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
And when they commit an indecency, they say, "We found our parents doing this, and God has commanded us to do it." Say, "God does not command indecencies. Are you attributing to God what you do not know?"
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And when they do some lewdness they say: We found our fathers doing it and Allah hath enjoined it on us. Say: Allah, verily, enjoineth not lewdness. Tell ye concerning Allah that which ye know not
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 they commit an abomination they say, 'We found our fathers at this, and God bade us do it.' Say, 'God bids you not to do abomination; do ye say against God that which ye do not know
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And when the wicked commit some filthy deed, they say, "We found our fathers practising it, and to us hath God commanded it" - SAY: God enjoineth not filthy deeds. Will ye speak of God ye know not what
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And when they commit a filthy action, they say, we found our fathers practising the same; and God hath commanded us to do it. Say, verily God commandeth not filthy actions. Do ye speak concerning God that which ye know not
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 bëjnë ndonjë turpëri, thonë: "Ne i kemi gjetur baballarët tanë duke e bërë atë, por edhe Allahu na ka urdhëruar kështu." Thuaju: "Allahu nuk urdhëron kurrë të bëhen vepra të turpshme. Si thoni për Allahun diçka që nuk dini?"
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 যখন তারা কোনো অশ্লীল কাজ করে(৬), তখন বলে: ‘আমরা আমাদের পূর্বপুরুষদেরকে এর ওপর পেয়েছি এবং আল্লাহও আমাদেরকে এরই নির্দেশ দিয়েছেন।’ ‘ বলে দাও: আল্লাহ অশ্লীলতার নির্দেশ দেন না। তোমরা কি আল্লাহ সম্বদ্ধে এমন কিছু বলছ, যা তোমরা জান 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
A kada urade neko gnusno djelo, govore: "Zatekli smo pretke naše da to rade, a i Allah nam je to zapovjedio." Reci: "Allah ne zapovijeda da se rade gnusna djela! Zašto o Allahu govorite ono što ne znate?"
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 2.0.4
Hrvatski · Croatian
A kada urade neko gnusno djelo, govore: "Zatekli smo pretke naše da to rade, a i Allah nam je to zapovijedio." Reci: "Allah ne zapovijeda da se rade gnusna djela! Zašto o Allahu govorite ono što ne znate?"
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 ɓe mbaɗii paŋkare, ɓe mb'a : "min tawru ɗum baabiraaɓe amen ɓeen, ko Alla yamiri min ɗum". Maaku : "Pellet, Alla yamirtaa paŋkare. E on wowlay e hoore Alla ko on nganndaa?!".
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 როცა ისინი [ურწმუნოები] ჩადიან რაიმე საზიზღრობას, ამბობენ: «ასეთ მდგომარეობაში ვიპოვეთ ჩვენი მამები, და ალლაჰმა გვიბრძანა ეს». უთხარი (ო, მოციქულო): «ჭეშმარიტად, ალლაჰი არ უბრძანებს (თავის მონებს) საზიზღრობებს [ცოდვებსა და უზნეობას]! ნუთუ თქვენ იტყვით ალლაჰზე იმას, რაც არ იცით?»
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 sie eine Abscheulichkeit begehen, sagen sie: „Wir haben unsere Väter darin (vor)gefunden, und Allah hat es uns angeordnet.“ Sag: „Wahrlich, Allah gebietet nicht Schändliches. Wollt ihr (denn) über Allah sagen, was ihr nicht wisst?“
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 (οι ειδωλολάτρες) διαπράττουν μια επαίσχυντη πράξη (όπως την ειδωλολατρία και το να κάνουν περιφορά γύρω από την Κά‘μπα εντελώς γυμνοί), λένε: «Βρήκαμε τους προγόνους μας να την κάνουν, και ο Αλλάχ μάς διέταξε να την κάνουμε.» Πες (ω, Μωχάμμαντ): «Πράγματι, ο Αλλάχ δεν διατάσσει ποτέ επαίσχυντες πράξεις. Λέτε (ψευδώς) για τον Αλλάχ αυτά που δεν γνωρίζετε;»
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 जब वे कोई निर्लज्जता का काम करते हैं, तो कहते हैं कि हमने अपने पूर्वजों को कि इसी (रीति) पर पाया तथा अल्लाह ने हमें इसका आदेश दिया है। (ऐ नबी!) आप उनसे कह दें : निःसंदेह अल्लाह निर्लज्जता का आदेश नहीं देता। क्या तुम अल्लाह पर ऐसी बात का आरोप धरते हो, जो तुम नहीं जानते?
