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.
O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies; some of them are allies of one another. Whoever of you allies himself with them is one of them. God does not guide the wrongdoing people.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk
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
O ye who believe! take not the Jews and Christians for your patrons : they are patrons of each other; but whoso amongst you takes them for patrons, verily, he is of them, and, verily, God guides not an unjust people
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
O Believers! take not the Jews or Christians as friends. They are but one another's friends. If any one of you taketh them for his friends, he surely is one of them! God will not guide the evildoers
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
O true believers, take not the Jews, or Christians for your friends; they are friends the one to the other; but whoso among you taketh them for his friends, he is surely one of them: Verily God directeth not unjust people
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
O besimtarë! Mos i merrni për mbrojtës e miq hebrenjtë dhe të krishterët, sepse ata janë miq të njëri-tjetrit! Kushdo prej jush që i miqëson ata është me ta. Me të vërtetë, Allahu nuk i udhëzon në rrugë të drejtë keqbërësit.
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
হে মুমিনগণ! তোমরা ইয়াহূদী ও খ্রিস্টানদেরকে বন্ধুরূপে গ্রহণ করো না। তারা একে অপরের বন্ধু। আর তোমাদের মধ্যে যে তাদের সাথে বন্ধুত্ব করবে, সে নিশ্চয় তাদেরই একজন। নিশ্চয় আল্লাহযালিম সম্প্রদায়কে হিদায়াত দেন না।
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
O vi koji vjerujete, ne uzimajte za zaštitnike i prijatelje jevreje i kršćane! Oni su sami sebi zaštitnici i prijatelji! A njihov je i onaj među vama koji ih za zaštitnike i prijatelje prihvati; Allah, uistinu, neće uputiti na Pravi put ljude nepravedne.
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
O vi koji vjerujete, ne uzimajte za zaštitnike i prijatelje židove i kršćane! Oni su sami sebi zaštitnici i prijatelji! A njihov je i onaj među vama koji ih za zaštitnike i prijatelje prihvati; Allah, uistinu, neće uputiti na Pravi put ljude nepravedne.
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
Eehey mon gooŋɗinɓe, wota on njogitor alyahuuda e Annasaara weldiiɓe, yoga maɓɓe ko weldiiɓe yoga. kala e mo'on belduɗo e maɓɓe, oen ɗoon ko e maɓɓe jeyaa. Pellet, Alla Fewnataa yimɓe tooñooɓe 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
ჰეი, თქვენ, რომელთაც ირწმუნეთ! ნუ აირჩევთ იუდეველებსა და ქრისტიანებს თქვენს მოკავშირეებად (და ახლო მეგობრებად), რადგან ზოგი მათგანი სხვების მოკავშირეა. და ვინც თქვენგან მათ აირჩევს მეგობრებად, ის თვითონაც მათგანია. ჭეშმარიტად, ალლაჰი არ მიუძღვება (სიკეთისკენ) უსამართლოებს.
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
O die ihr glaubt, nehmt nicht die Juden und die Christen zu Schutzherren! Die einen von ihnen sind Schutzherren der anderen. Und wer von euch sie zu Schutzherren nimmt, der gehört fürwahr zu ihnen. Wahrlich, Allah leitet das ungerechte Volk nicht recht.
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
Ω, εσείς που πιστεύετε! Μην πάρετε τους Εβραίους και τους Χριστιανούς ως κηδεμόνες, είναι κηδεμόνες ο ένας του άλλου. Όποιος απ' εσάς τους παίρνει ως κηδεμόνες, είναι πράγματι ένας απ' αυτούς. Πράγματι, ο Αλλάχ δεν καθοδηγεί τον άδικο λαό.
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
ऐ ईमान वालो! तुम यहूदियों तथा ईसाइयों को मित्र न बनाओ। वे परस्पर एक-दूसरे के मित्र हैं। और तुममें से जो उन्हें मित्र बनाएगा, तो निश्चय वह उन्हीं में से है। निःसंदेह अल्लाह अत्याचारियों को मार्गदर्शन प्रदान नहीं करता।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
O credenti, non prendetevi gli ebrei e i nazareni per sostenitori: loro sono sostenitori gli uni degli altri; chi lo farà sarà in verità dei loro! In verità Allāh non guida il popolo ingiusto.
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
51. O jūs, kurie tikite! Nelaikykite judėjų ir krikščionių Aulija (draugais, globėjais, padėjėjais). Jie yra Aulija tik vienas kitam. Ir jei kuris iš jūsų laiko juos (Aulija), tada tikrai jis yra vienas iš jų. Iš tiesų, Allahas neveda teisingu keliu tų žmonių, kurie yra Zalimūn (daugiadieviai ir nusidėjėliai ir neteisingieji).
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
Yaa warra amantan! Yahuudotaafi Kiristaanotas jaalallee keessoo hin godhatinaa. Gariin isaanii jaalallee gariiti, Isin irraa namni jaalallee isaan godhate inni isaanuma irraayyi. Rabbiin ummata miidhaa hojjattoota hin qajeelchu. [22]
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
О вы, которые уверовали! Не берите иудеев и христиан покровителями: одни из них — покровители других. Кто из вас возьмёт их себе в покровители, то он — один из них. Воистину, Аллах не наставляет на верный путь людей несправедливых.
