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
They assumed that the confederates had not withdrawn. But were the confederates to advance, they would wish they were in the desert with the Bedouins, inquiring about your news. And if they were among you, they would have done little fighting.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
They hold that the clans have not retired (for good); and if the clans should advance (again), they would fain be in the desert with the wandering Arabs, asking for the news of you; and if they were among you, they would not givebattle, save a little
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
They reckoned that the confederates would never goaway; and if the confederates should come they would fain be in the desert with the Arabs, asking for news of you! and if they were amongst you they would fight but little
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
They thought that the CONFEDERATES would never retire; and were the confederates to come again, they would fain be dwelling among the Arabs of the desert, and there ask news about you! for though they were with you, they fought not except a little
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
They imagined that the confederates would not depart and raise the siege: And if the confederates should come another time, they would wish to live in the deserts among the Arabs who dwell in tents, and there to inquire after news concerning you; and although they were with you this time, yet they fought not, except a little
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
Ata mendonin se ushtritë nuk ishin larguar ende. Nëse ushtritë do të vinin përsëri, ata do të dëshironin sikur të ishin në mesin e beduinëve e të merrnin lajme për ju (nga larg). Edhe sikur të ishin mes jush, ata nuk do të luftonin përveçse pak.
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
তারা মনে করে, সম্মিলিত বাহিনী চলে যায়নি। তবে সম্মিলিত বাহিনী যদি আবার এসে পড়ে তখন তারা কামনা করবে যে, যদি তারা মরুবাসী বেদুইনদের সাথে অবস্থান করে তোমাদের (যুদ্ধের) খবর জিজ্ঞাসা করতে পারতো (তবে ভালোই হতো)! আর যদি এরা তোমাদের মাঝেই অবস্থান করত, তাহলে তারা অল্পই যুদ্ধ করতো।
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
Oni misle da saveznici još nisu otišli. A kad bi saveznici opet došli, najdraže bi im bilo da su među beduinima u pustinji i da se raspituju za vas; a da s vama ostanu, malo bi se borili.
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
Oni misle da saveznici još nisu otišli. A kad bi saveznici opet došli, najdraže bi im bilo da su među beduinima u pustinji i da se raspituju za vas; a da s vama ostanu, malo bi se borili.
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
Hiɓe vikka koneeli ɗin njahataa. Hay si koneeli ɗin ngartii, ɓee [naafiqiiɓe] yelotono sinno hara nun heɓe ka ladde hakkunde yimɓe ladde ɓen, hara heɓe laɓndo fii mon. Hay si ɓe tawtodano e mon, ɓe haɓataano si wonaa seeɗa nii.
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
ისინი [ორპირები] ფიქრობენ, რომ ჯგუფები (ურწმუნოთა ჯარები) ჯერ არ წასულან. ხოლო თუ (დავუშვათ) ეს შეკრებილი (ჯარები კვლავ) მოვლენ მედინასთან, მაშინ ისინი [ორპირები] ისურვებდნენ, რომ ყოფილიყვნენ კარავში მცხოვრებ (უდაბნოს) არაბებთან [ბედუინებთან] და მათგან კითხულობდნენ ცნობებს თქვენზე [გაიმარჯვეთ თუ დამარცხდით]. ხოლო თუ ისინი თქვენთან ერთად იქნებოდნენ, მხოლოდ მცირედ იბრძოლებდნენ.
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
Sie meinen, die Gruppierungen seien nicht weggegangen. Und wenn die Gruppierungen (wieder)kommen sollten, möchten sie gern, sie wären in der Wüste unter den Wüstenarabern und würden sich (nur) über euch erkundigen. Und wenn sie unter euch wären, würden sie nur wenig kämpfen.
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
Νομίζουν (οι υποκριτές από το φόβο τους) ότι οι συμμαχικές φυλές δεν έχουν φύγει ακόμα. Και αν οι συμμαχικές φυλές ερχόντουσαν ξανά, θα ήθελαν (οι υποκριτές) να έλειπαν (από τη Μαντίνα και να ήταν) στην έρημο μαζί με τους Βεδουίνους, και να ρωτήσουν για τα νέα σας (μετά από τη μάχη). Ακόμα κι αν ήταν ανάμεσά σας (ω, πιστοί), δε θα πολεμούσαν (μαζί σας) παρά μόνο για λίγο.
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
वे समझते हैं कि सैन्य दल (अभी) नहीं गए[15] हैं। और यदि सेनाएँ (दोबारा) आ जाएँ, तो वे चाहेंगे कि काश! वे देहातियों के साथ देहातों में चले जाते और (वहीं से) तुम्हारे समाचार मालूम करते रहते। और अगर वे तुम्हारे साथ होते भी, तो युद्ध में कम ही भाग लेते।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Credevano gli alleati che non si sarebbero ritirati. Ma se tornassero gli alleati, quelli vorrebbero trovarsi tra i Nomadi ﴿الْأَعْرَابِ﴾, chiedendo vostre notizie. E se fossero stati con voi, avrebbero combattuto solo per poco.
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
20. Jie mano, kad Al-Ahzab (Sąjungininkai) dar nepasitraukė. O jei Al-Ahzab (Sąjungininkai) (vėl) ateitų, jie norėtų, kad jie būtų dykumose (klajojantys) tarp beduinų, ieškantys naujienų apie tave (iš tolimų kraštų). O jei jie būtų tarp jūsų, jie nekovotų, tik truputį.
