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
When you see them, their appearanceimpresses you. And when they speak, you listen to what they say. They are like propped-up timber. They think every shout is aimed at them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. God condemns them; how deluded they are!
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And when thou seest them their figures please thee; and if they speak thou givestear unto their speech. (They are) as though they were blocks of wood in stripedcloaks. They deem every shout to be against them. They are the enemy, so beware of them. Allahconfound them! How they are perverted
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
And when thou seest them, their persons please thee; but if they speak, thou listenest to their speech: they are like timber propped up: they reckon every noise against them! They are the foe, so beware of them!- God fight against them, how they lie
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
When thou seest them, their persons make thee marvel; and if they speak, thou listenest with pleasure to their discourse. Like timbers are they leaning against a wall! They think that every shout is against them. They are enemies - Beware of them then - God do battle with them! How false are they
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
When thou beholdest them, their persons please thee: And if they speak, thou hearest their discourse with delight. They resemblepieces of timber set up against a wall. They imagine every shout to be against them. They are enemies; wherefore beware of them. God curse them: How are they turnedaside from the truth
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
Kur t'i shohësh, të mahnit pamja e tyre e, nëse flasin, ua vë veshin fjalëve të tyre. Por, ata janë si trarë të mbështetur. Çdo thirrje e mendojnë kundër tyre. Ata janë armiqtë e vërtetë, prandaj ruaju prej tyre! Allahu i mallkoftë! Si po largohen (nga e vërteta)?!
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
তারা (যখন তোমার বৈঠকে বসে) যেন দেয়ালে ঠেস দেয়া (নিষ্প্রাণ) কাঠের গুঁড়ি (অপদার্থ)। তারা প্রত্যেক আওয়াজকেই নিজেদের বিরুদ্ধে মনে করে। তারাই প্রকৃত শত্রু; অতএব, তাদের সম্পর্কে সতর্ক থাকো। আল্লাহ তাদের ধ্বংস করুন! তারা কীভাবে সত্য থেকে ফিরিয়ে নেওয়া হচ্ছে!"
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
Kad ih pogledaš, njihov te izgled zadivljuje; a kad progovore, ti slušaš riječi njihove – međutim, oni su kao šuplji naslonjeni balvani i misle da je svaki povik protiv njih. Oni su pravi neprijatelji, pa ih se pričuvaj! Allah ih ubio, kuda se odmeću!
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
Kad ih pogledaš, njihov te izgled zadivljuje; a kad progovore, ti slušaš riječi njihove – međutim, oni su kao šuplji naslonjeni balvani i misle da je svaki povik protiv njih. Oni su pravi neprijatelji, pa ih se pričuvaj! Allah ih ubio, kuda se odmeću!
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
Si a yi'ii ɓe, ɓalli maɓɓe welete; si ɓe wowlii, a nana konnguɗi maɓɓe ɗin. Hiɓe mba'i wa pecce ɓaaraaɗe, hiɓe cikka kala eewnaango ko e hoore maɓɓe. Ko ɓeen tigi ngoni añɓe ɓen, reenoɓe. Allah huɗii ɓe ! Ko honno ɓe nkiiltiratool (e goonga) !
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
როცა მათ ხედავ, მათი სხეულები გაოცებს (გარეგნული აღნაგობა), და თუ ილაპარაკებენ, შენ უსმენ მათ ნათქვამს. თითქოს ისინი კედელზე მიყუდებული ძელები არიან (არ ესმით და არც სარგებლობენ შენი ქადაგებით). მათ ყოველი ყვირილი თავის საწინააღმდეგოდ მიაჩნიათ (შიშობენ რომ მათ საწინააღმდეგოდ რამე არ ითქვას). ისინი მტრები არიან, მაშ, ერიდე მათ. ალლაჰმა დასწყევლოს ისინი! როგორ არიან ისინი ჭეშმარიტებას აცდენილნი!
