao onaj koji Allaha obožava kolebljivo, na ivici: ako ga zadesi dobro, smiri se time, a ako ga zadesi iskušenje, on se potpuno okrene, pa tako izgubi i ovaj i onaj svijet. To je, uistinu, očiti gubitak.
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
No e yimɓe ɓen on mo no rewa Alla e dow selindaare; si moƴƴere heɓii mo o tabitira sabu ɗuum si jarrabuyee kadi heɓii mo o waylitoo e ye'eso makko, o hayrii aduna on e La'akara on ko ɗum tigi woni hayrere ɓanngunde nden.
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
ადამიანთა შორის არიან ისეთებიც, ვინც ეთაყვანება ალლაჰს, მაგრამ ცვალებადი არიან. თუკი სიკეთე ეწევათ, კმაყოფილნი არიან ამით, ხოლო თუ განსაცდელი ეწევათ, უკან იხევენ. წაგებულნი არიან ამ ქვეყნადაც და იმ ქვეყნადაც და, სწორედ ეს არის აშკარა წაგება.
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 unter den Menschen gibt es manch einen, der Allah nur zögerlich (am Rande) dient. Wenn ihn nun etwas Gutes trifft, ist er damit beruhigt, doch wenn ihn eine Heimsuchung trifft, macht er eine Kehrtwende. Er hat das Diesseits und das Jenseits verloren. Dies ist ja der deutliche Verlust.
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
Ανάμεσα στους ανθρώπους υπάρχει εκείνος που λατρεύει τον Αλλάχ με δισταγμό: αν του έρθει κάτι καλό, είναι καθησυχασμένος μ' αυτό (και συνεχίζει στην πίστη του). Αλλά αν τον πλήττουν κακουχίες, γυρίζει πίσω (εγκαταλείποντας και κατηγορώντας τη θρησκεία του). Έχασε την εγκόσμια ζωή (επειδή η απιστία του δε θα τον σώσει από τις κακουχίες, ούτε θα του φέρει κανένα όφελος), και (έχασε και) τη Μέλλουσα Ζωή. Αυτή είναι πράγματι η προφανής απώλεια.
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 लोगों में वह (भी) है, जो अल्लाह की इबादत एक किनारे पर रहकर[5] करता है। फिर यदि उसे कोई भलाई पहुँच जाए, तो वह उससे संतुष्ट हो जाता है, और यदि उसे कोई परीक्षा आ पहुँचे, तो मुँह के बल फिर जाता है। वह दुनिया एवं आख़िरत में घाटे में पड़ गया। यही तो खुला घाटा है।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E tra gli uomini c’è chi adora Allāh con perplessità: se gli tocca una buona sorte, si tranquillizza; se lo colpisce una disgrazia, volge il viso. Ha perso, così, la vita e l’Aldilà: quella è la perdita evidente!
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
11. Ir tarp žmonių yra tas, kuris garbina Allahą taip, lyg tai būtų ant ribos (t. y. abejotų): jei gera nutinka jam, jis tuo patenkintas, tačiau jei jį ištinka išbandymas, jis nusigręžia (t. y. grįžta į netikėjimą po islamo priėmimo). Jis praranda abu – šį pasaulį ir Amžinybę. Tai yra akivaizdus praradimas.
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
Namoota irraa nama amantii irraa moggaatti ta’ee (shakkiin) Rabbi gabbarutu jira. Yoo toltuun isa tuqe, isatti ragga’a.Yoo rakkoon isa tuqxe ammoo, fuula isaa irratti garagala. Inni addunyaafi Aakhiraa hoonga’ee jira. Sun isatu hoongoo ifa bahaadha.
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
Среди людей есть и такие, кто поклоняется Аллаху [находясь] на грани: если его постигает благо, он успокаивается им; а если постигает его испытание, он обращается вспять — [так] он лишился и этого мира, и Последней жизни. Это и есть явная потеря.
