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
Say, "O People of the Scripture, why do you hinder from God'spath those who believe, seeking to distort it, even though you are witnesses? God is not unaware of what you do."
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
Say: O People of the Scripture! Why drive ye back believers from the way of Allah, seeking to make it crooked, when ye are witnesses (to Allah'sguidance)? Allah is not unaware of what ye do
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
Say, 'O people of the Book! why do ye turn from the way of God him who believes, craving to make it crooked, while ye are witnesses? But God is not careless of what ye do
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
SAY: O people of the Book! why repel believers from the way of God? Ye fain would make it crooked, and yet ye are its witnesses! But God is not regardless of what ye do
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Say, O ye who have received the scriptures, why do ye keep back from the way of God, him who believeth? Ye seek to make it crooked, and yet are witnesses that it is the right: But God will not be unmindful of what ye do
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
Thuaj: O ithtarë të Librit! Përse i pengoni nga feja e Allahut ata që besojnë, duke dëshiruar shmangien (nga e vërteta), ndonëse jeni dëshmitarë (se ajo është feja e drejtë)?! Allahu nuk është i shkujdesur ndaj asaj që veproni."
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
তুমি বলে দাও: ‘হে আহলু কিতাব! যে ব্যক্তি আল্লাহর প্রতি ঈমান এনেছে তাকে কেন
তোমরা আল্লাহর পথে তাতে বক্রতা সন্ধান করে বাধা দিচ্ছো,? অথচ তোমরা সাক্ষী। আর তোমরা যা করো, আল্লাহ সে সম্পর্কে গাফিল নন।(৫৯)
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
Reci: "O vi kojima je Knjiga data, zašto onoga koji vjeruje od Allahove vjere odvraćate, želeći da je iskrivite, a svjedoci ste da je istina!? A Allah ne zanemaruje ono što vi radite."
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
Reci: "O vi kojima je Knjiga data, zašto onoga koji vjeruje od Allahove vjere odvraćate, želeći da je iskrivite, a svjedoci ste da je istina!? A Allah ne zanemaruje ono što vi radite."
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
Maaku: "Hey mon yimɓe Defte, ko falotoɗon e laawol Alla ngol, on gomɗinɗo Hoɗon ɗaɓɓana ngol ooñanɗe tara ko on seediiɓe! Alla wonaali Welsindiiɗo e ko ngolloton kon".
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
უთხარი (ო, მოციქულო) (იუდეველებსა და ქრისტიანებს):
«ო, წიგნის ხალხო! რატომ აცილებთ ალლაჰის გზას [ისლამს — მისადმი სრულ მორჩილებას] მათ, ვინც ირწმუნა, ცდილობთ დაამახინჯოთ იგი [ალლაჰის გზა], (მაშინ როცა) თქვენ თავად ხართ მოწმენი? და ალლაჰი არ არის უყურადღებო იმის მიმართ, რასაც თქვენ აკეთებთ.
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
Sag: „O Leute der Schrift, warum haltet ihr die, die glauben, vom Weg Allahs ab, indem ihr danach trachtet, ihn krumm zu machen, wo ihr doch Zeugen seid?“ Und Allah ist nicht unachtsam dessen, was ihr tut.
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
Πες (ω, Μωχάμμαντ): «Ω, άνθρωποι του Βιβλίου (Εβραίοι και Χριστιανοί), γιατί αποτρέπετε από το θρησκεία του Αλλάχ όποιον πιστεύει (σ' Αυτόν) – θέλοντας να κάνετε αυτή (τη θρησκεία του Αλλάχ και όποιον πιστεύει) να παρεκκλίνει (από την αλήθεια), ενώ είστε μάρτυρες (ότι είναι η αλήθεια); Και ο Αλλάχ δεν αγνοεί ό,τι κάνετε.»
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 नबी) आप कह दीजिए : ऐ किताब वालो! तुम ईमान लाने वालों को अल्लाह के रास्ते से क्यों रोकते होॽ तुम्हें उसमें कुटिलता की तलाश रहती है। जबकि तुम (उसके सच्चे होने के) गवाह[52] होॽ और अल्लाह तुम्हारे कर्मों से अनभिज्ञ नहीं है।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Di’: “O gente del Libro, perché sbarrate la via di Allāh ai credenti, e la rendete tortuosa, e voi siete testimoni? E Allāh non è distratto circa ciò che fate.
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
99. Sakyk: „Rašto žmonės (judėjai ir krikščionys), kodėl jūs sulaikote tuos, kurie patikėjo, nuo Allaho Kelio, siekdami, kad jis atrodytų kreivas, nors jūs (patys) esate liudytojai (Muchammedui ﷺ kaip Allaho Pasiuntiniui ir islamui (Allaho tikėjimui, t. y. negarbinimui nieko kito, tik Jį Vienintelį)]? Ir Allahas nėra nežinantis apie tai, ką jūs darote.“
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
Скажи: «О люди Писания! Почему вы, стремясь исказить путь Аллаха, отвращаете от него тех, которые уверовали, хотя сами являетесь свидетелями, тогда как Аллах вовсе не в неведении о том, что вы совершаете?»
