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.
Talal Itani· published 2012
Muhammad is no more than a messenger. Messengers have passed on before him. If he dies or gets killed, will you turn on your heels? He who turns on his heels will not harm God in any way. And God will reward the appreciative.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him. Will it be that, when he dieth or is slain, ye will turn back on your heels? He who turneth back on his heels doth no hurt to Allah, and Allah will reward the thankful
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
Mohammed is but an apostle; apostles have passed away before his time; what if he die or is killed, will ye retreat upon your heels? He who retreats upon his heels does no harm to God at all; but God will recompense the thankful
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Muhammad is no more than an apostle; other apostles have already passed away before him: if he die, therefore, or be slain, will ye turn upon your heels? But he who turneth on his heels shall not injure God at all: And God will certainly reward the thankful
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Mohammed is no more than an apostle; the other apostles have already deceased before him: If he die therefore, or be slain, will ye turn back on your heels? But he who turneth back on his heels, will not hurt God at all; and God will surely reward the thankful
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
Muhamedi është vetëm i dërguar, sikurse të dërguarit që qenë para tij. Po qe se ai vdes ose vritet, a mos do të ktheheni në mosbesim?! Ai që kthehet në mosbesim, nuk i bën dëm Allahut aspak, ndërkohë Allahu do t'i shpërblejë falënderuesit.
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
আর মুহাম্মদ একজন রাসূল ছাড়া আর কিছুই নয়; তাঁর আগে অনেক রাসূল চলে গেছেন। কাজেই তিনি যদি মারা যান বা নিহত হন তবে কি তোমরা পেছনে ফিরে যাবে?(৭৯) আর যে কেউ পেছনে ফিরে যাবে, সে কখনোই আল্লাহর কোন ক্ষতি করতে পারবে না। আর আল্লাহ অচিরেই কৃতজ্ঞদেরকে পুরস্কার দান করবেন।
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
Muhammed je samo poslanik, a i prije njega je bilo poslanika. Ako bi on umro, ili ubijen bio, zar biste se vi nazad vratili?! Onaj ko se nazad vrati, Allahu neće ništa nauditi, a Allah će zahvalne nagraditi.
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
Muhammed je samo poslanik, a i prije njega je bilo poslanika. Ako bi on umro, ili ubijen bio, zar biste se vi nazad vratili?! Onaj tko se nazad vrati, Allahu neće ništa nauditi, a Allah će zahvalne nagraditi.
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
Muhammadu wonaani si wanaa Nulaaɗo : gooŋɗii feƴƴii ko adii mo Nulaaɓe. E si o faatike maa o waraama, on waylitoto e baɗte [keeferaaku] mo'on ? Kala waylitiiɗo e baɗte mu'un, o lorrirtaa Alla hay e huunde, arma Alla Yoɓita ɓen jaarnooɓe [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
მუჰამმადი მხოლოდ მოციქულია, რომლის უწინაც სხვა მოციქულები იყვნენ მოვლენილნი. ნუთუ, თუ ის მოკვდება ან მოიკვლება, თქვენ უკან გაბრუნდებით [ჭეშმარიტ სარწმუნოებას მიატოვებთ]? ხოლო ვინც უკან გაბრუნდება, ის ალლაჰს ვერაფერს ავნებს (არამედ მხოლოდ საკუთარ თავს ავნებს). ხოლო ალლაჰი მალე დააჯილდოებს მადლიერთ.
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 Muhammad ist doch nur ein Gesandter, vor dem schon Gesandte dahingegangen sind. Wenn er nun stirbt oder getötet wird, werdet ihr euch (dann) auf den Fersen umkehren? Und wer sich auf den Fersen umkehrt, wird Allah keinerlei Schaden zufügen. Und Allah wird (es) den Dankbaren vergelten.
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
Ο Μωχάμμαντ δεν είναι παρά ένας Αγγελιαφόρος, και (πολλοί) Αγγελιαφόροι έχουν σταλθεί και πεθάνει πριν απ' αυτόν. Αν όμως πεθάνει ή σκοτωθεί (όπως διαδόθηκε ψευδώς από τους εχθρούς του κατά τη μάχη του Ούχουντ), θα στραφείτε πίσω (ως άπιστοι); Και εκείνος που θα στραφεί πίσω δε θα βλάψει σε τίποτα τον Αλλάχ• και ο Αλλάχ θα ανταμείψει τους ευγνώμονες.
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 मुह़म्मद केवल एक रसूल हैं। उनसे पहले बहुत-से रसूल गुज़र चुके हैं। तो क्या यदि वह मर जाएँ अथवा मार दिए जाएँ, तो तुम अपनी एड़ियों के बल[80] फिर जाओगे? तथा जो अपनी एड़ियों के बल फिर जाएगा, वह अल्लाह का कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ेगा और अल्लाह शीघ्र ही आभारियों को बदला प्रदान करेगा।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E Muħammed ﴿مُحَمَّدٌ﴾ non è altro che un Messaggero ﴿رَسُولٌ﴾, prima del quale vennero molti Messaggeri ﴿الرُّسُلُ﴾. Ma se lui morisse o fosse ucciso, vi tirereste indietro? Chi si tirerà indietro non può causare danno ad Allāh, e Allāh premierà i riconoscenti.
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
144. Muchammedas ﷺ yra ne daugiau nei Pasiuntinys ir iš tiesų (daugybė) Pasiuntinių mirė iki jo. Jei jis mirs arba bus nužudytas, ar jūs nusigręšite (kaip netikintieji)? Ir tas, kuris nusigręš, nepadarys Allahui nė menkiausios žalos. Ir Allahas suteiks atlygį tiems, kurie yra dėkingi.
