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 do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in the best manner possible, except those who do wrong among them. And say, "We believe in what was revealed to us, and in what was revealed to you; and our God and your God is One; and to Him we are submissive."
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And argue not with the People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto us and revealed unto you; our Allah and your Allah is One, and unto Him we surrender
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 do not wrangle with the people of the Book, except for what is better; save with those who have been unjust amongst them and who say, 'We believe in what is sent down to us, And what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is one, and we are unto Him resigned
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Dispute not, unless in kindlysort, with the people of the Book; save with such of them as have dealtwrongfully with you: And say ye, "We believe in what hath been sent down to us and hath been sent down to you. Our God and your God is one, and to him are we self-surrendered" (Muslims)
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Dispute not against those who have received the scriptures, unless in the mildest manner; except against such of them as behaveinjuriously towards you: And say, we believe in the revelation which hath been sent down unto us, and also in that which hath been sent down unto you; our God and your God is one, and unto Him are we resigned
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
Diskutoni me ithtarët e Librit vetëm në mënyrën më të mirë, me përjashtim të atyre që tregohen të padrejtë, dhe thoni: "Ne besojmë në atë që na është shpallur neve dhe në atë që ju është shpallur juve. Zoti ynë dhe Zoti juaj është Një dhe ne i jemi dorëzuar Atij.
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
তোমরা উত্তম (ও যুক্তিসঙ্গত ) পন্থা ছাড়া আহলে কিতাবদের সাথে বিতর্ক করো না; তবে তাদের মধ্যে যারা যুলম করেছে, তাদের কথা আলাদা। আর তোমরা (কিতাবীদেরকে) বলো: ‘আমরা ঈমান এনেছি, আমাদের প্রতি যা নাযিল করা হয়েছে এবং তোমাদের প্রতি যা নাযিল করা হয়েছে, তার প্রতি এবং আমাদের ইলাহ ও তোমাদের ইলাহ তো একই। আর আমরা তাঁরই সমীপে আত্মসমর্পণকারী।’
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
I sa sljedbenicima Knjige raspravljajte na najljepši način, ali ne i s onima među njima koji su nepravedni, i recite: “Mi vjerujemo u ono što se objavljuje nama, a naš Bog i vaš Bog jest – jedan, i i Njemu smo mi predani.”
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
I sa sljedbenicima Knjige raspravljajte na najljepši način, ali ne i s onima među njima koji su nepravedni, i recite: “Mi vjerujemo u ono što se objavljuje nama, a naš Bog i vaš Bog jest – jedan, i i Njemu smo mi predani.”
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
Wota on weeñir yimɓe defte ɓen si wonaa e no ɓuri e moƴƴirde, si wonaa hara ko ɓen tooñɓe e maɓɓe. Mbi'on: "Min ngooŋɗinii nden njippinaande e amen e ɗen njippinaaɗe e mon. Deweteeɗo amen On e deweteeɗo mon On ko gooto, menen non, ko Min jebbilanii ɓe Mo".
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
და ნუ იკამათებთ [ო, მორწმუნენო] წიგნის ხალხთან [იუდეველებთან და ქრისტიანებთან], გარდა საუკეთესო [ხერხით] [ალლაჰის წიგნიდან მოყვანილი მტკიცებულებებით, კარგი ზნეობითა და კეთილი სიტყვით], გარდა იმათთან, ვინც სჩადის ბოროტს [ვინც ცდილობს ზიანი მიაყენოს ისლამს და ტკივილი მოუტანოს მორწმუნეებს][1] და უთხარით მას: «ჩვენ ვირწმუნეთ ის, რაც გარდმოგვევლინა ჩვენ და ის, რაც გარდმოგევლინათ თქვენ. ჩვენი ღმერთი და თქვენი ღმერთი ერთი ღმერთია და ჩვენ მისდამი მორჩილები ვართ.