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E quando compievano una nefandezza, dicevano: “Abbiamo trovato i nostri padri che lo facevano, ed è stato Allāh ad ordinarcelo”. Di’: “In verità Allāh non ordina di compiere nefandezze. Attribuite ad Allāh ciò di cui voi non avete nessuna conoscenza?”
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
28. Ir kai jie atlieka Fahiša (blogus darbus, ėjimą aplink Kaabą nuogiems, ir visų rūšių neteisėtus lytinius santykius), jie sako: „Mes radome savo tėvus tai darančius ir Allahas įsakė tai mums.“ Sakyk: „Ne, Allahas niekada neįsako Fahiša. Argi jūs sakote apie Allahą tai, ko nežinote?“
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
Yeroo waan fokkattuu hojjatan "abbootii keenya ishee irratti agarre; Rabbiinis isheetti nu ajaje" jedhu. jedhi "Rabbiin fokkatuuwwanitti hin ajaju, Sila isin waan hin beekne Rabbi irratti jettanii?".
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 они совершают какую-либо мерзость, то говорят: «Мы застали наших отцов на этом, и Аллах повелел нам это». Скажи: «Воистину, Аллах не повелевает мерзость! Неужели вы говорите на Аллаха то, чего не знаете?»
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1
Српски · Serbian
А када ураде неко гнусно дело, говоре: „Затекли смо наше претке да то раде, а и Аллах нам је то заповедио.“ Реци: „Аллах не заповеда да се раде гнусна дела! Зашто о Аллаху говорите оно што не знате?“
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 wanapofanya uchafu, husema: Tuliwakuta baba zetu juu yake, na Mwenyezi Mungu ndiye aliyetuamrisha hayo. Sema: Hakika Mwenyezi Mungu haamrishi uchafu. Je, mnasema juu ya Mwenyezi Mungu yale msiyoyajua?
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Och när de begår en skamlös handling säger de: ”Vi fann våra förfäder göra detta, och Gud har påbjudit oss det.” Säg: ”Gud påbjuder aldrig skamlöshet! Påstår ni saker om Gud som ni inte vet?”
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
Onlar, çirkin bir iş yaptıkları zaman: “Biz, atalarımızı böyle yaparken bulduk. Allah da bunu bize emretti.” derler. Onlara de ki: “Allah, asla kötülüğü emretmez. Allah’a karşı bilmediğiniz şeyleri mi söylüyorsunuz?”
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 وه لوگ جب کوئی فحش کام کرتے ہیں تو کہتے ہیں کہ ہم نے اپنے باپ دادا کو اسی طریق پر پایا ہے اور اللہ نے بھی ہم کو یہی بتایا ہے۔ آپ کہہ دیجیئے کہ اللہ تعالیٰ فحش بات کی تعلیم نہیں دیتا، کیا اللہ کے ذمہ ایسی بات لگاتے ہو جس کی تم سند نہیں رکھتے؟[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.
