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
We did not create the heaven and the earth and everything between them in vain. That is the assumption of those who disbelieve-so woe to those who disbelieve because of the Fire.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in vain. That is the opinion of those who disbelieve. And woe unto those who disbelieve, from the Fire
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 we have not created the heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, in vain. That is what those who misbelieved did think, but woe from the fire to those who misbelieve
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
We have not created the heaven and the earth and what is between them for nought. That is the thought of infidels; but woe to the infidels because of the fire
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
We have not created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them, in vain. This is the opinion of the unbelievers: But woe unto those who believe not, because of the fire of hell
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
Ne nuk i kemi krijuar kot qiejt, Tokën dhe gjithçka që gjendet mes tyre. Kështu pandehin ata që nuk besojnë. Pra, mjerë jobesimtarët për Zjarrin që i pret!
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 আসমান, জমিন এবং এ দু’য়ের মধ্যে যা কিছু আছে, তা আমি অনর্থক সৃষ্টি করিনি। অনর্থক সৃষ্টি করার ধারণাটি কেবল কাফিরদের। সুতরাং কাফিরদের জন্য রয়েছে জাহান্নামের দুর্ভোগ।
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
Mi nismo uzalud stvorili nebo i Zemlju i ono što je između njih. Tako misle nevjernici, pa teško nevjernicima kad budu u Vatri!
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
Mi nismo uzalud stvorili nebo i Zemlju i ono što je između njih. Tako misle nevjernici, pa teško nevjernicima kad budu u Vatri!
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
Min tagiraali kammu ngun e leydi ndin e ko woni hakkunde majji kon, meere. Ɗum ko sikke yedduɓe ɓen. Bone woodanii ɓen yedduɓe, e Yiite ngeen!
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 ჩვენ არ შეგვიქმნია ცა, მიწა და ის, რაც მათ შორისაა, ამაოდ. ეს არის მხოლოდ ვარაუდი იმათი, ვინც ურწმუნო გახდა. და ვაი [მძიმე სასჯელი] იმათ, ვინც ურწმუნო გახდა, ცეცხლის გამო!
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 Wir haben den Himmel und die Erde und das, was dazwischen ist, nicht umsonst erschaffen. Dies ist die Meinung derjenigen, die ungläubig sind. So wehe denjenigen, die ungläubig sind, vor dem (Höllen)feuer!
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
Πράγματι, δε δημιουργήσαμε τους ουρανούς και τη γη και ό,τι υπάρχει ανάμεσά τους μάταια! Αυτή είναι η εικασία εκείνων που αρνήθηκαν την πίστη! Αλίμονο σ' εκείνους που αρνήθηκαν την πίστη (και θα καταστραφούν) στη Φωτιά!
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
तथा हमने आकाश और धरती को तथा उन दोनों के बीच की चीज़ों को व्यर्थ नहीं पैदा किया। यह तो उन लोगों का गुमान है, जिन्होंने कुफ़्र किया। तो जिन लोगों ने कुफ़्र किया, उनके लिए आग के रूप में बड़ा विनाश है।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E non creammo i cieli e la terra e ciò che c’è di mezzo invano: quella è l’illusione dei miscredenti. Guai ai miscredenti, destinati al Fuoco!
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
27. Ir Mes nesukūrėme dangaus ir žemės ir visko, kas tarp jų, be tikslo. Tai svarstymas tų, kurie netiki. Tad vargas tiems, kurie netiki (islamiškąjį monoteizmą) dėl Ugnies.
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
Samii, dachiifi wantoota gidduu lamaan isaanii jiran, taphaaf hin uumne. Sun sehaa warra kafaraniiti. Isaan kafaraniif laga ibidda irraa ta’etu (halaakaatu) jira.
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
Мы не сотворили небеса, и землю, и всё, что между ними, понапрасну. Это — предположения тех, которые отвергли веру. Горе же тем, которые отвергли веру, — от адского огня!
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
Ми нисмо узалуд створили небо и Земљу и оно што је између њих; тако мисле неверници, па тешко се неверницима због Ватре!