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
Реци: „О следбеници Књиге, зашто онога који верује од Аллахове вере одвраћате, желећи да је искривите, а сведоци сте да је истина!? А Аллах није немаран према ономе што радите.“
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
Sema: Enyi Watu wa Kitabu! Kwa nini mnamzuilia Njia ya Mwenyezi Mungu aliyeamini mkiitakia ipotoke, ilhali nyinyi mnashuhudia? Na Mwenyezi Mungu si mwenye kughafilika mbali na mnayoyatenda.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Säg: ”Skriftens folk! Varför hindrar ni de troende från Guds väg och försöker få den att framstå som krokig trots att ni själva vet [att den är rak]? Gud är inte omedveten om vad ni gör.”
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
De ki: Ey Ehl-i kitap! (Gerçeği) görüp bildiğiniz halde niçin Allah'ın yolunu eğri göstermeye yeltenerek Müminleri Allah yolundan çevirmeye kalkışıyorsunuz? Allah yaptıklarınızdan gâfil değildir.
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
ان اہل کتاب سے کہو کہ تم اللہ تعالیٰ کی راه سے لوگوں کو کیوں روکتے ہو؟ اور اس میں عیب ٹٹولتے ہو، حاﻻنکہ تم خود شاہد ہو[1] ، اللہ تعالیٰ تمہارے اعمال سے بے خبر نہیں.
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 In it are evident signs; the Station of Abraham. Whoever enters it attains security. Pilgrimage to the House is a duty to God for all who can make the journey. But as for those who refuse-God is Independent of the worlds.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Wherein are plain memorials (of Allah's guidance); the place where Abraham stood up to pray; and whosoever entereth it is safe. And pilgrimage to the House is a duty unto Allah for mankind, for him who can find a way thither. As for him who disbelieveth, (let him know that) lo! Allah is Independent of (all) creatures
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Therein are manifest signs,- Abraham's station, and whosoever enters in is safe. There is due to God from man a pilgrimage unto the House, for whosoever can find his way there. But whoso misbelieves - God is independent of the worlds
John Medows Rodwell1861 In it are evident signs, even the standing-place of Abraham: and he who entereth it is safe. And the pilgrimage to the temple, is a service due to God from those who are able to journey thither. And as to him who believeth not - verily God can afford to dispense with all creatures
George Sale1734 Therein are manifest signs: The place where Abraham stood; and whoever entereth therein, shall be safe. And it is a duty towards God, incumbent on those who are able to go thither, to visit this house; but whosoever disbelieveth, verily God needeth not the service of any creature
Easy-read (simplified)qul yaa ahla l-kitaabi lima takfuroona bi'aayaati llaahi wallaahu shaheedun 'alaa maa ta'maloon
DIN 31635qul yā ʾahla l-kitābi lima takfurūna biʾāyāti llāhi wallāhu šahīdun ʿalā mā taʿmalūna
Talal Itani2012 Say, "O People of the Scripture, why do you reject the Revelations of God, when God witnesses what you do?"
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Say: O People of the Scripture! Why disbelieve ye in the revelations of Allah, when Allah (Himself) is Witness of what ye do
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Say, 'O people of the Book! why do ye misbelieve in God's signs, while God is witness of what ye do
John Medows Rodwell1861 SAY: O people of the Book! why disbelieve ye the signs of God? But God is witness of your doings
George Sale1734 Say, O ye who have received the scriptures, why do ye not believe in the signs of God
Easy-read (simplified)yaa ayyuhaa lladheena aamanoo in tutee'oo fareeqan mina lladheena ootoo l-kitaaba yaruddookum ba'da eemaanikum kaafireen
DIN 31635yā ʾayyuhā llaḏīna ʾāmanū ʾin tuṭīʿū farīqan mina llaḏīna ʾūtū l-kitāba yaruddūkum baʿda ʾīmānikum kāfirīna
Talal Itani2012 O you who believe! If you obey a party of those who were given the Scripture, they will turn you, after your belief, into disbelievers.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 O ye who believe! If ye obey a party of those who have received the Scripture they will make you disbelievers after your belief
Edward Henry Palmer1880 O ye who believe! if ye obey the sect of those to whom the Book was brought, they will turn you, after your faith, to unbelievers again
John Medows Rodwell1861 O believers! if ye obey some amongst those who have received the Scripture, after your very Faith will they make you infidels
George Sale1734 O true believers, if ye obey some of those who have received the scripture, they will render you infidels, after ye have believed
Talal Itani2012 And how could you disbelieve, when God's revelations are being recited to you, and among you is His Messenger? Whoever cleaves to God has been guided to a straight path.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom Allah's revelations are recited, and His messenger is in your midst? He who holdeth fast to Allah, he indeed is guided unto a right path
Edward Henry Palmer1880 How can ye misbelieve while unto you are recited the signs of God, and among you is His Apostle? But whoso takes tight hold on God, he is guided into the right way
John Medows Rodwell1861 But how can ye become infidels, when the signs of God are recited to you, and his prophet is among you? Whoever holdeth fast by God, is already guided to a straight path
George Sale1734 And how can ye be infidels, when the signs of God are read unto you, and his apostle is among you? But he who cleaveth firmly unto God, is already directed into the right way
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 —
0.57 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 Sale0.67
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.65
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.62
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.59
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.55
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.55
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.52
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.52
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.51
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.47
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.