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 wenn du sie siehst, gefällt dir ihr Äußeres, und wenn sie reden, hörst du ihren Worten zu. Als wären sie wie angelehnte Hölzer. Sie meinen, jeder Schrei sei gegen sie. Sie sind die (wahren) Feinde; so nimm dich in Acht vor ihnen. Allah bekämpfe sie! Wie sie sich (doch) abwendig machen lassen!
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
Όταν τους βλέπεις (ω, θεατή), θαυμάζεις το σώμα τους (και τις μορφές τους)· και όταν μιλούν, ακούς τα λόγια τους (λόγω της ευγλωττίας τους). Αλλά αυτοί είναι σαν κομμάτια ξύλου στηριγμένα (σε έναν τοίχο, επειδή δε μπορούν να σταθούν μόνα τους, και είναι κούφια από μέσα, χωρίς ζωή, γνώση ή πίστη). Νομίζουν πως κάθε κραυγή είναι εναντίον τους (λόγω της μεγάλης δειλίας τους). (Ω, Αγγελιαφόρε) αυτοί είναι οι εχθροί, γι’ αυτό πρόσεξέ τους. Ας τους καταραστεί ο Αλλάχ. Πώς απομακρύνονται (από την πίστη αφού τους ήρθαν οι ξεκάθαρες αποδείξεις);
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
और यदि तुम उन्हें देखो, तो तुम्हें उनके शरीर अच्छे लगेंगे और यदि वे बात करें, तो तुम उनकी बात पर कान लगाओगे। मानो कि वे टेक लगाई हुई लकड़ियाँ[2] हैं। वे हर तेज़ आवाज़ को अपने ही विरुद्ध[3] समझते हैं। वही वास्तविक शत्रु हैं। अतः आप उनसे सावधान रहें। अल्लाह उन्हें नाश करे! वे किधर फेरे जा रहे हैं!
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E se li guardi, ti piaceranno i loro corpi. E se parlano, ascolterai i loro discorsi; ma sono come tronchi rigidi. Credono che ogni grido sia rivolto a loro; loro sono i nemici: stai attento! Allāh li umilierà ovunque vaghino: come si allontanano dalla verità!
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
4. O kai matai juos, patinka tau jų kūnai, o kai jie kalba, klausaisi jų kalbos. (Jie yra) lyg būtų atremti medžio gabalai (t. y. kūnai, tuščiais protais ir tuščiomis širdimis) – jie mano, kad visi šauksmai yra prieš juos. Jie yra priešai, tad saugokitės jų. Lai Allahas juos sunaikina, kaip jie apsigavę!
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.0
Русский · Russian
Когда ты видишь их, их облик восхищает тебя, а когда они говорят, ты прислушиваешься к их словам. Они словно прислонённые брёвна. Они думают, что всякий окрик обращён против них. Они — враги, так остерегайся же их. Да погубит их Аллах! Как же они могут быть настолько отвращены [от истины]?
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
Кад их погледаш, њихов те изглед задивљује; а кад проговоре, ти слушаш њихове речи - међутим, они су као шупљи наслоњени балвани, и мисле да је сваки повик против њих. Они су прави непријатељи, па их се причувај! Аллах их уништио, куда се одмећу?
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 unapowaona, miili yao inakupendeza, na wakisema, unasikiliza usemi wao. Lakini wao ni kama magogo yaliyoegemezwa. Wao hudhania kila ukelele unaopigwa ni kwa ajili yao. Hao ni maadui; tahadhari nao. Mwenyezi Mungu awaangamizilie mbali! Vipi wanapotoka mbali na haki?
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
När du ser dem, imponeras du av deras yttre, och när de talar, fängslas du av deras ord, men de är [själlösa] likt tomma, uppställda stockar. De inbillar sig att varje varningsrop gäller dem. De är de verkliga fienderna, var därför på din vakt mot dem! Må Gud förgöra dem! Hur förleds de så?
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
Onları gördüğün zaman cüsseleri hoşuna gider. Konuşurlarsa sözlerini dinlersin. Onlar sanki duvara dayanmış kütükler gibidir. Her çığlığı kendi aleyhlerine sanırlar. Onlar düşmandır, onlardan uzak dur. Allah onları kahretsin! Nasıl da (haktan) çevriliyorlar.
