وَلَا ٱلظُّلُمَٰتُ وَلَا ٱلنُّورُ
Easy-read (simplified)walaa z-zulumaatu walaa n-noor
DIN 31635walā ẓ-ẓulumātu walā n-nūru
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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.
Nor is darkness (tantamount to) light
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
Nor are the darkness and the light.
Talal Itani, ClearQuran ·ClearQuran, "God" edition, EPUB·Talal Itani / ClearQuran.com ·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International·retrieved 7 Sep 2026
Translation by Talal Itani, ClearQuran.com https://clearquran.com
nor the darkness with the light
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an ·1880 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
neither darkness and light
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an ·1861 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
neither darkness and light
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
as errësira dhe drita,
আর অন্ধকার ও আলো সমান নয়।(১২)
ni tmine ni svjetlo,
ni tmine ni svjetlo,
wonaa niɓe ɗen e ndaygu ngun,
და (არ უთანაბრდება) სიბნელეები (ურწმუნოებისა) და ნათელი (ჭეშმარიტი რწმენის).
noch die Finsternisse und das Licht,
ούτε τα σκοτάδια και το φως [δηλ. η απιστία και η πίστη],
और न अंधकार तथा प्रकाश।
né l’oscurità e la luce,
20. Nei yra (panašūs) tamsybė (netikėjimas) ir šviesa (Tikėjimas islamiškajį monoteizmą).
Dukkanootaafi iftis (akkasuma). [4]
ни тьма и свет,
ни тмине и светло,
Wala giza na mwangaza.
och inte heller kan mörkret likställas med ljuset,
Ve karanlık ile aydınlık da bir değildir.
اور نہ تاریکی اور روشنی.[1]
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.
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.
shown so it's never read alone
وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَىٰ حِمْلِهَا لَا يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰٓ إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلْغَيْبِ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَمَن تَزَكَّىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَتَزَكَّىٰ لِنَفْسِهِۦ وَإِلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْمَصِيرُ
Easy-read (simplified)walaa taziru waaziratun wizra ukhraa wa'in tad'u muthqalatun ilaa himlihaa laa yuhmal minhu shay'un walaw kaana dhaa qurbaa innamaa tundhiru lladheena yakhshawna rabbahum bil-ghaybi wa'aqaamoo s-salaata waman tazakkaa fa'innamaa yatazakkaa linafsihi wa'ilaa llaahi l-maseer
DIN 31635walā taziru wāziratun wizra ʾuḫrā waʾin tadʿu muṯqalatun ʾilā ḥimlihā lā yuḥmal minhu šayʾun walaw kāna ḏā qurbā ʾinnamā tunḏiru llaḏīna yaḫšawna rabbahum bil-ġaybi waʾaqāmū ṣ-ṣalāta waman tazakkā faʾinnamā yatazakkā linafsihi waʾilā llāhi l-maṣīru
No burdened soul can carry the burden of another. Even if one weighted down calls for help with its burden, nothing can be lifted from it, even if they were related. You are to warn those who fear their Lord inwardly, and perform the prayer. He who purifies himself purifies himself for his own good. To God is the ultimate return.
And no burdened soul can bear another's burden, and if one heavy laden crieth for (help with) his load, naught of it will be lifted even though he (unto whom he crieth) be of kin. Thou warnest only those who fear their Lord in secret, and have established worship. He who groweth (in goodness), groweth only for himself, (he cannot by his merit redeem others). Unto Allah is the journeying
And no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another; and if a heavily laden one shall call for its load (to be carried) it shall not be carried for it at all, even though it be a kinsman!- thou canst only warn those who fear their Lord in the unseen and who are steadfast in prayer; and he who is pure is only pure for himself; and unto God the journey is
And the burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another: and if the heavy laden soul cry out for its burden to be carried, yet shall not aught of it be carried, even by the near of kin! Thou shalt warn those who fear their Lord in secret, and observe prayer. And whoever shall keep himself pure, he purifieth himself to his own behoof: for unto God shall be the final gathering
A burdened soul shall not bear the burden of another: And if a heavy-burdened soul call on another to bear part of its burden, no part thereof shall be born by the person who shall be called on, although he be ever so nearly related. Thou shalt admonish those who fear their Lord in secret, and are constant at prayer: And whoever cleanseth himself from the guilt of disobedience cleanseth himself to the advantage of his own soul; for all shall be assembled before God at the last day
وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ وَٱلْبَصِيرُ
Easy-read (simplified)wamaa yastawee l-'a'maa wal-baseer
DIN 31635wamā yastawī l-ʾaʿmā wal-baṣīru
Not equal are the blind and the seeing.
The blind man is not equal with the seer
The blind is not equal with him who sees
And the blind and the seeing are not alike
The blind and the seeing shall not be held equal
35:20 — the verse above
وَلَا ٱلظِّلُّ وَلَا ٱلْحَرُورُ
Easy-read (simplified)walaa z-zillu walaa l-haroor
DIN 31635walā ẓ-ẓillu walā l-ḥarūru
The translators word this verse differently
Nor are the shade and the torrid heat.
Nor is the shadow equal with the sun's full heat
nor the shade with the hot blast
nor the shade and the hot wind
nor the cool shade and the scorching wind
وَمَا يَسْتَوِى ٱلْأَحْيَآءُ وَلَا ٱلْأَمْوَٰتُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَآءُ وَمَآ أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِى ٱلْقُبُورِ
Easy-read (simplified)wamaa yastawee l-'ahyaa'u walaa l-'amwaatu inna llaaha yusmi'u man yashaa'u wamaa anta bimusmi'in man fee l-quboor
DIN 31635wamā yastawī l-ʾaḥyāʾu walā l-ʾamwātu ʾinna llāha yusmiʿu man yašāʾu wamā ʾanta bimusmiʿin man fī l-qubūri
Nor are equal the living and the dead. God causes whomever He wills to hear, but you cannot make those in the graves hear.
Nor are the living equal with the dead. Lo! Allah maketh whom He will to hear. Thou canst not reach those who are in the graves
nor are the living equal with the dead; verily, God causes whom He pleases to hear, and thou canst not make those who are in their graves hear
Nor are the living and the dead the same thing! God indeed shall make whom He will to hearken, but thou shalt not make those who are in their graves to hearken
Neither shall the living and the dead be held equal. God shall cause him to hear whom He pleaseth: But thou shalt not make those to hear who are in their graves
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Uthmani, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
وَلَا الظُّلُمَاتُ وَلَا النُّورُ
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Simple) ·Simple, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
In plain words — none yet for this verse
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SourceTanzil Qur'an text (Simple) ·Simple, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
SourceTanzil Qur'an text (Simple) ·Simple, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
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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.
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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.
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.
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Qur'anic text from the Tanzil Project. Copyright (C) 2007-2026 Tanzil Project License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Source: tanzil.net · Updates: tanzil.net/updates/ https://tanzil.net/updates/