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
Muhammad waa hintaane ergamaa dhugumatti ergamoonni isa dura dabran malee. Sila yoo inni du’e yookiin ajjeefame of duuba deebituu? Namni faana isaa irra uf duuba deebi’e (islaamummarraa bahee kafare) Rabbiin homaa hin miidhu. Rabbiin galateeffattootaaf galata galcha.
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
Мухаммад — никто иной, как посланник, до которого уже были посланники. Неужели, если он умрёт или будет убит, вы обратитесь вспять? А кто обратится вспять, тот ничем не навредит Аллаху. Аллах воздаст благодарным.
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
Мухаммед је само посланик, а и пре њега је било посланика. Ако би он умро, или био убијен, зар бисте се ви назад вратили?! Онај ко се врати назад, Аллаху неће ништа да науди, а Аллах ће захвалне да награди.
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 Muhammad si isipokuwa Mtume tu. Wamekwishapita kabla yake Mitume. Je, akifa au akiuawa, mtageuka mrudi kwa visigino vyenu? Na atakayegeuka akarudi kwa visigino vyake, basi huyo hatamdhuru kitu Mwenyezi Mungu. Na Mwenyezi Mungu atawalipa wanaoshukuru.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Muhammed är inget annat än ett sändebud; före honom har sändebud kommit och gått. Om han dör eller blir dödad, kommer ni då att falla tillbaka i otro? Den som faller tillbaka i otro skadar inte Gud det minsta. Men Gud ska belöna de tacksamma.
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
Muhammed, ancak bir peygamberdir. Ondan önce de peygamberler gelip geçmiştir. Şimdi o ölür veya öldürülürse gerisin geriye (eski dininize) mi döneceksiniz? Kim gerisin geriye dönerse, Allah’a hiçbir zarar veremez. Allah, şükredenleri mükâfatlandıracaktır.
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
(حضرت) محمد ﴿صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم﴾ صرف رسول ہی ہیں[1] ، ان سے پہلے بہت سے رسول ہو چکے ہیں، کیا اگر ان کا انتقال ہو جائے یا یہ شہید ہو جائیں، تو تم اسلام سے اپنی ایڑیوں کے بل پھر جاؤ گے؟ اور جو کوئی پھر جائے اپنی ایڑیوں پر تو ہرگز اللہ تعالیٰ کا کچھ نہ بگاڑے گا[2]، عنقریب اللہ تعالیٰ شکر گزاروں کو نیک بدلہ دے گا.[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.
Talal Itani2012 Or do you expect to enter Paradise, before God has distinguished those among you who strive, and before He has distinguished the steadfast?
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Or deemed ye that ye would enter paradise while yet Allah knoweth not those of you who really strive, nor knoweth those (of you) who are steadfast
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Do ye think that ye can enter Paradise and God not know those of you who have fought well, or know the patient
John Medows Rodwell1861 Thought ye that ye should enter Paradise ere God had taken knowledge of those among you who did valiantly, and of those who steadfastly endure
George Sale1734 Did ye imagine that ye should enter paradise, when as yet God knew not those among you who fought strenuously in his cause; nor knew those who persevered with patience
Talal Itani2012 No soul can die except by God's leave, at a predetermined time. Whoever desires the reward of the world, We will give him some of it; and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter, We will give him some of it; and We will reward the appreciative.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 No soul can ever die except by Allah's leave and at a term appointed. Whoso desireth the reward of the world, We bestow on him thereof; and whoso desireth the reward of the Hereafter, We bestow on him thereof. We shall reward the thankful
Edward Henry Palmer1880 It is not for any soul to die, save by God's permission written down for an appointed time; but he who wishes for the reward of this world we will give him of it, and he who wishes for the reward of the future we will give him of it, and we will recompense the grateful
John Medows Rodwell1861 No one can die except by God's permission, according to the Book that fixeth the term of life. He who desireth the recompense of this world, we will give him thereof; And he who desireth the recompense of the next life, we will give him thereof! And we will certainly reward the thankful
George Sale1734 No soul can die unless by the permission of God, according to what is written in the book containing the determinations of things. And whoso chooseth the reward of this world, we will give him thereof: But whoso chooseth the reward of the world to come, we will give him thereof; and we will surely reward the thankful
Talal Itani2012 How many a prophet fought alongside him numerous godly people? They did not waver for what afflicted them in the cause of God, nor did they weaken, nor did they give in. God loves those who endure.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And with how many a prophet have there been a number of devoted men who fought (beside him). They quailed not for aught that befell them in the way of Allah, nor did they weaken, nor were they brought low. Allah loveth the steadfast
Edward Henry Palmer1880 How many prophets have myriads fought against! yet they did not give way at what befel them in God's way Nor were they weak, nor did they demean themselves:- God loves the patient
John Medows Rodwell1861 How many a prophet hath combated those who had with them many myriads! Yet were they not daunted at what befel them on the path of God, nor were they weakened, nor did they basely submit! God loveth those who endure with steadfastness
George Sale1734 How many prophets have encountered those who had many myriads of troops: And yet they desponded not in their mind for what had befallen them in fighting for the religion of God; and were not weakened, neither behaved themselves in an abject manner? God loveth those who persevere patiently
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 · Edward Henry Palmer0.70
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.69
Talal Itani · George Sale0.61
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.61
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.58
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.57
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.52
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.24
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.
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.