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
Why then did the idols, whom they worshiped as means of nearness to God, not help them? In fact, they abandoned them. It was their lie, a fabrication of their own making.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
Then why did those whom they had chosen for gods as a way of approach (unto Allah) not help them? Nay, but they did fail them utterly. And (all) that was their lie, and what they used to invent
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
Why did not those help them, whom beside God they took for gods that could drawnigh to Him? Nay! they strayedaway from them; for that was their lie and what they had forced
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
But did those whom they took for gods beside God as his kindreddeities, help them? Nay, they withdrew from them. Such was their delusion, and their device
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Did those protect them, whom they took for gods, besides God, and imagined to be honoured with his familiarity? Nay; they withdrew from them: Yet this was their falseopinion which seduced them, and the blasphemy which they had devised
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
Përse nuk u dolën në ndihmë ata që i kishin marrë si zota krahas Allahut për t'u afruar tek Ai? Përkundrazi, ata u zhdukën prej tyre. Kjo ishte pra gënjeshtra e tyre dhe ajo që trilluan.
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
অতঃপর তারা আল্লাহর নৈকট্য লাভের জন্য আল্লাহর পরিবর্তে যাদেরকে উপাস্যরূপে গ্রহণ করেছিল, তারা কেন তাদেরকে সাহায্য করল না? বরং তারা তাদের থেকে অদৃশ্য হয়ে গেল। বস্তুত এটা তাদের মিথ্যাচার এবং তাদের মনগড়া উদ্ভাবন।
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
A zašto im nisu pomogli oni koje su, pored Allaha, prihvatili da im budu posrednici i bogovi? Ali, njih nije bilo. To su bile samo klevete njihove i laži.
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
A zašto im nisu pomogli oni koje su, pored Allaha, prihvatili da im budu posrednici i bogovi? Ali, njih nije bilo. To su bile samo klevete njihove i laži.
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
Ko haɗno ɗin ɗi ɓe njogitornoo deweteeɗi ɓaɗtinorɗi ga Allah, faaboo ɓe? Tigi on, ɗiin majjirii ɓe; ko ɗum wonnoo fenaande maɓɓe e ko ɓe pekindotonoo. 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
მაშ, რატომ ვერ დაეხმარნენ მათ ის (ცრუ ღვთაებები), რომლებიც მათ ალლაჰის ნაცვლად ღმერთებად აიყვანეს, როგორც (ალლაჰთან) დაახლოების საშუალება? პირიქით, ისინი მათგან გაუჩინარდნენ [ვერ უპასუხეს მათ]. ეს იყო მათი სიცრუე და ის, რასაც თავად იგონებდნენ.
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
Wenn sie nun diejenigen unterstützt hätten, die sie sich anstatt Allahs zu Angebeteten nahmen (als Vermittler), um sich Zutritt in Seine Nähe zu verschaffen! Vielmehr entschwanden sie ihnen. Dies war ihre ungeheuerlich Lüge und das, was sie zu ersinnen pflegten.
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
Γιατί δεν τους υποστήριξαν εκείνοι (οι ψεύτικοι θεοί) που τους πήραν ως θεούς εκτός από τον Αλλάχ (και τους λάτρεψαν) ως μέσω εγγύτητας προς τον Αλλάχ (ισχυριζόμενοι ότι είναι οι μεσολαβητές τους ενώπιον του Αλλάχ); Όχι (δεν τους υποστήριξαν), αλλά τους εγκατέλειψαν! Αυτό (που ισχυρίστηκαν) ήταν το ψέμα τους και ό,τι επινόησαν από ψέματα.
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
तो फिर उन लोगों ने उनकी मदद क्यों नहीं की जिन्हें उन्होंने निकटता प्राप्त करने के लिए अल्लाह के सिवा पूज्य बना रखा था? बल्कि वे उनसे गुम हो गए, और यह[18] उनका झूठ था और जो वे मिथ्यारोपण करते थे।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Li avessero almeno soccorsi quelli che adoravano all’infuori di Allāh, vittime sacrificali! Invece li abbandonarono. E tali furono le loro menzogne e invenzioni.
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
28. Tuomet kodėl jiems nepadėjo tie (dievai), kuriuos jie pasirinko šalia Allaho siekdami prie Jo priartėti?
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
Почему же не помогли им те, которых они избрали богами помимо Аллаха как средство приближения [к Нему]? Нет, напротив, они исчезли от них. И это — их ложь и то, что они измышляли.
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
А зашто им нису помогли они које су, поред Аллаха, прихватили да им буду посредници и божанства? Али, њих није било. То су биле само клевете њихове и лажи.
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
Basi mbona wale waliowashika badala ya Mwenyezi Mungu, kuwa ati hao ndio wawakurubishe, hawakuwanusuru? Bali waliwapotea! Na huo ndio uongo mkubwa waliokuwa wakiuzua.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Varför kom de inte till deras räddning – dessa som de, vid sidan av Gud, gjort till sina gudar för att kunna komma honom närmare? Nej, de försvann spårlöst; de var blott illusioner som de själva diktat ihop.