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
جب آپ انہیں دیکھ لیں تو ان کے جسم آپ کو خوشنما معلوم ہوں[1] ، یہ جب باتیں کرنے لگیں تو آپ ان کی باتوں پر (اپنا) کان لگائیں[2]، گویا کہ یہ لکڑیاں ہیں دیوار کے سہارے سے لگائی ہوئیں[3]، ہر (سخت) آواز کو اپنے خلاف سمجھتے ہیں[4]۔ یہی حقیقی دشمن ہیں ان سے بچو اللہ انہیں غارت کرے کہاں سے پھرے جاتے 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 They treat their oaths as a cover, and so they repel others from God's path. Evil is what they do.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 They make their faith a pretext so that they may turn (men) from the way of Allah. Verily evil is that which they are wont to do
Edward Henry Palmer1880 They take their faith for a cloak, and then they turn folks from God's way: - evil is that which they have done
John Medows Rodwell1861 Their faith have they used as a cloak, and they turn aside others from the way of God! Evil are all their doings
George Sale1734 They have taken their oaths for a protection, and they turn others aside from the way of God: It is surely evil which they do
Talal Itani2012 That is because they believed, and then disbelieved; so their hearts were sealed, and they cannot understand.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 That is because they believed, then disbelieved, therefore their hearts are sealed so that they understand not
Edward Henry Palmer1880 That is because they believed and then disbelieved, wherefore is a stamp set on their hearts so that they do not understand
John Medows Rodwell1861 This, for that they believed, then became unbelievers!Therefore hath a seal been set upon their hearts, and they understand not
George Sale1734 This is testified of them, because they believed, and afterwards became unbelievers: Wherefore a seal is set on their hearts, and they shall not understand
Talal Itani2012 And when it is said to them, "Come, the Messenger of God will ask forgiveness for you," they bend their heads, and you see them turning away arrogantly.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when it is said unto them: Come! The messenger of Allah will ask forgiveness for you! they avert their faces and thou seest them turning away, disdainful
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And when it is said to them, 'Come, and the Apostle of God will ask forgiveness for you!' they turn away their heads, and thou mayest see them turning away since they are so big with pride
John Medows Rodwell1861 And when it is said to them, "Come, the Apostle of God will ask pardon for you," they turn their heads aside, and thou seest them withdraw in their pride
George Sale1734 And when it is said unto them, come, that the apostle of God may ask pardon for you; they turn away their heads, and thou seest them retire big with disdain
Easy-read (simplified)sawaa'un 'alayhim astaghfarta lahum am lam tastaghfir lahum lan yaghfira llaahu lahum inna llaaha laa yahdee l-qawma l-faasiqeen
DIN 31635sawāʾun ʿalayhim ʾastaġfarta lahum ʾam lam tastaġfir lahum lan yaġfira llāhu lahum ʾinna llāha lā yahdī l-qawma l-fāsiqīna
Talal Itani2012 It is the same for them, whether you ask forgiveness for them, or do not ask forgiveness for them; God will not forgive them. God does not guide the sinful people.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Whether thou ask forgiveness for them or ask not forgiveness for them is all one for them; Allah will not forgive them. Lo! Allah guideth not the evil-living folk
Edward Henry Palmer1880 It is the same to them whether thou dost ask forgiveness for them, or whether thou dost not ask forgiveness for them,- God will not forgive them; verily, God guides not a people who work abomination
John Medows Rodwell1861 Alike shall it be to them whether thou ask forgiveness for them, or ask it not. By no means will God forgive them: God hath no guidance for a perverse people
George Sale1734 It shall be equal unto them, whether thou ask pardon for them, or do not ask pardon for them; God will by no means forgive them: For God directeth not the prevaricating people
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 —
0.65 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 · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.72
Talal Itani · George Sale0.71
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.68
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.61
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.59
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.58
One bar per pair of renderings, longest bar for the pair
sharing fewest words. Every pair is shown; none is singled out.
