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.
But if they return thee no answer, know that they only follow their own desires: And who erreth more widely from the truth than he who followeth his own desire, without a direction from God? Verily God directeth not the unjust people
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
But if they fail to respond to you, know that they follow their fancies. And who is more lost than him who follows his fancy without guidance from God? God does not guide the unjust people.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And if they answer thee not, then know that what they follow is their lusts. And who goeth farther astray than he who followeth his lust without guidance from Allah. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoingfolk
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 if they cannot answer thee, then know that they follow their own lusts; and who is more in error than he who follows his own lust without guidance from God? verily, God guides not an unjust people
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And if they answer thee not, then know that verily they are following their own caprices: and who goeth more widely astray than he who followeth his own caprice without guidance from God? for God guideth not the wicked
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Nëse ata nuk binden, atëherë dije se ata ndjekin vetëm dëshirat e veta. E kush është më i humbur se ai që ndjek dëshirën e vet pa pasur asnjë udhëzim prej Allahut?! S'ka dyshim se Allahu nuk i udhëzon njerëzit e padrejtë.
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
অতঃপর তারা যদি তোমার (তাওরাত ও আল কুরআনের চেয়ে আরো বেশি হিদায়াতপূর্ণ কিতাব আনার) ডাকে সাড়া না দেয়, (তোমার দাবি পূরণ করতে না পারে ), তাহলে জেনে রাখো, তারা তো নিজেদের খেয়াল-খুশিরই অনুসরণ করে। আর আল্লাহর হিদায়াতের বিপরীতে যে নিজের খেয়াল-খুশির অনুসরণ করে তার চেয়ে অধিক পথভ্রষ্ট আর কে হতে পারে? নিশ্চয় আল্লাহ যালিম সম্প্রদায়কে হিদায়াত করেন না।
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
Pa ako ti se ne odazovu, onda znaj da se oni povode jedino za strastima svojim. A zar je iko gore zalutao od onog koji slijedi strast svoju, a ne Allahovu uputu? Allah, doista, neće ukazati na Pravi put narodu koji sam sebi nepravdu čini.
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
Pa ako ti se ne odazovu, onda znaj da se oni povode jedino za strastima svojim. A zar je itko gore zalutao od onog koji slijedi strast svoju, a ne Allahovu uputu? Allah, doista, neće ukazati na Pravi put narodu koji sam sebi nepravdu čini.
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
Si ɓe njaabaaki ma, anndu ko mbeleeɗe maɓɓe ɓe njokkata. Ko hommbo ɓuri majjude ɓuri oon jokkirɗo mbeleeɗe mun, ko aldaa e peewal immorde ka Alla? Pellet, Alla feewnata yimɓe tooñooɓe ɓen.
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
თუ ისინი არ გიპასუხებენ [ო, შუამავალო], მაშინ იცოდე, რომ [მათ აღარ დარჩათ არანაირი მტკიცებულება და] ისინი მხოლოდ თავიანთ ახირებებს მისდევენ. და ვინ არის იმაზე უფრო გზააბნეული, ვიდრე ის, ვინც მისდევს თავის ახირებას ალლაჰის ხელმძღვანელობის გარეშე? ჭეშმარიტად, ალლაჰი არ უხელმძღვანელებს [ჭეშმარიტებისაკენ] უსამართლო ხალხს.
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
Wenn sie nun nicht auf dich hören, so wisse, dass sie nur ihren Neigungen folgen. Und wer ist weiter abgeirrt als jemand, der seiner Neigung folgt ohne Rechtleitung von Allah. Wahrlich, Allah leitet das ungerechte Volk nicht recht.
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
Αν όμως δεν ανταποκριθούν σε σένα, τότε να ξέρεις ότι ακολουθούν μόνο τις επιθυμίες τους. Ποιος είναι λοιπόν πιο παραστρατημένος απ' εκείνον που ακολουθεί την επιθυμία του χωρίς καμία καθοδήγηση από τον Αλλάχ; Πράγματι, ο Αλλάχ δεν καθοδηγεί τους άδικους ανθρώπους!
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
फिर यदि वे आपकी माँग पूरी न करें, तो आप जान लें कि वे केवल अपनी इच्छाओं का पालन कर रहे हैं, और उससे बढ़कर पथभ्रष्ट कौन है, जो अल्लाह की ओर से किसी मार्गदर्शन के बिना अपनी इच्छा का पालन करे? निःसंदेह अल्लाह अत्याचार करने वाले लोगों को मार्ग नहीं दिखाता।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Se non lo fanno, sappi che seguono i loro capricci, e chi è più perduto di chi segue il proprio capriccio senza la guida di Allāh? In verità Allāh non guida il popolo ingiusto.
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
50. Tačiau jei jie neatsakys tau (t. y. neatneš Knygos, nei patikės tavo islamiškojo monoteizmo doktriną), tada žinok, kad jie tik seka savo pačių geiduliais. Ir kas yra labiau paklydęs nei tas, kuris seka savo paties geiduliais, be teisingo vedimo iš Allaho? Iš tiesų, Allahas neveda žmonių, kurie yra Al-Zalimūn (bloga darantys, nepaklusnūs Allahui ir daugiadieviai).
