English translations of the Qur'an
Every English translation is a human reading of the Arabic. Bayyina shows the Arabic first and names the translation under every verse, so you always know whose words you are reading.
The 4 translations you can read here
All cover the complete Qur'an, all 114 surahs.
Sahih International
Prepared by a team of translators under the name Sahih International. Modern, direct English.
- Labelled in the reader as Sahih International
- English recitation available, read by Ibrahim Walk
Marmaduke Pickthall
By Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, an English novelist who became Muslim. Formal, older English.
- Labelled in the reader as Pickthall (1930)
Abdullah Yusuf Ali
By Abdullah Yusuf Ali. The printed work carries extensive commentary notes; Bayyina shows the translation text only.
- Labelled in the reader as Yusuf Ali (1934)
Sam Gerrans
By Sam Gerrans, an English writer whose stated aim is to let the Qur'an explain its own terms.
- Labelled in the reader as Sam Gerrans (2016)
How to compare them
A method you can repeat on any verse.
1. Start from the Arabic
Open the verse in the reader. The Arabic is the same in every view; only the English line changes.
2. Switch translation
Open Reading Settings and choose another translation. Your place in the surah stays where it is.
3. Note where they differ
When two translations disagree, the difference is usually one word or an added phrase. Find which Arabic word it belongs to.
4. Check that word everywhere
Tap the word to see its root, then open Word study to read every verse that uses it. How the Qur'an uses a word elsewhere is the best check on a translation.
Where translations add words
Square brackets mark words the translator supplied.
Read the brackets
Sahih International puts words that are not in the Arabic in square brackets. They are the translator's interpretation, sometimes a large one. In 4:157 the phrase “[another] was made to resemble him” rests on a bracketed word; the Arabic says only “it was made to appear so to them”.
Bayyina's own translation
Not published yet.
Built in the open, one root at a time
A separate community translation tests each meaning against every verse the root appears in. Nothing from it is shown as a translation until people have reviewed and settled it.