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.
O men, a parable is propounded unto you; wherefore hearken unto it. Verily the idols which ye invoke, besides God, can never create a single fly, although they were all assembled for that purpose: And if the fly snatch any thing from them, they cannot recover the same from it. Weak is the petitioner, and the petitioned
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
Compare translations (4)Talal Itani· published 2012
O people! A parable is presented, so listen to it: Those you invoke besides God will never create a fly, even if they banded together for that purpose. And if the fly steals anything from them, they cannot recover it from it. Weak are the pursuer and the pursued.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
O mankind! A similitude is coined, so pay ye heed to it: Lo! those on whom ye call beside Allah will never create a fly though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly tooksomething from them, they could not rescue it from it. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought
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
O ye folk! a parable is struck out for you, so listen to it. Verily, those on whom ye call beside God could never create a fly if they all united together to do it, and if the fly should despoil them of aught they could not snatch it away from it - weak is both the seeker and the sought
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
O men! a parable is setforth to you, wherefore hearken to it. Verily, they on whom ye call beside God, cannot create a fly, though they assemble for it; and if the fly carry off aught from them, they cannot take it away from it! Weak the suppliant and the supplicated
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
O njerëz! Është sjellë një shembull, andaj dëgjojeni me vëmendje: ata që ju i adhuroni në vend të Allahut nuk mund të krijojnë as një mizë, edhe sikur të mblidheshin të gjithë për këtë. E, nëse miza u rrëmben atyre diçka, ata nuk mund ta marrin atë prej saj. I dobët është edhe lutësi, edhe i luturi.
Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
বাংলা · Bengali
হে মানুষ! একটি উপমা পেশ করা হলো, তোমরা মনোযোগ দিয়ে তা শোনো। নিশ্চয় তোমরা আল্লাহর পরিবর্তে যাদেরকে (যেসব মূর্তিগুলোকে) ডাকো , তারা কখনো একটি মাছিও সৃষ্টি করতে পারবে না; যদিও তারা এ উদ্দেশ্যে সকলে একত্রিত হয়। আর যদি মাছি তাদের কাছ থেকে কোন কিছু ছিনিয়ে নেয়, তারা তার কাছ থেকে তাও উদ্ধার করতে পারবে না। প্রার্থনাকারী ও যার কাছে প্রার্থনা করা হয়,উভয়েই দুর্বল।(২৭)
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
O ljudi, evo jednog primjera, pa ga poslušajte: “Oni koje vi, pored Allaha, molite, ne mogu nikako ni mušicu stvoriti, makar se radi nje sakupili. A ako bi im mušica nešto ugrabila, oni to ne bi mogli od nje izbaviti; nejak je i onaj koji obožava, a i onaj ko se obožava!"
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
O ljudi, evo, jednog primjera, pa ga poslušajte: “Oni koje vi, pored Allaha, molite, ne mogu nikako ni mušicu stvoriti, makar se radi nje sakupili. A ako bi im mušica nešto ugrabila, oni to ne bi mogli od nje izbaviti; nejak je i onaj koji obožava, a i onaj tko se obožava!"
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
Eey mon yimɓe, yeru fiyaama keɗtee mo, pellet ɓeen ɓe noddoton gaAlla, ɓe tagata hay mbu'ubu, hay sinndo ɓe mooɓondiriino fii ɗum. Si coongil(mbuubu)ngil jattii ɓe goɗɗum ɓe kattantaake jaɓtugol ngil ɗum. Ɗaɓɓuɗo on e ɗaɓɓaaɗo on fof no lo'i.
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
ჰეი, ადამიანებო! მაგალითისთვისაა იგავი, მაშ მოუსმინეთ. ჭეშმარიტად, რომელთაც თქვენ მოუხმობთ, ალლაჰის გარდა, ვერ შექმნიან [ერთ] ბუზსაც კი, რომც გაერთიანდენ ამისათვის. თუ ბუზი რაიმეს მოსტაცებს მათ, ვერ წაართმევენ უკან. სუსტია ის, ვინც ითხოვს, და ისიც, ვისაც სთხოვენ.
