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
Is he who was dead, then We gave him life, and made for him a light by which he walks among the people, like he who is in total darkness, and cannot get out of it? Thus the doings of disbelievers are made to appeargood to them.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
Is he who was dead and We have raised him unto life, and set for him a light wherein he walketh among men, as him whose similitude is in utter darkness whence he cannot emerge? Thus is their conduct made fairseeming for the disbelievers
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
Is he who was dead and we have quickened him, and made for him a light, that he might walk therein amongst men, like him whose likeness is in the darkness whence he cannot come forth? Thus is made seemly to the misbelievers what they have done
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Shall the dead, whom we have quickened, and for whom we have ordained a light whereby he may walk among men, be like him, whose likeness is in the darkness, whence he will not come forth? Thus have the doings of the unbelievers been prepared for them
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Shall he who hath been dead, and whom We have restored unto life, and unto whom We have ordained a light, whereby he may walk among men, be as he whose similitude is in darkness, from whence he shall not come forth? Thus was that which the infidels are doing, prepared for them
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
A është njësoj ai që ishte i vdekur e Ne e ngjallëm e i dhamë dritë me të cilën ecën mes njerëzve me atë që është në errësirë e nuk mund të dalë prej saj?! Kështu u janë hijeshuar jobesimtarëve punët që bëjnë.
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
যে ব্যক্তি মৃত ছিল, অতঃপর আমি (আল্লাহ) তাকে জীবিত করেছি এবং তাকে মানুষের মধ্যে চলার জন্য আলো দিয়েছি, সে কি তার মত, যে ব্যক্তি (ঘোর অন্ধকারে রয়েছে, যেখান থেকে সে বের হতে পারে না?(২৩) এভাবেই কাফিরদের জন্য তাদের কৃতকর্ম সুশোভিত করা হয়েছে ।
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
Zar je onaj koji je bio u zabludi, a koga smo Mi oživili i dali mu svjetlo pomoću kojeg se među ljudima kreće, kao onaj koji je u tminama iz kojih ne izlazi? A nevjernicima je uljepšano to što rade.
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
Zar je onaj koji je bio u zabludi, a koga smo Mi oživili i dali mu svjetlo pomoću kojeg se među ljudima kreće, kao onaj koji je u tminama iz kojih ne izlazi? A nevjernicima je uljepšano to što rade.
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
E ko on laatinooɗo maayɗo, min nguurniti mbo min mbaɗani mo annoore homo yaara nde hakkunde yimɓe ɓeen, wa'ata wa on gonɗon e niɓe mo wanaa jaltoowo toon? Ko wano noon heeferɓe ɓeen cuɗiranaa ko ɓe ngollatnoo.
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
ნუთუ ის, ვინც მკვდარი იყო და შემდეგ ჩვენ გავაცოცხლეთ და მივეცით მას ნათელი (რწმენა), რომლითაც დადის ადამიანებს შორის, მსგავსია იმისა, ვინც თავის მაგალითში (იმყოფება) სიბნელეში [უმეცრებაში] და არ (შეუძლია) იქიდან გამოსვლა?
ასე შეულამაზდა ურწმუნოებს ის, რასაც ისინი სჩადიოდნენ!
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
Ist denn der, der tot war und den Wir dann lebendig gemacht und dem Wir ein Licht gegeben haben, worin er unter den Menschen geht, wie derjenige, dessen Gleichnis das jemandes ist, der sich in Finsternissen befindet, aus denen er nicht herauskommen kann? Auf diese Weise wurde den Ungläubigen ausgeschmückt, was sie zu tun 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
Είναι αυτός που ήταν πεθαμένος (στην απιστία, την άγνοια και τις αμαρτίες) και έπειτα του δώσαμε ζωή (τον καθοδηγήσαμε στο Ισλάμ και στη γνώση) και του δώσαμε φως (της καθοδήγησης) με το οποίο περπατά ανάμεσα στους ανθρώπους, ίδιος μ' αυτόν που βρίσκεται στα σκοτάδια (της απιστίας) από τα οποία δε θα βγει ποτέ; Αντίστοιχα, φάνηκαν ωραία στους άπιστους ό,τι έκαναν (από κακά έργα).
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
क्या वह व्यक्ति जो मृत था, फिर हमने उसे जीवित किया तथा उसके लिए ऐसा प्रकाश बना दिया, जिसके साथ वह लोगों में चलता-फिरता है, उस व्यक्ति की तरह है जिसका हाल यह है कि वह अँधेरों में है, उनसे कदापि निकलने वाला नहीं?[78] इसी प्रकार काफ़िरों के लिए वे कार्य सुंदर बना दिए गए, जो वे किया करते थे।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
È forse uguale chi era morto e abbiamo resuscitato e a cui abbiamo dato una illuminazione per camminare tra la gente, a chi è nell’oscurità, da cui non può uscire? Così viene abbellito ai miscredenti ciò che fanno.
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
122. Ar tas, kuris buvo miręs (be Tikėjimo, neišmanantis ir netikintis), ir Mes suteikėme jam gyvenimą (žinojimą ir Tikėjimą) ir įtaisėme jam šviesą (Tikėjimą), kuria jis gali eiti tarp žmonių, panašus į tą, kuris yra tamsumoje (netikėjime, daugiadievystėje ir veidmainystėje), iš kurios jis niekada negali ištrūkti? Taip netikintiesiems padaryta, kad atrodytų teisinga tai, ką jie darydavo.