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 streitet mit den Leuten der Schrift nur in bester Weise, außer denjenigen von ihnen, die Unrecht tun. Und sagt: „Wir glauben an das, was (als Offenbarung) zu uns hinabgesandt worden ist und zu euch hinabgesandt worden ist; und unser Angebeteter und euer Angebeteter ist Einer, und wir sind Ihm ergebene Muslime.“
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
Μη συζητάτε με τους ανθρώπους του Βιβλίου (τους Χριστιανούς και τους Εβραίους καλώντας τους προς το Ισλάμ) παρά με τον καλύτερο τρόπο (με ξεκάθαρες αποδείξεις και καλές νουθεσίες), εκτός απ' εκείνους τους άδικους ανάμεσά τους (που κήρυξαν πόλεμο εναντίον σας). Και πείτε (σ' αυτούς): «Πιστεύουμε σ' αυτό (το Κορ’άν) που στάλθηκε σε μας και σ' αυτό (την πρωτότυπη Τορά του Μωυσή και το πρωτότυπο Ιν-τζήλ του Ιησού) που στάλθηκε σε σας. Ο Θεός μας και ο Θεός σας είναι Ένας (ο Αλλάχ), και είμαστε προς Αυτόν υποταγμένοι με υπακοή.»
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
और तुम किताब वालों[24] से केवल ऐसे तरीक़े से वाद-विवाद करो, जो सबसे उत्तम हो, सिवाय उन लोगों के जिन्होंने उनमें से ज़ुल्म किया। तथा तुम कहो : हम ईमान लाए उसपर, जो हमारी ओर उतारा गया और तुम्हारी ओर उतारा गया, तथा हमारा पूज्य और तुम्हारा पूज्य एक ही है[25] और हम उसी के आज्ञाकारी हैं।[26]
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E non disputate con la gente del Libro – se non con le buone maniere – tranne con gli ingiusti tra di loro, e dite: “Crediamo in ciò che è disceso su di noi e in ciò che è disceso su voi. E il nostro Dio e il vostro Dio è Unico, e a Lui siamo sottomessi».
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
46. Ir nesiginčyk su Rašto žmonėmis (judėjais ir krikščionimis), nebent tai būtų (būdu), kuris yra geresnis (gerais žodžiais ir gražia maniera, kviečiant juos į islamiškąjį monoteizmą su Jo Eilutėmis), išskyrus su tais iš jų, kurie daro bloga. Ir sakyk (jiems): „Mes tikime tą, kas buvo apreikšta mums ir apreikšta jums. Mūsų Ilah (Dievas) ir jūsų Ilah (Dievas) yra Vienas (t. y. Allahas) ir Jam mes paklusome (kaip musulmonai).“
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
И не ведите споров с людьми Писания иначе, как наилучшим образом, кроме тех из них, которые поступали несправедливо. И говорите: «Мы уверовали в то, что ниспослано нам и ниспослано вам. Наш Бог и ваш Бог — един, и мы Ему покорились».
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
И са следбеницима Књиге расправљајте на најлепши начин, али не и с онима међу њима који су неправедни, и реците: „Ми верујемо у оно што се нама објављује и у оно што је вама објављено, а наш Бог и ваш Бог је један, и Њему смо ми предани!“
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
Wala msijadiliane na Watu wa Kitabu isipokuwa kwa njia iliyo nzuri kabisa, isipokuwa wale waliodhulumu miongoni mwao. Na semeni, "Tumeyaamini yaliyoteremshwa kwetu na yaliyoteremshwa kwenu. Na mungu wetu na mungu wenu ni Mmoja. Na sisi ni wenye kusilimu kwake."
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Debattera endast med skriftens folk på det mest respektfulla sätt – med undantag för de som gör orätt. Säg: ”Vi tror på det som har uppenbarats för oss och er; vår Gud och er Gud är endast en och det är honom vi underkastar oss.”
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
İçlerinden zulmedenler hariç, Ehli Kitap ile ancak en güzel bir yolla mücadele edin ve (onlara) şöyle deyin: "Bize indirilene de, size indirilene de iman ettik. Bizim ilahımız da sizin ilahınız da birdir. Biz ona teslim olanlarız."