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
О ви који верујете, не узимајте за заштитнике и присне пријатеље Јевреје и хришћане! Они су сами себи заштитници и пријатељи! А њихов је и онај међу вама који их за заштитнике и пријатеље прихвати; Аллах, уистину, неће да упути на прави пут људе неправденике.
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
Enyi mlioamini! Msiwafanye Mayahudi na Wakristo kuwa ni marafiki wandani. Wao kwa wao ni marafiki wandani. Na mwenye kuwafanya marafiki wandani miongoni mwenu, basi huyo hakika ni miongoni mwao. Hakika Mwenyezi Mungu hawaongoi kaumu madhalimu.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Troende! Ta inte judarna och de kristna som allierade; de allierar sig endast med sina egna. Den av er som allierar sig med dem blir en av dem. Gud vägleder sannerligen inte orättfärdiga människor.
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
Ey İman edenler! Yahudi ve Hristiyanları veli/dost edinmeyin. Onlar birbirlerinin velileridir. Sizden kim onları veli edinirse, o da onlardandır. Allah, zalim topluma hidayet vermez.
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
اے ایمان والو! تم یہود ونصاریٰ کو دوست نہ بناؤ[1] یہ تو آپس میں ہی ایک دوسرے کے دوست ہیں[2]۔ تم میں سے جو بھی ان میں کسی سے دوستی کرے وه بےشک انہی میں سے ہے، ﻇالموں کو اللہ تعالیٰ ہرگز راه راست نہیں دکھاتا۔[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 And judge between them according to what God revealed, and do not follow their desires. And beware of them, lest they lure you away from some of what God has revealed to you. But if they turn away, know that God intends to strike them with some of their sins. In fact, a great many people are corrupt.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires, but beware of them lest they seduce thee from some part of that which Allah hath revealed unto thee. And if they turn away, then know that Allah's Will is to smite them for some sin of theirs. Lo! many of mankind are evil-livers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Wherefore judge thou between them by what God has revealed, and follow not their lusts; but beware lest they mislead thee from part of what God has revealed to thee; yet if they turn back, then know that God wishes to fall on them for some sins of theirs, - verily, many men are evildoers
John Medows Rodwell1861 Wherefore do thou judge between them, by what God hath sent down, and follow not their wishes! but be on thy guard against them lest they beguile thee from any of those precepts which God hath sent down to thee; and if they turn back, then know thou that for some of their crimes doth God choose to punish them: for truly most men are perverse
George Sale1734 Wherefore do thou, O prophet, judge between them according to that which God hath revealed and follow not their desires; but beware of them, lest they cause thee to err from part of those precepts which God hath sent down unto thee; and if they turn back, know that God is pleased to punish them for some of their crimes; for a great number of men are transgressors
DIN 31635ʾafaḥukma l-ǧāhiliyyati yabġūna waman ʾaḥsanu mina llāhi ḥukman liqawmin yūqinūna
Talal Itani2012 Is it the laws of the time of ignorance that they desire? Who is better than God in judgment for people who are certain?
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Is it a judgment of the time of (pagan) ignorance that they are seeking? Who is better than Allah for judgment to a people who have certainty (in their belief)
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Is it the judgment of the Ignorance they crave? but who is better than God to judge for people who are sure
John Medows Rodwell1861 Desire they, therefore, the judgments of the times of(pagan) ignorance? But what better judge can there be than God for those who believe firmly
George Sale1734 Do they therefore desire the judgment of the time of ignorance? But who is better than God, to judge between people who reason aright
Talal Itani2012 You will see those in whose hearts is sickness racing towards them. They say, "We fear the wheel of fate may turn against us." But perhaps God will bring about victory, or some event of His making; thereupon they will regret what they concealed within themselves.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And thou seest those in whose heart is a disease race toward them, saying: We fear lest a change of fortune befall us. And it may happen that Allah will vouchsafe (unto thee) the victory, or a commandment from His presence. Then will they repent them of their secret thoughts
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Thou wilt see those in whose hearts is a sickness vieing with them; they say, 'We fear lest there befall us a reverse.' It may be God will give the victory, or an order from Himself, and they may awake repenting of what they thought in secret to themselves
John Medows Rodwell1861 So shalt thou see the diseased at heart speed away to them, and say, "We fear lest a change of fortune befall us." But haply God will of himself bring about some victory or event of His own ordering: then soon will they repent them of their secret imaginings
George Sale1734 Thou shalt see those in whose hearts there is an infirmity, to hasten unto them, saying, we fear lest some adversity befall us; but it is easy for God to give victory, or a command from Him, that they may repent of that which they concealed in their minds
Talal Itani2012 Those who believe will say, "Are these the ones who swore by God with their strongest oaths that they are with you?" Their works have failed, so they became losers.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Then will the believers say (unto the people of the Scripture): are these they who swore by Allah their most binding oaths that they were surely with you? Their works have failed, and they have become the losers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Those who believe say, 'Are these they who swore by God with their most strenuous oath that they were surely with you?' - their works are in vain and they shall wake the losers
John Medows Rodwell1861 Then will the faithful say, "What! are these they who swore, by their most solemn oath, that they were surely with you?" Vain their works; and themselves shall come to ruin
George Sale1734 And they who believe will say, are these the men who have sworn by God, with a most firm oath, that they surely held with you? Their works are become vain, and they are of those who perish
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 —
0.59 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 Sale0.70
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.66
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.66
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.64
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.58
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.57
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.49
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.44
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.