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
Sila namni du’aa turee ergasii isa jiraachifnee ifaa isaaf goone, kan isaan nama keessa deemu, akka fakkii nama dukkanoowwan keessa jiru, kan ishee irraa hin baanee ta'aa? Akka kanatti kaafirootaaf wanti isaan dalagaa turan miidhagfame.[23]
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
Разве тот, кто был мёртв, и Мы оживили его и даровали ему свет, с которым он идёт среди людей, подобен тому, кто пребывает во тьме и вовсе не выходит из неё? Так этому отвергшим веру было приукрашено то, что они совершали.
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
Зар је онај који је био у заблуди, а кога смо Ми оживели и дали му светло помоћу којег се међу људима креће, као онај који је у тминама из којих не излази? А неверницима је улепшано то што раде.
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
Je, yule aliyekuwa maiti, kisha tukamhuisha, na tukamfanyia nuru akatembea kwayo katika watu, ni kama yule ambaye mfano wake yuko katika giza mbalimbali, sio wa kutoka humo? Kama hivyo ndivyo makafiri walivyopambiwa yale waliyokuwa wakiyafanya.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Är den som var [själsligt] död, och som vi gav liv och ett ljus att vandra med bland människorna, lik den som befinner sig i mörker och inte kan ta sig ut? Så förskönades för de otrogna vad de brukade göra.
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
Ölü iken (imanla) kendisini dirilttiğimiz, insanlar arasında ona yürümesi için nur verdiğimiz kimse, içinden çıkamayacağı karanlıklarda kalan kimse gibi midir? Kâfirlere yaptıkları işler böyle süslü gösterilmiştir.
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
ایسا شخص جو پہلے مرده تھا پھر ہم نے اس کو زنده کردیا اور ہم نے اس کو ایک ایسا نور دے دیا کہ وه اس کو لئے ہوئے آدمیوں میں چلتا پھرتا ہے۔ کیا ایسا شخص اس شخص کی طرح ہوسکتا ہے؟ جو تاریکیوں سے نکل ہی نہیں پاتا[1] ۔ اسی طرح کافروں کو ان کے اعمال خوش نما معلوم ہوا کرتے ہیں۔
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 So abandon sin, outward and inward. Those who commit sins will be repaid for what they used to perpetrate.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Forsake the outwardness of sin and the inwardness thereof. Lo! those who garner sin will be awarded that which they have earned
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Leave alone the outside of sin and the inside thereof; verily, those who earn sin shall be recompensed for what they have gained
John Medows Rodwell1861 And abandon the semblance of wickedness, and wickedness itself. They, verily, whose only acquirement is iniquity, shall be rewarded for what they shall have gained
George Sale1734 Leave both the outside of iniquity, and the inside thereof: For they who commit iniquity shall receive the reward of that which they shall have gained
Talal Itani2012 And do not eat from that over which the Name of God was not pronounced, for it is abomination. The devils inspire their followers to argue with you; but if you obey them, you would be polytheists.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And eat not of that whereon Allah's name hath not been mentioned, for lo! it is abomination. Lo! the devils do inspire their minions to dispute with you. But if ye obey them, ye will be in truth idolaters
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But eat not of what the name of God has not been pronounced over, for, verily, it is an abomination. Verily, the devils inspire their friends that they may wrangle with you; but if ye obey them, verily, ye are idolaters
John Medows Rodwell1861 Eat not therefore of that on which the name of God has not been named, for that is assuredly a crime: the Satans will indeed suggest to their votaries to wrangle with you; but if ye obey them, ye will indeed be of those who join gods with God
George Sale1734 Eat not therefore of that whereon the name of God hath not been commemorated; for this is certainly wickedness: But the devils will suggest unto their friends, that they dispute with you concerning this precept; but if ye obey them, ye are surely idolaters
Talal Itani2012 And thus We set up in every city its leading wicked sinners, to conspire in it, but they conspire only against themselves, and they do not realize it.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And thus have We made in every city great ones of its wicked ones, that they should plot therein. They do but plot against themselves, though they perceive not
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And thus have we placed in every town the great sinners thereof, that they may use craft therein; but they use not craft except against themselves, although they do not understand
John Medows Rodwell1861 Even so have we placed in every city, ringleaders of its wicked ones, to scheme therein: but only against themselves shall they scheme! and they know it not
George Sale1734 And thus have we placed in every city chief leaders of the wicked men thereof, that they may act deceitfully therein; but they shall act deceitfully against their own souls only; and they know it not
Talal Itani2012 When a sign comes to them, they say, "We will not believe unless we are given the like of what was given to God's messengers." God knows best where to place His message. Humiliation from God and severe torment will afflict the criminals for their scheming.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when a token cometh unto them, they say: We will not believe till we are given that which Allah's messengers are given. Allah knoweth best with whom to place His message. Humiliation from Allah and heavy punishment will smite the guilty for their scheming
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And when there comes to them a sign, they say, 'We will not believe until we are brought like what the apostles were brought;' God knows best where to put His message. There shall befall those who sin, meanness in God's eyes, and grievous torment for the craft they used
John Medows Rodwell1861 And when a sign cometh to them they say, "We will not believe, till the like of what was accorded to the apostles of God, be accorded to us." God best knoweth where to place his mission. Disgrace with God, and a vehement punishment shall come on the transgressors for their crafty plottings
George Sale1734 And when a sign cometh unto them, they say, we will by no means believe until a revelation be brought unto us, like unto that which hath been delivered unto the messengers of God. God best knoweth whom He will appoint for his messenger. Vileness in the sight of God shall fall upon those who deal wickedly, and a grievous punishment, for that they have dealt deceitfully
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 —
0.62 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
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.69
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.68
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.66
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.63
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.63
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.56
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.42
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.