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
اور اہل کتاب کے ساتھ بحﺚ ومباحثہ نہ کرو مگر اس طریقہ پر جو عمده ہو[1] مگر ان کے ساتھ جو ان میں ﻇالم ہیں[2] اور صاف اعلان کر دو کہ ہمارا تو اس کتاب پر بھی ایمان ہے اور جو ہم پر اتاری گئی ہے اور اس پر بھی جو تم پر اتاری گئی[3]، ہمارا تمہارا معبود ایک ہی ہے۔ ہم سب اسی کے حکم برادر ہیں.
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 Recite what is revealed to you of the Scripture, and perform the prayer. The prayer prevents indecencies and evils. And the remembrance of God is greater. And God knows what you do.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Recite that which hath been inspired in thee of the Scripture, and establish worship. Lo! worship preserveth from lewdness and iniquity, but verily remembrance of Allah is more important. And Allah knoweth what ye do
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Recite what has been revealed to thee of the Book; and be steadfast in prayer; verily, prayer forbids sin and wrong; and surely the mention of God is greater; for God knows what ye do
John Medows Rodwell1861 Recite the portions of the Book which have been revealed to thee and discharge the duty of prayer: for prayer restraineth from the filthy and the blame-worthy. And the gravest duty is the remembrance of God; and God knoweth what ye do
George Sale1734 Rehearse that which hath been revealed unto thee of the book of the Koran: And be constant at prayer; for prayer preserveth a man from filthy crimes, and from that which is blamable; and the remembering of God is surely a most important duty. God knoweth that which ye do
DIN 31635wakaḏālika ʾanzalnā ʾilayka l-kitāba fallaḏīna ʾātaynāhumu l-kitāba yuʾminūna bihi wamin hāʾulāʾi man yuʾminu bihi wamā yaǧḥadu biʾāyātinā ʾillā l-kāfirūna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 Likewise, We revealed to you the Scripture. Those to whom We gave the Scripture believe in it, and some of these believe in it. None renounce Our communications except the disbelievers.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 In like manner We have revealed unto thee the Scripture, and those unto whom We gave the Scripture aforetime will believe therein; and of these (also) there are some who believe therein. And none deny Our revelations save the disbelievers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Thus did we send down to thee the Book; and every one to whom we have given the Book believes therein. But these will not believe therein; though none gainsay our signs except the misbelievers
John Medows Rodwell1861 Thus have we sent down the Book of the Koran to thee: and they to whom we have given the Book of the law believe in it: and of these Arabians there are those who believe in it: and none, save the Infidels, reject our signs
George Sale1734 Thus have We sent down the book of the Koran unto thee: And they unto whom We have given the former scriptures, believe therein; and of these Arabians also there is who believeth therein: And none reject our signs, except the obstinate infidels
Easy-read (simplified)wamaa kunta tatloo min qablihi min kitaabin walaa takhuttuhu biyameenika idhan llartaaba l-mubtiloon
DIN 31635wamā kunta tatlū min qablihi min kitābin walā taḫuṭṭuhu biyamīnika ʾiḏan llartāba l-mubṭilūna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 You did not read any scripture before this, nor did you write it down with your right hand; otherwise the falsifiers would have doubted.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And thou (O Muhammad) wast not a reader of any scripture before it, nor didst thou write it with thy right hand, for then might those have doubted, who follow falsehood
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Thou couldst not recite before this any book, nor write it with thy right hand, for in that case those who deem it vain would have doubted
John Medows Rodwell1861 Thou didst not recite any book (of revelation) before it: with that right hand of thine thou didst not transcribe one: else might they who treat it as a vain thing have justly doubted
George Sale1734 Thou couldest not read any book before this; neither couldest thou write it with thy right hand: Then had the gainsayers justly doubted of the divine original thereof
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 —
0.56 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 · George Sale0.62
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.60
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.59
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.57
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.53
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.53
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.49
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.48
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.