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
Allah'tan başka kendilerine yakınlık sağlamak için ilah edindikleri şeyler, kendilerine yardım etselerdi ya! Aksine onlardan uzaklaştılar. Çünkü o, onların uydurduğu kendi yalanlarıdır.
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
پس قرب الٰہی حاصل کرنے کے لئے انہوں نے اللہ کے سوا جن جن کو اپنا معبود بنا رکھا تھا انہوں نے ان کی مدد کیوں نہ کی؟ بلکہ وه تو ان سے کھو گئے، (بلکہ دراصل) یہ ان کا محض جھوٹ اور (بالکل) بہتان تھا.[1]
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 We had empowered them in the same way as We empowered you; and We gave them the hearing, and the sight, and the minds. But neither their hearing, nor their sight, nor their minds availed them in any way. That is because they disregarded the revelations of God; and so they became surrounded by what they used to ridicule.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And verily We had empowered them with that wherewith We have not empowered you, and had assigned them ears and eyes and hearts; but their ears and eyes and hearts availed them naught since they denied the revelations of Allah; and what they used to mock befell them
Edward Henry Palmer1880 We had established them in what we have established you, and we made for them hearing and eyesight and hearts; but neither their hearing nor their eyesight nor their hearts availed them aught, since they did gainsay the signs of God, and that encompassed them whereat they had mocked
John Medows Rodwell1861 With power had we endued them, even as with power have we endued you; and we had given them ears and eyes and hearts: yet neither their eyes, nor their ears, nor their hearts aided them at all, when once they gainsaid the signs of God; but that punishment which they had mocked at enveloped them on all sides
George Sale1734 We had established them in the like flourishing condition wherein We have established you, O men of Mecca; and We had given them ears, and eyes, and hearts: Yet neither their ears, nor their eyes, nor their hearts profited them at all, when they rejected the signs of God; but the vengeance which they mocked at, fell upon them
Easy-read (simplified)walaqad ahlaknaa maa hawlakum mina l-quraa wasarrafnaa l-'aayaati la'allahum yarji'oon
DIN 31635walaqad ʾahlaknā mā ḥawlakum mina l-qurā waṣarrafnā l-ʾāyāti laʿallahum yarǧiʿūna
Talal Itani2012 We have destroyed many townships around you, and diversified the signs, so that they may return.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And verily We have destroyed townships round about you, and displayed (for them) Our revelation, that haply they might return
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And we destroyed the cities that are around you:- and we turned about the signs that haply they might return
John Medows Rodwell1861 Of old, too, did we destroy the cities which were round about you; and, in order that they might return to us, we varied our signs before them
George Sale1734 We heretofore destroyed the cities which were round about you; and We variously proposed our signs unto them, that they might repent
DIN 31635waʾiḏ ṣarafnā ʾilayka nafaran mina l-ǧinni yastamiʿūna l-qurʾāna falammā ḥaḍarūhu qālū ʾanṣitū falammā quḍiya wallaw ʾilā qawmihim munḏirīna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 Recall when We dispatched towards you a number of jinn, to listen to the Quran. When they came in its presence, they said, "Pay attention!" Then, when it was concluded, they rushed to their people, warning them.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when We inclined toward thee (Muhammad) certain of the jinn, who wished to hear the Qur'an and, when they were in its presence, said: Give ear! and, when it was finished, turned back to their people, warning
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And when we turned towards thee some of the ginn listening to the Qur'an, and when they were present at (the reading of) it, they said, 'Be silent!' and when it was over they turned back to their people, warning them
John Medows Rodwell1861 And remember when we turned aside a company of the djinn to thee, that they might hearken to the Koran: and no sooner were they present at its reading than they said to each other, "Hist;" and when it was ended, they returned to their people with warnings
George Sale1734 Remember when We caused certain of the genii to turn aside unto thee, that they might hear the Koran: And when they were present at the reading of the same, they said to one another, give ear: And when it was ended, they returned back unto their people, preaching what they had heard
Talal Itani2012 They said, "O our people, we have heard a Scripture, sent down after Moses, confirming what came before it. It guides to the truth, and to a straight path.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 They said: O our people! Lo! we have heard a scripture which hath been revealed after Moses, confirming that which was before it, guiding unto the truth and a right road
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Said they, 'O our people! verily, we have heard a book sent down after Moses, verifying what came before it, guiding to the truth, and unto the right way
John Medows Rodwell1861 They said, "O our people! verily we have been listening to a book sent down since the days of Moses, affirming the previous scriptures; it guideth to the truth, and to the right way
George Sale1734 They said our people, verily we have heard a book read unto us, which hath been revealed since Moses, confirming the scripture which was delivered before it; and directing unto the truth, and 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 —
0.70 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 Sale0.83
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.80
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.76
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.74
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.69
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.68
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.67
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.63
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.59
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.58
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.