Method Wording differences — derived 13 September 2026
Method
Mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the lowercased word sets of the cleared translations of each verse. A verse is marked as worded differently when its score falls in the top third of the corpus — the cut set out in Analysis details.
As at
13 September 2026, 10:56 UTC
Gate
verify/divergence_gate.py re-derives and fails on drift
The platform does not say which is right, and does not
characterise what the difference means. The renderings are placed
together so the difference is visible; reading it is the reader's work.
7 sources
stand behind this page. Each is listed once, in the order the page first
cites it, with the licence it was cleared under and what was actually read.
Nothing on this page rests on a source that is not here.
Source Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.
Parsed structurally from the EPUB: an h3 names the surah, one p per verse with its number in its own span. An unnumbered p is the basmala and is not a verse, except in surah 1 where the basmala IS verse 1. 112 unnumbered paragraphs were found, which is 114 surahs less surah 1 and surah 9. Text is stored VERBATIM: NFC normalisation and XML entity unescaping only, because CC BY-ND forbids modification.
CLEARED on a licence read first-hand from the translator's own download page, not from an aggregator. Tanzil also hosts this translation, but under a blanket "non-commercial purposes only" term that directs the user to the translator or publisher for permission - a hosting disclaimer, not a grant - so the grant was taken from the licensor directly. The "God" edition was ingested; ClearQuran also publishes an "Allah" edition, differing in how the divine name is rendered, which is not ingested.
CLEARED ON THE WORK, WITH TWO RECORDED CAVEATS ON THIS COPY. (1) Rights basis is the expired copyright term, NOT the redistributing repository's licence. That repository dedicates its contents to the public domain under the Unlicense while also redistributing plainly in-copyright translations (Abdel Haleem, Saheeh International, The Study Quran), so it is dedicating rights it cannot hold and its blanket grant is not relied upon here. (2) The file declares its own upstream as tanzil.net, and Tanzil attaches a non-commercial condition to its TRANSLATION distributions, though not to its Qur'anic text. Since Pickthall's copyright has expired, nobody holds rights in these words and no licence is required from anyone; Tanzil's terms are a contract binding those who download from Tanzil, which we did not. The chain is nonetheless not spotless and Anwar may prefer a clean digitisation of the 1930 printing. NOT VERIFIED: that this digital text matches the 1930 first printing rather than a later revised edition. No page images were collated. Recorded as unverified rather than presented as established. SERVED TEXT DIFFERS FROM THE CITED FILE AT ONE VERSE, 37:97: the file reads "red-hotfire" (a glued token, also in Gutenberg #16955); the served row reads "red-hot fire", restored 2026-09-13 from Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (London: George Allen & Unwin, printed for Alfred A. Knopf; 1930), p. 460, XXXVII 97 - scan archive.org in.ernet.dli.2015.216140, PDF page 475; banked data/derivation-sources/pickthall-1930-dli-2015.216140-text.pdf (sha256 70e81146c97fa3a590243a82e04e349108546074787e2551a78c616202138870) on Anwar Malik's grant.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is not stated by the redistributor and the printing is unverified. No statement of purpose is recorded for Palmer because none was sourced from his own preface in this pass; nothing is asserted on his behalf.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. TWO edition caveats. (1) The upstream is not stated by the redistributor. (2) Rodwell's own edition PRESENTS THE SURAHS IN HIS OWN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, not the mushaf order — he says so in his preface. This digital text is keyed to mushaf order, so it derives from a restored-order printing (such as the Everyman edition) rather than from Rodwell's own arrangement. Which printing is not stated and has not been established.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is NOT STATED by the redistributor, so the printing it represents is unverified; Sale's text was reprinted and re-edited many times between 1734 and 1900. Recorded as unverified rather than assumed to be the first edition.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Parallel edition, held in ayah_text_variants. It sits alongside the Uthmani spine for search normalisation and is never used to correct it.