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 hatukuziumba mbingu na ardhi na vilivyo kati yake bure. Hiyo ni dhana ya waliokufuru. Ole wao waliokufuru kwa Moto utakaowapata.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Vi har inte skapat himlen och jorden och allt däremellan utan syfte. Det är bara något de otrogna inbillar sig, och för dem väntar en smärtsam verklighet i elden!
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
Biz göğü, yeri ve ikisi arasındakileri boş yere yaratmadık. Bu, kâfirlerin zannıdır. Vay o kâfirlerin ateşteki haline!
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 ہم نے آسمان وزمین اور ان کے درمیان کی چیزوں کو ناحق پیدا نہیں کیا[1] ، یہ گمان تو کافروں کا ہے سو کافروں کے لئے خرابی ہے آگ کی.
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.
DIN 31635faġafarnā lahu ḏālika waʾinna lahu ʿindanā lazulfā waḥusna maʾābin
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 So We forgave him that. And for him is nearness to Us, and a good place of return.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 So We forgave him that; and lo! he had access to Our presence and a happy journey's end
Edward Henry Palmer1880 and we pardoned him; for, verily, he has a near approach to us and an excellent resort
John Medows Rodwell1861 So we forgave him that his sin; and truly he shall have a high rank with Us, and an excellent retreat in Paradise
George Sale1734 Wherefore We forgave him this fault; and he shall be admitted to approach near unto us, and shall have an excellent place of abode in paradise
Talal Itani2012 "O David, We made you a ruler in the land, so judge between the people with justice, and do not follow desire, lest it diverts you from God's path. Those who stray from God's path will have a painful punishment, for having ignored the Day of Account."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 (And it was said unto him): O David! Lo! We have set thee as a viceroy in the earth; therefor judge aright between mankind, and follow not desire that it beguile thee from the way of Allah. Lo! those who wander from the way of Allah have an awful doom, forasmuch as they forgot the Day of Reckoning
Edward Henry Palmer1880 O David! verily, we have made thee a vicegerent, judge then between men with truth and follow not lust, for it will lead thee astray from the path of god. Verily, those who go astray from the path of God, for them is keen torment, for that they did forget the day of reckoning
John Medows Rodwell1861 O David! verily we have made thee our vicegerent upon earth. Judge therefore between men with truth, and follow not thy passions, lest they cause thee to err from the way of God. For they who err from the way of God shall meet with a grievous chastisement, for that they have forgotten the day of reckoning
George Sale1734 O David, verily We have appointed thee a sovereign prince in the earth: Judge therefore between men with truth; and follow not thy own lust, lest it cause thee to err from the way of God: For those who err from the way of God, shall suffer a severe punishment, because they have forgotten the day of account
Talal Itani2012 Or are We to treat those who believe and do righteous deeds like those who make trouble on earth? Or are We to treat the pious like the shameless?
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Shall We treat those who believe and do good works as those who spread corruption in the earth; or shall We treat the pious as the wicked
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Shall we make those who believe and do right like those who do evil in the earth? or shall we make the pious like the sinners
John Medows Rodwell1861 Shall we treat those who believe and do the things that are right like those who propagate evil on earth? Shall we treat the God-fearing like the impious
George Sale1734 Shall We deal with those who believe and do good works, as with those who act corruptly in the earth? Shall We deal with the pious as with the wicked
DIN 31635kitābun ʾanzalnāhu ʾilayka mubārakun liyaddabbarū ʾāyātihi waliyataḏakkara ʾūlū l-ʾalbābi
Talal Itani2012 A blessed Book that We sent down to you, that they may ponder its Verses, and for those with intelligence to take heed.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 (This is) a Scripture that We have revealed unto thee, full of blessing, that they may ponder its revelations, and that men of understanding may reflect
Edward Henry Palmer1880 A blessed Book which we have sent down to thee that they may consider its verses, and that those endowed with minds may be mindful
John Medows Rodwell1861 A blessed Book have we sent down to thee, that men may meditate its verses, and that those endued with understanding may bear it in mind
George Sale1734 A blessed book have We sent down unto thee, O Mohammed, that they may attentively meditate on the signs thereof, and that men of understanding may be warned
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 —
0.52 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
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.57
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.56
Talal Itani · George Sale0.56
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.55
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.54
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.53
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.52
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.44
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.40
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.