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
Има људи који Аллаха обожавају, али без правог уверења. Ако га прати срећа, он је смирен, а ако западне и у најмање искушење, враћа се неверству – па тако изгуби и овај и Будући свет. То је, уистину, очити губитак.
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 katika watu wapo wanaomuabudu Mwenyezi Mungu kwa ukingoni. Ikimfikia heri, hutulia kwayo. Na ukimfikia msukosuko, hugeuza uso wake. Amehasiri dunia na Akhera. Hiyo ndiyo hasara iliyo wazi.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Och bland människorna finns den som dyrkar Gud på gränsen [till otro]; om gott når honom är han tillfreds, men om en prövning drabbar honom vänder han genast [tron] ryggen. Han går miste både om detta och det kommande livet. Det är den uppenbara förlusten.
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
İnsanlardan öylesi de vardır ki, Allah’a kıyıdan kenardan kulluk eder. Eğer kendisine bir hayır dokunursa, gönlü onunla hoş olur. Şâyet başına bir kötülük gelirse, gerisin geri (küfre) dönüverir. O dünyayı da kaybetmiştir, ahireti de. İşte bu apaçık ziyanın ta kendisidir.
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
بعض لوگ ایسے بھی ہیں کہ ایک کنارے پر (کھڑے) ہو کر اللہ کی عبادت کرتے ہیں۔ اگر کوئی نفع مل گیا تو دلچسپی لینے لگتے ہیں اور اگر کوئی آفت آگئی تو اسی وقت منھ پھیر لیتے ہیں[1] ، انہوں نے دونوں جہان کانقصان اٹھا لیا۔ واقعی یہ کھلا نقصان 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.
Talal Itani2012 Turning aside in contempt, to lead away from the path of God. He will have humiliation in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection We will make him taste the agony of burning.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Turning away in pride to beguile (men) from the way of Allah. For him in this world is ignominy, and on the Day of Resurrection We make him taste the doom of burning
Edward Henry Palmer1880 twisting his neck from the way of God; for him is disgrace in this world, and we will make him taste, upon the resurrection day, the torment of burning
John Medows Rodwell1861 Turning aside in scorn to mislead others from the way of God! Disgrace shall be his in this world; and on the day of the resurrection, We will make him taste the torment of the burning
George Sale1734 proudly turning his side, that he may seduce men from the way of God. Ignominy shall attend him in this world; and on the day of resurrection We will make him taste the torment of burning
DIN 31635ḏālika bimā qaddamat yadāka waʾanna llāha laysa biẓallāmin lilʿabīdi
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 That is for what your hands have advanced, and because God is not unjust to the servants.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 (And unto him it will be said): This is for that which thy two hands have sent before, and because Allah is no oppressor of His slaves
Edward Henry Palmer1880 That is for what thy hands have done before, and for that God is not unjust unto His servants
John Medows Rodwell1861 This, for thy handywork of old! for God is not unjust to His servants
George Sale1734 when it shall be said unto him, this thou sufferest because of that which thy hands have formerly committed; for God is not unjust towards mankind
DIN 31635yadʿū laman ḍarruhu ʾaqrabu min nafʿihi labiʾsa l-mawlā walabiʾsa l-ʿašīru
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 He invokes one whose harm is closer than his benefit. What a miserable master. What a miserable companion.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 He calleth unto him whose harm is nearer than his benefit; verily an evil patron and verily an evil friend
Edward Henry Palmer1880 He calls on him whose harm is nigher than his profit,- a bad lord and a bad comrade
John Medows Rodwell1861 He calleth on him who would sooner hurt than profit him. Surely, bad the lord, and, surely, bad the vassal
George Sale1734 He will invoke him who will sooner be of hurt to his worshipper than of advantage. Such is surely a miserable patron, and a miserable companion
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 —
0.69 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 Sale0.81
Talal Itani · George Sale0.76
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.74
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.73
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.73
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.72
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.66
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.64
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.61
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.48
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.