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
O ihr Menschen, ein Gleichnis wird (euch) angeführt, so hört darauf. Wahrlich, diejenigen, die ihr anstatt Allahs anruft, werden nicht (einmal) eine Fliege erschaffen (können), auch wenn sie sich dafür zusammentun. Und wenn die Fliege ihnen etwas raubte, könnten sie es ihr nicht entreißen. Schwach ist (hier) derjenige, der ersucht, und derjenige, der ersucht wird.
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
Ω, άνθρωποι! Παρουσιάζεται ένα παράδειγμα, ακούστε το λοιπόν (προσεκτικά): Πράγματι, αυτοί (οι λεγόμενοι θεοί σας και τα είδωλα) που επικαλείστε πέραν του Αλλάχ, δε θα δημιουργήσουν ούτε καν μύγες, ακόμα κι αν συγκεντρώνονταν όλοι μαζί γι’ αυτόν τον σκοπό! Ακόμα κι αν οι μύγες έκλεβαν απ’ αυτούς κάτι (πολύ μικρό), δε θα μπορούσαν να το σώσουν (και να το ανακτήσουν) απ’ αυτές! Αδύναμοι είναι οι κυνηγοί (οι λεγόμενοι θεοί σας) και οι κυνηγημένοι (οι μύγες).
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
ऐ लोगो! एक उदाहरण दिया गया है। इसे ध्यान से सुनो। निःसंदेह वे लोग जिन्हें तुम अल्लाह के अतिरिक्त पुकारते हो, कभी एक मक्खी भी पैदा नहीं करेंगे, यद्यपि वे इसके लिए इकट्ठे हो जाएँ। और यदि मक्खी उनसे कोई चीज़ छीन ले, वे उसे उससे छुड़ा नहीं पाएँगे। कमज़ोर है माँगने वाला और वह भी जिससे माँगा गया।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
O uomini! Vi si porta un esempio, ascoltatelo: in verità quelli che invocate, all’infuori di Allāh, non creerebbero una mosca, neanche se collaborassero insieme. E se le mosche sottraessero loro qualcosa, non sarebbero capaci di riprendersela. Gli adoranti e gli adorati sono impotenti!
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
73. Žmonės, panašumai buvo sudaryti, taigi klausykite apie juos (atidžiai): iš tiesų tie, kurių jūs šaukiatės šalia Allaho, negali sukurti (netgi) musės, net jei jie susijungs tam tikslui. Ir jei musė pačiups iš jų kokį daiktą, jie neturės galios to iš jos išlaisvinti. Taigi silpni yra (abu) besikreipiantys, ir tie, į kuriuos kreipiamasi.
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
isin yaa warri amantan! Fakkeenyi taasifamee isa dhaggeeffadhaa, warri isin Rabbii achitti kadhattan (gabbartan) odoo isaaf walitti qabamaniillee tiisisa tokko hin uuman, Yoo tiisisni waan tokko isaan harkaa bute, (waan) san isa irraa buusuu hin danda’anu, Gabbaraafi gabbaramaan dadhabe.[13]
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
О люди! Вам приводится притча, прислушайтесь же к ней. Воистину, те, к кому вы взываете помимо Аллаха, не сотворят и мухи, даже если соберутся для этого все вместе. А если муха похитит у них что-нибудь, они не смогут отобрать это у неё. Слаб и просящий, и тот, кого просят.
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
О људи, ево једног примера, па га послушајте: „Они које ви, поред Аллаха обожавате, не могу никако да створе ни мушицу, макар се ради ње удружили. А ако би им мушица нешто уграбила, они то не би могли да избаве од ње. Слаб је онај који обожава и онај који се обожава!“
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
Enyi watu! Unapigwa mfano, basi usikilizeni. Hakika wale mnaowaomba badala ya Mwenyezi Mungu, hawawezi kuumba hata nzi ijapokuwa watajumuika kwa hilo. Na nzi akiwapokonya kitu, hawawezi kukiokoa kutoka kwake. Amedhoofika kweli huyo mwenye kutaka na mwenye kutakiwa.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Människor! En liknelse ges, så lyssna till den: de som ni tillber vid Guds sida kan inte skapa minsta fluga, även om de alla hjälptes åt. Och om en fluga skulle ta något från dem, kan de inte få det åter. Svag är både [avguden] som jagar och [flugan] som jagas.
