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.
Those who believe say, "If only a chapter is sent down." Yet when a decisive chapter is sent down, and fighting is mentioned in it, you see those in whose hearts is sickness looking at you with the look of someone fainting at death. So woe to them!
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And those who believe say: If only a surah were revealed! But when a decisive surah is revealed and war is mentioned therein, thou seest those in whose hearts is a disease looking at thee with the look of men fainting unto death. Therefor woe unto them
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
Those who misbelieve say, 'Why has not a surah been revealed?' but when a decisive surah is revealed and fighting is mentioned therein, thou mayest see those in whose heart is sickness looking towards thee with the look of one fainting in death
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
The believers say, "Oh, would that a Sura were sent down!" but when a peremptory Sura is revealed, whose burden is war, thou mayest see the diseased of heart look toward thee, with a look of one on whom the shadows of death have fallen! But better in them would be obedience and becominglanguage
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
The true believers say, hath not a sura been revealed commanding war against the infidels? But when a sura without any ambiguity is revealed, and war is mentioned therein, thou mayest see those in whose hearts is an infirmity, look towards thee with the look of one whom death overshadoweth
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
Besimtarët thonë: "Sikur të shpallej një sure[1]?" Por, kur shpallet një sure e qartë dhe përmendet lufta në të, i sheh ata që kanë sëmundje në zemra duke të shikuar sikur të ishin në agoninë e vdekjes. Ndërkohë, më e përshtatshme për ta do të ishte
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 যারা ঈমান এনেছে তারা বলে: ‘কেনো (যুদ্ধ সংক্রান্ত) একটি সূরা নাযিল করা হয়নি?’ অতঃপর যখন দ্ব্যর্থহীন কোন সুস্পষ্ট সূরা নাযিল করা হয় এবং তাতে যুদ্ধের উল্লেখ থাকে, তখন তুমি দেখবে যাদের অন্তরে (সংশয়ের) ব্যাধি রয়েছে, তারা তোমার দিকে মৃত্যুভয়ে মূর্ছিত ব্যক্তির দৃষ্টিতে তাকাচ্ছে। সুতরাং ধ্বংস তাদের জন্য।
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 oni koji vjeruju govore: “Zašto se ne objavi jedna sura?” A kad bī objavljena jedna sura i u njoj spomenuta borba, ti si mogao vidjeti one čija su srca bolesna kako te gledaju pogledom čovjeka pred smrt onesviješćenog! Teško njima!
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 oni koji vjeruju govore: “Zašto se ne objavi jedna sura?” A kad bī objavljena jedna sura i u njoj spomenuta borba, ti si mogao vidjeti one čija su srca bolesna kako te gledaju pogledom čovjeka pred smrt onesviješćenog! Teško njima!
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
Gooŋɗinɓe ɓen hino mbi'a: "Hara non cortewol (simoore) jippotono!" Si tawii le cortewol ñeñaangol jippinaama, fii hare jaŋtaama e maggol, a tinay ɓen ɓe ñawu woni e ɓerɗe mum hino ndaare, ndaarɗe mo maayde faɗɗini. Ko haanannoo ɓe,
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 რომელთაც ირწმუნეს ამბობენ: «ოჰ, ნეტავ ყოფილიყო
გარდმოვლენილი სურა (რომელშიც ალლაჰი გვიბრძანებს
ვებრძოლოთ ურწმუნოებს)!» მაგრამ როდესაც გარდმოევლინა ცხადი სურა [რომელშიც ეს ნათლად არის განმარტებული], და მასშ ახსენებს ბრძოლას [ალლაჰის გზაზე], შენ (ო, შუამავალო) ხედავ, როგორ იყურებიან შენსკენ სნეული გულის მქონენი [თვალთმაქცნი], სიკვდილის შიშით სავსე თვალებით. უკეთესი იქნებოდა მათთვის –
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 diejenigen, die glauben, sagen: „Wäre doch eine Surah hinabgesandt worden!“ Wenn dann eine eindeutige Surah hinabgesandt (wird) und darin der Kampf erwähnt wird, siehst du diejenigen, in deren Herzen Krankheit ist, dich anschauen, wie einer, der im Sterben ohnmächtig wird, schaut; so wehe ihnen!
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
Εκείνοι που πιστεύουν λένε: «Μακάρι να σταλεί ένα Κεφάλαιο (που να μας επιτρέπει να αντιμετωπίζουμε τους διωγμούς των άπιστων και να αγωνιζόμαστε εναντίον τους)! Αλλά όταν θα σταλεί ένα Κεφάλαιο με ξεκάθαρες οριστικές σημασίες και αναφέρεται σ' αυτό η μάχη, θα δεις (ω, Προφήτη) εκείνους (τους υποκριτές) που έχουν στις καρδιές τους την αρρώστια (της υποκρισίας και της αμφιβολίας) να σε κοιτάζουν σαν κάποιον που λιποθύμησε από το φόβο του από το θάνατο. Αλίμονο σ' αυτούς!