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
Yoo siif hin owwaatin, fedhiilee isaanii qofa hordofuu isaanii beeki, Nama qajeeluma Rabbi irraa ta’e malee fedhii ofii hordofe caalaa namni jallate eenyu? (tokkoyyuu hin jiru), Rabbiin ummata miidhaa hojjattoota hin qajeelchu.
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
Если же они не откликнутся тебе, то знай, что, воистину, они лишь следуют собственным прихотям. А кто же более заблудший, чем тот, кто последовал за своей прихотью без руководства от Аллаха? Воистину, Аллах не наставляет на верный путь народ несправедливый.
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
Па ако ти се не одазову, онда знај да се они поводе једино за страстима својим. А зар је ико горе залутао од оног који следи страст своју, а не Аллахову упуту? Аллах, заиста, неће указати на Прави пут народу који је неправедан према себи.
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 ikiwa hawakuitikii, basi jua kuwa wanafuata matamanio yao tu. Na ni nani aliyepotea zaidi kumshinda anayefuata matamanio yake bila ya uongofu utokao kwa Mwenyezi Mungu? Hakika Mwenyezi Mungu hawaongoi watu wenye kudhulumu.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Men om de inte svarar dig ska du veta att de bara styrs av sina onda begär. Och vem är mer vilse än den som låter sig styras av sina begär utan Guds vägledning? Gud vägleder inte dessa orättfärdiga människor.
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
Eğer sana cevap veremezlerse, bil ki onlar ancak arzularına tabi oluyorlar. Allah'tan bir hidayet olmaksızın kendi hevesine/arzusuna uyandan daha sapık kim olabilir? Şüphesiz Allah, zalim topluma hidayet etmez.
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
پھر اگر یہ تیری نہ مانیں[1] تو تو یقین کرلے کہ یہ صرف اپنی خواہش کی پیروی کر رہے ہیں۔ اور اس سے بڑھ کر بہکا ہوا کون ہے؟ جو اپنی خواہش کے پیچھے پڑا ہوا ہو[2] بغیر اللہ کی رہنمائی کے، بیشک اللہ تعالیٰ ﻇالم لوگوں کو ہدایت نہیں دیتا.[3]
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)falammaa jaa'ahumu l-haqqu min 'indinaa qaaloo lawlaa ootiya mithla maa ootiya moosaa awalam yakfuroo bimaa ootiya moosaa min qablu qaaloo sihraani tazaaharaa waqaaloo innaa bikullin kaafiroon
DIN 31635falammā ǧāʾahumu l-ḥaqqu min ʿindinā qālū lawlā ʾūtiya miṯla mā ʾūtiya mūsā ʾawalam yakfurū bimā ʾūtiya mūsā min qablu qālū siḥrāni taẓāharā waqālū ʾinnā bikullin kāfirūna
Talal Itani2012 But when the truth came to them from Us, they said, "If only he was given the like of what was given to Moses." Did they not disbelieve in what was given to Moses in the past? They said, "Two works of magic backing one another." And they said, "We are disbelieving in both."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 But when there came unto them the Truth from Our presence, they said: Why is he not given the like of what was given unto Moses? Did they not disbelieve in that which was given unto Moses of old? They say: Two magics that support each other; and they say: Lo! in both we are disbelievers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And when the truth comes to them from us they say, 'We are given the like of what Moses was given.' Did they not disbelieve in what Moses was given before?- they say, 'Two works of sorcery back up each other;' and they say, 'Verily, we do disbelieve in all
John Medows Rodwell1861 Yet when the truth came to them from our very presence, they said, "Unless the like powers be given to him that were given to Moses. . . ." But did they not disbelieve in what of old was given to Moses? They said, "Two works of sorcery have helped each other;" and they said, "We disbelieve them both
George Sale1734 Yet when the truth is come unto them from before us, they say, unless he receive the same power to work miracles as Moses received, we will not believe. Have they not likewise rejected the revelation which was heretofore given unto Moses? They say, two cunning impostures have mutually assisted one another: And they say, verily we reject them both
Easy-read (simplified)qul fa'too bikitaabin min 'indi llaahi huwa ahdaa minhumaa attabi'hu in kuntum saadiqeen
DIN 31635qul faʾtū bikitābin min ʿindi llāhi huwa ʾahdā minhumā ʾattabiʿhu ʾin kuntum ṣādiqīna
Talal Itani2012 Say, "Then bring a scripture from God, more conductive to guidance than both, and I will follow it, if you are truthful."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Then bring a scripture from the presence of Allah that giveth clearer guidance than these two (that) I may follow it, if ye are truthful
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Say, 'Bring, then, a book from God which shall be a better guide than both, and I will follow it, if ye do tell the truth
John Medows Rodwell1861 SAY: Bring then a Book from before God which shall be a better guide than these, that I may follow it; if ye speak the truth
George Sale1734 Say, produce therefore a book from God, which is more right than these two, that I may follow it; if ye speak truth
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 —
0.58 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
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.69
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.67
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.66
Talal Itani · George Sale0.61
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.53
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.53
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.53
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.51
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.51
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.