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
Они полагают, что союзные племена ещё не ушли. А если бы союзные племена пришли, они хотели бы оказаться среди бедуинов, расспрашивая о ваших вестях. А если бы они были с вами, то сражались бы разве что немного.
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
Они мисле да савезници још нису отишли. А кад би савезници опет дошли, најдраже би им било да су међу бедуинима у пустињи и да се распитују за вас; а када би са вама остали, мало би се борили.
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
Wanafikiri yale makundi ya maadui hayajaondoka. Na yakija hayo makundi, watatamani laiti wao wako majangwani pamoja na mabedui, wakiuliza habari zenu. Na lau wangekuwa pamoja nanyi, basi hawangepigana isipokuwa kidogo tu.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
De tror att de allierade styrkorna inte har dragit sig tillbaka; och om styrkorna återvände skulle de önska att de vore ute bland beduinerna för att [på tryggt avstånd] ta del av nyheter om er situation. Även om de vore bland er skulle de knappt delta i striden.
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
Düşman birliklerinin gitmediğini sanıyorlar. Düşman birlikleri (bir daha) gelecek olsa, isterler ki (çölde) Bedeviler'in arasında bulunsunlar da size dair haberleri (gidip gelenlerden) sorsunlar. İçinizde bulunsalardı da pek az savaşırlardı.
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
سمجھتے ہیں کہ اب تک لشکر چلے نہیں گئے[1] ، اور اگر فوجیں آجائیں تو تمنائیں کرتے ہیں کہ کاش! وه صحرا میں بادیہ نشینوں کے ساتھ ہوتے کہ تمہاری خبریں دریافت کیا کرتے[2]، اگر وه تم میں موجود ہوتے (تو بھی کیا؟) نہ لڑتے مگر برائے نام.[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 God already knows the hinderers among you, and those who say to their brethren, "Come and join us." Rarely do they mobilize for battle.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Allah already knoweth those of you who hinder, and those who say unto their brethren: "Come ye hither unto us!" and they come not to the stress of battle save a little
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Say, 'God knows the hinderers amongst you, and those who say to their brethren, "Come along unto us," and show but little valour
John Medows Rodwell1861 God well knoweth those among you who cause hindrances, and those who say to their brethren, "Come hither to us;" and who come not to the fight except a little
George Sale1734 God already knoweth those among you who hinder others from following his apostle, and who say unto their brethren, come hither unto us; and who come not to battle, except a little
Talal Itani2012 Being stingy towards you. And when fear approaches, you see them staring at you-their eyes rolling-like someone fainting at death. Then, when panic is over, they whip you with sharp tongues. They resent you any good. These have never believed, so God has nullified their works; a matter easy for God.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Being sparing of their help to you (believers). But when the fear cometh, then thou (Muhammad) seest them regarding thee with rolling eyes like one who fainteth unto death. Then, when the fear departeth, they scald you with sharp tongues in their greed for wealth (from the spoil). Such have not believed. Therefor Allah maketh their deeds fruitless. And that is easy for Allah
Edward Henry Palmer1880 covetous towards you.' When fear comes thou wilt see them looking towards thee, their eyes rolling like one fainting with death; but when the fear has passed away they will assail you with sharp tongues, covetous of the best. These have never believed, and God will make vain their works, for that is easy with God
John Medows Rodwell1861 It is out of covetousness in your regard: for when an alarm cometh, thou mayest see them look to thee, and roll their eyes like him on whom the shadows of death have fallen! Yet, when the alarm is passed, with sharp tongues will they assail you, covetous of the best of the spoil. No faith have these! God will make their doings of no avail! And easy is this with God
George Sale1734 being covetous towards you: But when fear cometh on them, thou seest them look unto thee for assistance, their eyes rolling about, like the eyes of him who fainteth by reason of the agonies of death: Yet when their fear is past, they inveigh against you with sharp tongues; being covetous of the best and most valuable part of the spoils. These believe not sincerely; wherefore God hath rendered their works of no avail; and this is easy with God
DIN 31635laqad kāna lakum fī rasūli llāhi ʾuswatun ḥasanatun liman kāna yarǧū llāha wal-yawma l-ʾāḫira waḏakara llāha kaṯīran
Talal Itani2012 You have an excellent example in the Messenger of God; for anyone who seeks God and the Last Day, and remembers God frequently.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Ye had in the Apostle of God a good example for him who hopes for God and the last day, and who remembers God much
John Medows Rodwell1861 A noble pattern had ye in God's Apostle, for all who hope in God, and in the latter day, and oft remember God
George Sale1734 Ye have in the apostle of God an excellent example, unto him who hopeth in God, and the last day, and remembereth God frequently
Talal Itani2012 And when the believers saw the confederates, they said, "This is what God and His messenger have promised us; and God and His messenger have told the truth." And it only increased them in faith and submission.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when the true believers saw the clans, they said: This is that which Allah and His messenger promised us. Allah and His messenger are true. It did but confirm them in their faith and resignation
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And when the believers saw the confederates they said, 'This is what God and His Apostle promised us; God and His Apostle are true!' and it only increased them in faith and resignation
John Medows Rodwell1861 And when the faithful saw the confederates, they said, "This is what God and His Apostle promised us, and God and His Apostle spoke truly:" and it only increased their faith and self-devotion
George Sale1734 When the true believers saw the confederates, they said, this is what God and his apostle have foretold us; and God and his apostle have spoken the truth: And it only increased their faith and resignation
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 —
0.63 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
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.71
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.70
Talal Itani · George Sale0.69
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.66
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.66
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.64
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.63
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.57
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.53
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.