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.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And their worship at the (holy) House is naught but whistling and hand-clapping. Therefore (it is said unto them): Taste of the doom because ye disbelieve
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
Their prayer at the House was naught but whistling and clapping hands!- taste then the torment for that ye misbelieved
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And their prayer at the house of God is no other than whistling through the fingers and clapping of the hands - "Taste then the torment, for that ye have been unbelievers
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And their prayer at the Sacred House is nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. 'Taste then the punishment because you disbelieved
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
Lutja e tyre në Shtëpinë e Shenjtë nuk ishte gjë tjetër veçse fishkëllimë dhe rrahje duarsh. Prandaj, shijojeni dënimin për shkak se nuk besonit!
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 কা‘বার কাছে তাদের সালাত শিষ ও হাত-তালি ছাড়া কিছুই না। সুতরাং তোমরা শাস্তি আস্বাদন করো। কারণ তোমরা কুফরী করতে।
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
Molitva njihova pored Kabe svodi se samo na zviždanje i pljeskanje rukama; zato patnju iskusite jer ne vjerujete.
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
Molitva njihova pored Kabe svodi se samo na zviždanje i pljeskanje rukama; zato patnju iskusite jer ne vjerujete.
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
Juulde maɓɓe nden ka Suudu wonaani, si wonaa guuɗgol e kellugol : "Meeɗiree lepte ɗen sabu ko njeddiratoɗon kon".
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 მათი ლოცვა სახლთან [ალ-მასჯიდ ალ-ჰარამთან] მხოლოდ სტვენა და ტაშის დაკვრა იყო. მაშ, იგემეთ სასჯელი იმის გამო, რომ ურწმუნოებას ავლენდით!
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 ihr Gebet beim Haus war ja nur Pfeifen und Klatschen. So kostet nun die Strafe dafür, dass ihr stets ungläubig wart.
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
Η προσευχή τους (των ειδωλολατρών) στον Ιερό Οίκο δεν ήταν παρά σφύριγμα και παλαμάκια. Γευτείτε λοιπόν την τιμωρία (με θανάτωση και αιχμαλωσία κατά τη μάχη του Μπαντρ) για την απιστία σας.
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 उनकी नमाज़ उस घर (काबा) के पास सीटियाँ बजाने और तालियाँ बजाने के सिवा कुछ भी नहीं होती। तो अब अपने कुफ़्र (इनकार) के बदले यातना[16] का स्वाद चखो।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E la loro preghiera nella Casa era di fischi e di battimani: assaggiate la punizione per tutto quello che avete negato.
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
35. Jų Salat (malda) (Allaho) Name (t. y. Kaaboje, Mekkoje) buvo niekas kitas, kaip tik švilpavimas ir plojimas rankomis. Taigi, ragaukite bausmės, nes jūs netikėdavote.
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
Salaanni isaanii mana (Ka’abaa) biratti fiiysuu (siiksuu) fi harka dhahuu (shubbisuu) malee waan biraa hin taane, adabbii dhandhamaa waan kakafartan taataniif.
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
Их молитва у Дома не была ничем иным, кроме свиста и хлопанья в ладоши. Так вкусите же наказание за то, что вы отвергали веру!
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
Њихова молитва поред Ка'бе своди се само на звиждање и пљескање рукама; зато искусите патњу јер не верујете.
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 hakukuwa kuswalia kwao kwenye hiyo Nyumba (Al-Kaaba) isipokuwa ni kupiga miunzi na makofi. Basi onjeni adhabu kwa vile mlivyokuwa mkikufuru.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Deras bön vid helgedomen var endast visslingar och handklappningar, så känn nu straffet för er otro!
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
Onların Kâbe’deki namazları, ıslık çalmak ve el çırpmaktan başka bir şey değildir. Öyleyse küfrünüzden dolayı tadın azabı!
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 ان کی نماز کعبہ کے پاس صرف یہ تھی سیٹیاں بجانا اور تالیاں بجانا[1] ۔ سو اپنے کفر کے سبب اس عذاب کا مزه چکھو۔
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 But God would not punish them while you are amongst them. And God would not punish them as long as they seek forgiveness.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 But Allah would not punish them while thou wast with them, nor will He punish them while they seek forgiveness
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But God would not torment them while thou art amongst them; nor was God going to torment them while they asked Him to forgive
John Medows Rodwell1861 But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast with them, nor would God chastise them when they sued for pardon
George Sale1734 But God would not punish them while thou wast among them, and God would not punish them while they sought forgiveness
Talal Itani2012 Yet why should God not punish them, when they are turning others away from the Sacred Mosque, although they are not its custodians? Its rightful custodians are the pious; but most of them do not know.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 What (plea) have they that Allah should not punish them, when they debar (His servants) from the Inviolable Place of Worship, though they are not its fitting guardians. Its fitting guardians are those only who keep their duty to Allah. But most of them know not
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But what ails them that God should not torment them while they turn folk away from the Holy Mosque, though they are not the guardians thereof - its guardians are only the pious?- but most of them know not
John Medows Rodwell1861 But because they debarred the faithful from the holy temple, albeit they are not its guardians, nothing is there on their part why God should not chastise them. The Godfearing only are its guardians; but most of them know it not
George Sale1734 And what excuse have they now that God should not punish them, when they hinder men from the Sacred Mosque, and they are not its true guardians? Its true guardians are only those who are righteous, but most of them know not
Talal Itani2012 Those who disbelieve spend their wealth to repel from God's path. They will spend it, then it will become a source of sorrow for them, and then they will be defeated. Those who disbelieve will be herded into Hell.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Lo! those who disbelieve spend their wealth in order that they may debar (men) from the way of Allah. They will spend it, then it will become an anguish for them, then they will be conquered. And those who disbelieve will be gathered unto hell
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Verily, those who misbelieve expend their wealth to turn folk from the path of God; but they shall spend it, and then it shall be for them sighing, and then they shall be overcome! Those who misbelieve, into hell shall they be gathered
John Medows Rodwell1861 The infidels spend their riches with intent to turn men aside from the way of God: spend it they shall; then shall sighing be upon them, and then shall they be overcome. And the infidels shall be gathered together into Hell
George Sale1734 Surely, those who disbelieve, spend their wealth to turn people away from the way of God. They will surely continue to spend it; but then shall it become a source of regret for them, and then shall they be overcome. And the disbelievers shall be gathered unto Hell
DIN 31635liyamīza llāhu l-ḫabīṯa mina ṭ-ṭayyibi wayaǧʿala l-ḫabīṯa baʿḍahu ʿalā baʿḍin fayarkumahu ǧamīʿan fayaǧʿalahu fī ǧahannama ʾūlāʾika humu l-ḫāsirūna
Talal Itani2012 That God may distinguish the bad from the good, and heap the bad on top of one another, and pile them together, and throw them in Hell. These are the losers.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 That Allah may separate the wicked from the good, The wicked will He place piece upon piece, and heap them all together, and consign them unto hell. Such verily are the losers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 that God may distinguish the vile from the good, and may put the vile, some on the top of the other, and heap all up together, and put it into hell!- These are those who lose
John Medows Rodwell1861 That God may separate the bad from the good, and put the bad one upon the other, and heap them all up and put them into Hell! These are they who shall be lost
George Sale1734 That God may separate the bad from the good, and put the bad, one upon another, and heap them up altogether, and then cast them into Hell. These indeed are the losers
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 —
0.63 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
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.72
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.70
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.67
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.66
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.65
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.61
Talal Itani · George Sale0.58
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.50
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.50
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.