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.
And they say, "Why was an angel not sent down to him." Had We sent down an angel, the matter would have been settled, and they would not have been reprieved.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
They say: Why hath not an angel been sent down unto him? If We sent down an angel, then the matter would be judged; no furthertime would be allowed them (for reflection)
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
They say, 'Why has not an angel been sent down to him?' but if we had sent down an angel, the affair would have been decided, and then they would have had no respite
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
They say, too, "Unless an angel be sent down to him. . . ." But if we had sent down an angel, their judgment would have come on them at once, and they would have had no respite
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And they say, 'Why has not an angel been sent down to him?' And if We had sent down an angel, the matter would have been decided, and then they would have been granted no respite
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
Po ashtu thanë: "Sikur t'i kishte zbritur një melek!" Mirëpo, sikur të zbrisnim ndonjë melek, çështja do të merrte fund dhe nuk do t'u jepej afat (për t'u penduar).
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 তারা বলে: ‘কেন তার সাথে কোন ফিরিশতা নাযিল করা হয়নি?’ যদি আমি ফিরিশতা নাযিল করতামই তাহলে বিষয়টি ফয়সালা হয়েই যেতো , তারপর তাদের সুযোগ দেওয়া হতো 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
I još govore: "Zašto mu ne bude poslan melek?!" A da meleke pošaljemo, slučaj bi određen bio, i više se na njih ne bi čekalo.
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
I još govore: "Zašto mu ne bude poslan anđeo?!" A da anđele pošaljemo, slučaj bi određen bio, i više se na njih ne bi čekalo.
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
Ɓe mb'i : "Ko haɗno Maleyka jippinee e makko?" Sinno min njippinno maleyka, fiyaaku on gasayno ; hooti (refti)ɓe neeɓantaake.
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 თქვეს მათ [მრავალღმერთიანებმა]: «ნეტავ მასთან [მუჰამმადთან] ალლაჰს ანგელოზი ჩამოეგზავნა ზეციდან!» ხოლო თუ ჩვენ ანგელოზს ჩამოვგზავნიდით, მაშინ საქმე აუცილებლად გადაწყვეტილი იქნებოდა, და შემდეგ მათ აღარ მიეცემოდათ ვადა (მოსანანიებლად)!
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 sie sagten: „Würde doch ein Engel zu ihm herabgesandt werden!“ Würden Wir aber einen Engel herabsenden, dann wäre die Angelegenheit gewiss entschieden, und ihnen würde dann kein Aufschub gewährt.
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
Και είπαν (οι άπιστοι): «Αν μόνο είχε σταλεί ένας άγγελος σ' αυτόν (τον Μωχάμμαντ, και μας μιλούσε στην αληθινή μορφή του και επιβεβαίωνε ότι ο Μωχάμμαντ είναι ο Αγγελιαφόρος του Αλλάχ, τότε θα πιστεύαμε)!» Αν όντως στέλναμε έναν άγγελο (μ' αυτό τον τρόπο που ήθελαν), το θέμα θα είχε αποφασιστεί (δηλ. θα τους είχαμε καταστρέψει αν δεν πίστευαν) και τότε δεν θα τους είχε δοθεί καμία αναβολή (για να στρεφόντουσαν με μεταμέλεια). [Όπως έγινε με τα προηγούμενα έθνη που ζήτησαν μεγάλα σημάδια από τους προφήτες τους, αλλά όταν τους ήρθαν, τα αρνήθηκαν και δεν πίστεψαν, και έτσι έπεσε πάνω τους η τιμωρία του Αλλάχ αμέσως χωρίς καμία αναβολή].
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 उन्होंने कहा :[8] इस (नबी) पर कोई फ़रिश्ता क्यों न उतारा[9] गया? और यदि हम कोई फ़रिश्ता उतारते, तो अवश्य काम तमाम कर दिया जाता, फिर उन्हें मोहलत न दी जाती।[10]
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E dissero: «Fosse stato fatto scendere su di lui un angelo!» Se avessimo inviato un angelo, sarebbe stata realizzata la condanna, poi non avrebbero avuto una proroga!
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
8. Ir jie sako: „Kodėl jam nebuvo nuleistas angelas?“ Jei Mes būtume nuleidę angelą, viskas būtų nuspręsta iš karto, ir nebūtų jiems leista atsikvėpti.
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
Ni jedhu: "Maaliif Maleykaan isa irratti hin buufamin? " Odoo Maleykaa buufnee silaa dhimmichi ni raawwatama; Ergasii hintursiifaman.
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
Они сказали: «Почему же ему не был ниспослан ангел?!» Но если бы Мы низвели ангела, то дело было бы решено, а затем они не получили бы никакой отсрочки.
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
И још говоре: „Зашто му није послат анђео?!“ А да анђеле пошаљемо, ствар би завршена била, и не би им било дато више времена.
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 walisema, "Mbona hakuteremshiwa Malaika?" Na kama tungelimteremsha Malaika, basi bila ya shaka ingeshahukumiwa amri, kisha wasingelipewa muhula.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Och de säger: ”Varför har inte en ängel sänts ned till honom?” Men om vi hade sänt ned en ängel skulle saken ha varit avgjord, och de skulle inte ha fått något anstånd.
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
"Ona ne diye bir melek indirilmedi?” dediler. Eğer biz bir melek indirseydik (iman etmemeleri halinde) herhalde iş bitirilmiş olurdu. Ve sonra kendilerine (azıcık) bir süre (bile) verilmezdi.