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
-Ey insanlar!- Bir örnek veriliyor, onu iyice dinleyin! Sizin Allah’ın dışında dua ettikleriniz (ilahlar) bir araya gelseler bile bir sinek dahi yaratamazlar. Sinek onlardan bir şey kapsa, onu ondan kurtaramazlar. İsteyen de, istenen de zayıftır.
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
لوگو! ایک مثال بیان کی جا رہی ہے، ذرا کان لگا کر سن لو! اللہ کے سوا جن جن کو تم پکارتے رہے ہو وه ایک مکھی بھی تو پیدا نہیں کر سکتے، گو سارے کے سارے ہی جمع ہو جائیں[1] ، بلکہ اگر مکھی ان سے کوئی چیز لے بھاگے تو یہ تو اسے بھی اس سے چھین نہیں[2] سکتے، بڑا بودا ہے طلب کرنے واﻻ اور بڑا بودا ہے[3] وه جس سے طلب کیا جا رہا 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)waya'budoona min dooni llaahi maa lam yunazzil bihi sultaanan wamaa laysa lahum bihi 'ilmun wamaa lilzzaalimeena min naseer
DIN 31635wayaʿbudūna min dūni llāhi mā lam yunazzil bihi sulṭānan wamā laysa lahum bihi ʿilmun wamā lilẓẓālimīna min naṣīrin
Talal Itani2012 Yet they worship, besides God, things for which He sent down no warrant, and what they have no knowledge of. There is no savior for the transgressors.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And they worship instead of Allah that for which He hath sent down no warrant, and that whereof they have no knowledge. For evil-doers there is no helper
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And they serve beside God what He has sent down no power for, and what they have no knowledge of; but the wrong-doers shall have none to help them
John Medows Rodwell1861 They worship beside God, that for which He hath sent down no warranty, and that of which they have no knowledge: but for those who commit this wrong, no helper
George Sale1734 They worship, besides God, that concerning which He hath sent down no convincing proof, and concerning which they have no knowledge: But the unjust doers shall have none to assist them
Talal Itani2012 And when Our Clear Verses are recited to them, you will recognize disgust on the faces of those who disbelieve. They nearly assault those who recite to them Our Verses. Say, "Shall I inform you of something worse than that? The Fire! God has promised it to those who disbelieve. And what a wretched outcome!"
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when Our revelations are recited unto them, thou knowest the denial in the faces of those who disbelieve; they all but attack those who recite Our revelations unto them. Say: Shall I proclaim unto you worse than that? The Fire! Allah hath promised it for those who disbelieve. A hapless journey's end
Edward Henry Palmer1880 When our signs are read to them manifest, thou mayest recognise in the faces of those who misbelieve disdain; they well-nigh rush at those who recite to them our signs. Say, 'Shall I inform you of something worse than that for you, the Fire which God has promised to those who misbelieve? an evil journey shall it be
John Medows Rodwell1861 And when our clear signs are rehearsed to them, thou mayst perceive disdain in the countenances of the Infidels. Scarce can they refrain from rushing to attack those who rehearse our signs to them! SAY: Shall I tell you of worse than this? The fire which God hath threatened to those who believe not! Wretched the passage thither
George Sale1734 And when our evident signs are rehearsed unto them, thou mayest perceive, in the countenances of the unbelievers, a disdain thereof: It wanteth little but that they rush with violence on those who rehearse our signs unto them. Say, shall I declare unto you a worse thing than this? The fire of hell, which God hath threatened unto those who believe not, is worse; and an unhappy journey shall it be thither
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 Sale0.76
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.68
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.68
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.66
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.64
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.63
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.62
Talal Itani · George Sale0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.52
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.