DIN 31635yā banī ʾādama qad ʾanzalnā ʿalaykum libāsan yuwārī sawʾātikum warīšan walibāsu t-taqwā ḏālika ḫayrun ḏālika min ʾāyāti llāhi laʿallahum yaḏḏakkarūna
Talal Itani2012 O children of Adam! We have provided you with clothing to cover your bodies, and for luxury. But the clothing of piety-that is best. These are some of God's revelations, so that they may take heed.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 O Children of Adam! We have revealed unto you raiment to conceal your shame, and splendid vesture, but the raiment of restraint from evil, that is best. This is of the revelations of Allah, that they may remember
Edward Henry Palmer1880 O sons of Adam! we have sent down to you garments wherewith to cover your shame, and plumage; but the garment of piety, that is better. That is one of the signs of God, haply ye may remember
John Medows Rodwell1861 O children of Adam! now have we sent down to you raiment to hide your nakedness, and splendid garments; but the raiment of piety - this is best. This is one of the signs of God, that man haply may reflect
George Sale1734 O children of Adam, we have sent down unto you apparel, to conceal your nakedness, and fair garments; but the cloathing of piety is better. This is one of the signs of God; that peradventure ye may consider
DIN 31635yā banī ʾādama lā yaftinannakumu š-šayṭānu kamā ʾaḫraǧa ʾabawaykum mina l-ǧannati yanziʿu ʿanhumā libāsahumā liyuriyahumā sawʾātihimā ʾinnahu yarākum huwa waqabīluhu min ḥayṯu lā tarawnahum ʾinnā ǧaʿalnā š-šayāṭīna ʾawliyāʾa lillaḏīna lā yuʾminūna
Talal Itani2012 O Children of Adam! Do not let Satan seduce you, as he drove your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their garments, to show them their nakedness. He sees you, him and his clan, from where you cannot see them. We have made the devils friends of those who do not believe.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 O Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you as he caused your (first) parents to go forth from the Garden and tore off from them their robe (of innocence) that he might manifest their shame to them. Lo! he seeth you, he and his tribe, from whence ye see him not. Lo! We have made the devils protecting friends for those who believe not
Edward Henry Palmer1880 O sons of Adam! let not Satan infatuate you as he drove your parents out of Paradise, stripping from them their garments, and showing them their shame; verily, he sees you - he and his tribe, from whence ye cannot see them. Verily, we have made the devils patrons of those who do not believe
John Medows Rodwell1861 O children of Adam! let not Satan bring you into trouble, as he drove forth your parents from the Garden, by despoiling them of their raiment, that he might cause them to see their nakedness: He truly seeth you, he and his comrades, whence ye see not them. Verily, we have made the Satans tutelars of those who believe not
George Sale1734 O children of Adam, let not Satan seduce you, as he expelled your parents out of paradise, by stripping them of their cloathing, that he might shew them their nakedness: Verily he seeth you, both he and his companions, whereas ye see not them. We have appointed the devils to be the patrons of those who believe not
Talal Itani2012 Say, "My Lord commands justice, and to stand devoted at every place of worship. So call upon Him, and dedicate your faith to Him alone. Just as He originated you, so you will return."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Say: My Lord enjoineth justice. And set your faces upright (toward Him) at every place of worship and call upon Him, making religion pure for Him (only). As He brought you into being, so return ye (unto Him)
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Say, 'My Lord bids only justice: - set steadfastly your faces at every mosque and pray to Him, being sincere in your religion. As He brought you forth in the beginning, shall ye return
John Medows Rodwell1861 SAY: My Lord hath enjoined what is right. Turn your faces therefore towards every place where he is worshipped and call upon him with sincere religion. As he created you, to him shall ye return
George Sale1734 Say, my Lord hath commanded me to observe justice; therefore set your faces to pray at every place of worship, and call upon Him, approving unto Him the sincerity of your religion. As He produced you at first, so unto Him shall ye return
DIN 31635farīqan hadā wafarīqan ḥaqqa ʿalayhimu ḍ-ḍalālatu ʾinnahumu taḫaḏū š-šayāṭīna ʾawliyāʾa min dūni llāhi wayaḥsabūna ʾannahum muhtadūna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 Some He has guided, and some have deserved misguidance. They have adopted the devils for patrons rather than God, and they assume that they are guided.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 A party hath He led aright, while error hath just hold over (another) party, for lo! they choose the devils for protecting supporters instead of Allah and deem that they are rightly guided
Edward Henry Palmer1880 A sect He guides, and for a sect of them was error due; verily, they did take the devils for their patrons instead of God, and they did count that they were guided
John Medows Rodwell1861 some hath he guided, and some hath he justly left in error, because they have taken the Satans as their tutelars beside God, and have deemed that they were guided aright
George Sale1734 A part of mankind hath He directed; and a part hath been justly led into error, because they have taken the devils for their patrons besides God, and imagine that they are rightly directed
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 —
0.60 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 Pickthall0.70
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.66
Talal Itani · George Sale0.64
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.63
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.63
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.61
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.59
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.58
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.53
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.45
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.