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 یہ لوگ یوں کہتے ہیں کہ ان کے پاس کوئی فرشتہ کیوں نہیں اتارا گیا اور اگر ہم کوئی فرشتہ بھیج دیتے تو سارا قصہ ہی ختم ہوجاتا۔ پھر ان کو ذرا مہلت نہ دی جاتی۔[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.
Easy-read (simplified)alam yaraw kam ahlaknaa min qablihim min qarnin makkannaahum fee l-'ardi maa lam numakkin lakum wa'arsalnaa s-samaa'a 'alayhim midraaran waja'alnaa l-'anhaara tajree min tahtihim fa'ahlaknaahum bidhunoobihim wa'ansha'naa min ba'dihim qarnan aakhareen
DIN 31635ʾalam yaraw kam ʾahlaknā min qablihim min qarnin makkannāhum fī l-ʾarḍi mā lam numakkin lakum waʾarsalnā s-samāʾa ʿalayhim midrāran waǧaʿalnā l-ʾanhāra taǧrī min taḥtihim faʾahlaknāhum biḏunūbihim waʾanšaʾnā min baʿdihim qarnan ʾāḫarīna
Talal Itani2012 Have they not considered how many generations We destroyed before them? We had established them on earth more firmly than We established you, and We sent the clouds pouring down abundant rain on them, and We made rivers flow beneath them. But We destroyed them for their sins, and established other civilizations after them.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 See they not how many a generation We destroyed before them, whom We had established in the earth more firmly than We have established you, and We shed on them abundant showers from the sky, and made the rivers flow beneath them. Yet we destroyed them for their sins, and created after them another generation
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Do not they see how many a generation we have destroyed before them, whom we had settled in the earth as we have not settled for you, and sent the rain of heaven upon them in copious showers, and made the waters flow beneath them? Then we destroyed them in their sins, and raised up other generations after them
John Medows Rodwell1861 See they not how many generations we have destroyed before them? We had settled them on the earth as we have not settled you, and we sent down the very heavens upon them in copious rains, and we made the rivers to flow beneath their feet: yet we destroyed them in their sins, and raised up other generations to succeed them
George Sale1734 See they not how many a generation We have destroyed before them? We had established them in the earth as We have not established you and We sent the clouds over them, pouring down abundant rain; and We caused streams to flow beneath them; then did We destroy them because of their sins and raised up after them another generation
Talal Itani2012 Had We sent down upon you a book on paper, and they had touched it with their hands, those who disbelieve would have said, "This is nothing but plain magic."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Had we sent down unto thee (Muhammad) (actual) writing upon parchment, so that they could feel it with their hands, those who disbelieve would have said: This is naught else than mere magic
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Had we sent down to thee a book on paper, and they had touched it with their hands, still those who misbelieve would have said, 'This is naught but obvious magic
John Medows Rodwell1861 And had we sent down to thee a Book written on parchment, and they had touched it with their hands, the infidels had surely said, "This is nought but plain sorcery
George Sale1734 And if We had sent down to thee a writing upon the parchment and they had felt it with their hands even then the disbelievers would have surely said, 'This is nothing but manifest sorcery
Easy-read (simplified)walaw ja'alnaahu malakan laja'alnaahu rajulan walalabasnaa 'alayhim maa yalbisoon
DIN 31635walaw ǧaʿalnāhu malakan laǧaʿalnāhu raǧulan walalabasnā ʿalayhim mā yalbisūna
Talal Itani2012 Had We made him an angel, We would have made him a man, and confused them when they are already confused.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Had we appointed him (Our messenger) an angel, We assuredly had made him (as) a man (that he might speak to men); and (thus) obscured for them (the truth) they (now) obscure
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And had we made him an angel, we should have made him as a man too; and we would have made perplexing for them that which they deem perplexing now
John Medows Rodwell1861 And if we had appointed an angel, we should certainly have appointed one in the form of a man, and we should have clothed him before them in garments like their own
George Sale1734 And if We had appointed as Messenger an angel, We would have made him appear as a man; and thus We would have caused to be confused to them that which they are themselves confusing
Easy-read (simplified)walaqadi stuhzi'a birusulin min qablika fahaaqa billadheena sakhiroo minhum maa kaanoo bihi yastahzi'oon
DIN 31635walaqadi stuhziʾa birusulin min qablika faḥāqa billaḏīna saḫirū minhum mā kānū bihi yastahziʾūna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 Messengers before you were ridiculed, but those who mocked them became besieged by what they ridiculed.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Messengers (of Allah) have been derided before thee, but that whereat they scoffed surrounded such of them as did deride
Edward Henry Palmer1880 There have been prophets before thee mocked at, but that encompassed them which the scoffers among them mocked at
John Medows Rodwell1861 Moreover, apostles before thee have been laughed to scorn: but that which they laughed to scorn encompassed the mockers among them
George Sale1734 And surely the Messengers have been mocked at before thee, but that which they mocked at encompassed those of them who scoffed at it
These figures count the words the translations share. They measure wording, not meaning, and they do not say which translation is right.
Derived measure: mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the
lowercased word sets of the 5 renderings above —
0.52 on a scale
where 0 means identical wording and 1 means no shared words. It is
computed, not judged.
The page says a verse is worded differently only above the cut below. The cut is a stated convention, not a property of the text, and it can be changed.
The cut
0.644
Share of measured verses above it
33%
Verses above it
2,079
Verses measured
6,236
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.68
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.63
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.61
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.59
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.57
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.57
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.53
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.48
Talal Itani · George Sale0.43
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.14
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.