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 जो लोग ईमान लाए, वे कहते हैं कि कोई सूरत क्यों नहीं उतारी गई (जिसमें युद्ध का उल्लेख हो)? फिर जब कोई मोहकम (दृढ़) सूरत उतारी जाती है और उसमें युद्ध का उल्लेख होता है, तो आप उन लोगों को देखेंगे जिनके दिलों में बीमारी है, वे आपकी ओर इस तरह देखेंगे, जैसे वह आदमी देखता है, जिसपर मौत की बेहोशी छा गई हो। तो उनके लिए उत्तम है।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E dicono i credenti: «Se solo scendesse una Surah!» E se scendesse una Surah esplicita, in cui si nomina il combattimento, vedresti quelli che hanno una malattia in cuore fissarti con lo sguardo di chi sviene davanti alla morte; sarebbe meglio per loro
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. Tie, kurie tiki, sako: „Kodėl gi mums nėra apreikšta sūra (leidžiantis gintis)!“ Bet kuomet lemiama sūra (įsakanti veiksmus) yra apreiškta, ir kova yra joje paminėta, tu matysi tuos, kurių širdyse yra (veidmainiškumo) liga, žiūrinčius į tave mirštančio žmogaus žvilgsniu. Jiems būtų geriau
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
Warri amanan “odoo suuraan (jihaada ajajju) buufamtee maal qaba?” jedhu. Yeroo Suuraan heera tumtu buufamtee ishee keessatti lolli dubbatame, warra onneewwan isaanii keessa dhukkubni jiru - ilaalcha nama machii du’aa isa gaggabsee- kan gara kee ilaalan argita. Badiin isaaniif haa ta’u.
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
Те, которые уверовали, говорят: «Почему же не была ниспослана сура?» Но когда ниспосылается твёрдо установленная сура и в ней упоминается сражение, ты видишь, как те, в чьих сердцах болезнь, смотрят на тебя взглядом того, кто лишается чувств при приближении смерти. Лучше для них:
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 они који верују говоре: “Зашто се не објави једно поглавље?” А кад би објављено једно поглавље и у њему би споменута борба, ти си могао видети оне чија су срца болесна како те гледају погледом пред смрт онесвешћеног! Тешко њима!
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 Waumini wanasema: 'Kwa nini haiteremshwi Sura?' Na inapoteremshwa Sura madhubuti na ikatajwa ndani yake habari ya vita, utawaona wenye maradhi katika nyoyo zao wanakutazama mtazamo wa anayezimia kwa sababu ya mauti. Basi ni bora kwao.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
De troende säger: ”Om ändå en sura [som kallar till strid] kunde uppenbaras!” Men när en tydlig sura med befallning om strid väl uppenbarats ser du hur de med sjukdom i sina hjärtan stirrar på dig – likt den som håller på att förlora medvetandet vid dödsögonblicket. Dessa närmar sig [straffet]!
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
İman edenler: “Bir sure indirilmeli değil miydi?” derler. Muhkem bir sure indirilip de içinde savaş emri verilince kalplerinde hastalık bulunanların üzerlerine ölüm baygınlığı gelmiş gibi sana baktıklarını görürsün. O onlara yakın olandır.
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 جو لوگ ایمان ﻻئے وه کہتے ہیں کوئی سورت کیوں نازل نہیں کی گئی[1] ؟ پھر جب کوئی صاف مطلب والی سورت[2] نازل کی جاتی ہے اور اس میں قتال کا ذکر کیا جاتا ہے تو آپ دیکھتے ہیں کہ جن لوگوں کے دلوں میں بیماری ہے وه آپ کی طرف اس طرح دیکھتے ہیں جیسے اس شخص کی نظر ہوتی ہے جس پر موت کی بیہوشی طاری ہو[3]، پس بہت بہتر تھا ان کے لئے.
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 Are they just waiting until the Hour comes to them suddenly? Its tokens have already come. But how will they be reminded when it has come to them?
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Await they aught save the Hour, that it should come upon them unawares? And the beginnings thereof have already come. But how, when it hath come upon them, can they take their warning
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Do they wait for aught but the Hour, that it should come to them suddenly? The conditions thereof have come already; how, when it has come on them, can they have their reminder
John Medows Rodwell1861 For what do the infidels wait, but that the Hour come suddenly on them? Already are its signs come, and when it hath come on them indeed, how can they be warned then
George Sale1734 Do the infidels wait for any other than the last hour, that it may come upon them suddenly? Some signs thereof are already come: And when it shall actually overtake them, how can they then receive admonition
Talal Itani2012 Know that there is no god but God, and ask forgiveness for your sin, and for the believing men and believing women. God knows your movements, and your resting-place.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 So know (O Muhammad) that there is no Allah save Allah, and ask forgiveness for thy sin and for believing men and believing women. Allah knoweth (both) your place of turmoil and your place of rest
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Know thou that there is no god but God; and ask pardon for thy sin and for the believers, men and women; for God knows your return and your resort
John Medows Rodwell1861 Know, then, that there is no god but God: and ask pardon for thy sin, and for believers, both men and women. God knoweth your busy movements, and your final resting-places
George Sale1734 Know, therefore, that there is no god but God: And ask pardon for thy sin, and for the true believers both men and women. God knoweth your busy employment in the world, and the place of your abode hereafter
Talal Itani2012 Obedience and upright speech. Then, when the matter is settled, being true to God would have been better for them.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Obedience and a civil word. Then, when the matter is determined, if they are loyal to Allah it will be well for them
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Preferable for them were obedience and a reasonable speech! But when the matter is determined on, then if they believed God it were better for them
John Medows Rodwell1861 And if, when the command for war is issued, they are true to God, it will be assuredly best for them
George Sale1734 But obedience would be more eligible for them, and to speak that which is convenient. And when the command is firmly established, if they give credit unto God, it will be better for them
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
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.75
Talal Itani · George Sale0.74
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.67
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.64
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.63
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.53
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.53
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.50
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.
Sources, editions and licences for everything above
ReceiptsSource fact
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.