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An-Noor النور

In plain wordsEditorial

An editorial summary of the translations. Not a translation or tafsir.

Sixty-four verses, taking its name from the verse at 35 that likens God's light to a lamp in a niche, lit from an olive tree neither of the east nor of the west. It opens by announcing itself as a surah sent down with clear signs, and much of what follows is law: evidence, accusation, and what may be entered and by whom.

AALAMIN Editor · signed 25 August 2026

not a scholar — what this signature means

I am not a scholar, and nothing here asks you to treat me as one. The plain words on this site are my restatement of what the five translations shown above say, together with counts derived from the text itself — nothing more. I sign them so that a named person is accountable for every sentence, not so you'll take my word for anything. The authority on this page is the text and its translators. If my words don't match theirs, mine are the ones that are wrong.

Read the surah Go to a verse

Every verse as a number; tap one to open it. Shaded numbers mark verses where the translations differ most.

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worded differently

Where the translators differDerived

The verses of this surah whose wording differs most, most differently worded first. Under each, the two renderings that share the fewest words are quoted in full under their translators' names; every rendering is on the verse's own page. This measures wording, not meaning.

24:52
Analysis details This verse's score: 0.73. Widest pair of the 5 renderings, at 0.90.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · 1930

He who obeyeth Allah and His messenger, and feareth Allah, and keepeth duty (unto Him): such indeed are the victorious

George Sale · 1734

Whoever shall obey God and his apostle, and shall fear God, and shall be devout towards Him; these shall enjoy great felicity
24:57
Analysis details This verse's score: 0.71. Widest pair of the 5 renderings, at 0.77.

Edward Henry Palmer · 1880

Do not reckon that those who misbelieve can frustrate (God) in the earth, for their resort is the Fire, and an ill journey shall it be

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · 1930

Think not that the disbelievers can escape in the land. Fire will be their home - a hapless journey's end
Show all verses the translators word differently
24:29
Analysis details This verse's score: 0.70. Widest pair of the 5 renderings, at 0.78.

Edward Henry Palmer · 1880

It is no crime against you that ye enter uninhabited houses,- a convenience for you;- and God knows what ye show and what ye hide

John Medows Rodwell · 1861

There shall be no harm in your entering houses in which no one dwelleth, for the supply of your needs: and God knoweth what ye do openly and what ye hide
24:11
Analysis details This verse's score: 0.70. Widest pair of the 5 renderings, at 0.81.

Talal Itani · 2012

Those who perpetrated the slander are a band of you. Do not consider it bad for you, but it is good for you. Each person among them bears his share in the sin. As for him who played the major role-for him is a terrible punishment.

George Sale · 1734

As to the party among you who have published the falsehood concerning Ayesha, think it not to be an evil unto you: On the contrary, it is better for you. Every man of them shall be punished according to the injustice of which he hath been guilty; and he among them who hath undertaken to aggravate the same, shall suffer a grievous punishment
24:26
Analysis details This verse's score: 0.70. Widest pair of the 5 renderings, at 0.85.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · 1930

Vile women are for vile men, and vile men for vile women. Good women are for good men, and good men for good women; such are innocent of that which people say: For them is pardon and a bountiful provision

John Medows Rodwell · 1861

Bad women for bad men, and bad men for bad women; but virtuous women for virtuous men, and virtuous men for virtuous women! These shall be cleared from calumnies; theirs shall be forgiveness and an honourable provision
More about this surahDerived
Verses
64
Words
1,316
Place
Medinan
Revelation position
102th of 114 in an ordering its source does not name
Opening letters
None
Bismillah
Carried by the surah, unnumbered
Word-by-word breakdown
54.7% of 1,316 words carry an analysis
  1. 96
  2. 68
  3. 73
  4. 74
  5. 1
  6. 111
  7. 81
  8. 87
  9. 92
  10. 89
  11. 93
  12. 94
  13. 103
  14. 100
  15. 108
  16. 102
  17. 107
  18. 109
  19. 105
  20. 113
  21. 114
  22. 112
  23. 53
  24. 80
  25. 97
  26. 91
  27. 85
  28. 95
  29. 106
  30. 101
  31. 75
  32. 104
  33. 77
  34. 50
  35. 90
  36. 86
  37. 54
  38. 38
  39. 7
  40. 72
  41. 36
  42. 25
  43. 35
  44. 19
  45. 20
  46. 56
  47. 26
  48. 27
  49. 28
  50. 17
  51. 10
  52. 11
  53. 12
  54. 15
  55. 6
  56. 37
  57. 31
  58. 34
  59. 39
  60. 40
  61. 41
  62. 42
  63. 43
  64. 44
  65. 45
  66. 46
  67. 51
  68. 88
  69. 18
  70. 16
  71. 71
  72. 14
  73. 21
  74. 23
  75. 32
  76. 52
  77. 67
  78. 69
  79. 70
  80. 78
  81. 79
  82. 82
  83. 84
  84. 30
  85. 29
  86. 83
  87. 2
  88. 8
  89. 3
  90. 33
  91. 60
  92. 4
  93. 99
  94. 57
  95. 47
  96. 13
  97. 55
  98. 76
  99. 65
  100. 98
  101. 59
  102. 24
  103. 22
  104. 63
  105. 58
  106. 49
  107. 66
  108. 64
  109. 61
  110. 62
  111. 48
  112. 5
  113. 9
  114. 110

Meccan Medinan

Counted from the text and the spine at build time, not written into the page. Opening letters are derived from the edition's orthography: an opening token of at most five letters carrying none of its vocalisation marks. The revelation position is reproduced from Revelation order as encoded by the Tanzil metadata, which does not name whose ordering it is.

Analysis detailsDerived

These figures count the words the translations share. They measure wording, not meaning, and they do not say which translation is right.

Mean score across this surah
0.60 across 64 scored verses

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
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.
Scored
6,236 verses
As at
13 September 2026, 10:56 UTC
Sources for this page

Surah metadataTanzil Qur'an metadata ·quran-data.xml v1.0·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution — version not specified by the source·retrieved 24 Aug 2026

Surah metadata from Tanzil Qur'an metadata (quran-data.xml, version 1.0), Tanzil Project, tanzil.net. (C) 2008-2009 Tanzil.info. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution; the source does not state a version. Values are reproduced unchanged; this site selects and arranges them, and derives verse ranges from the division start points. https://tanzil.net/res/text/metadata/quran-data.xml