Sources & Methodology

The Arabic text

The Arabic verses are the Tanzil Uthmani text (Tanzil Project, tanzil.net), in the recitation of Hafs 'an 'Asim, the most widely printed today, and in the Kufan verse numbering used by standard printed copies. Tanzil's text is carefully checked and may be reproduced verbatim with attribution. We do not alter it. The one adjustment is that the Basmalah (“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”) that opens each surah is not shown as part of verse 1, since in the Hafs numbering it is not counted as a verse except in al-Fatihah.

The Arabic is displayed in the Amiri Quran typeface, designed for Quranic text.

The translation

English renderings are by Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930). Pickthall, an English convert to Islam, worked with scholars at al-Azhar. His translation is one of the most widely used in English and is now in the public domain.

As Pickthall himself stressed in his preface, no translation is the Quran: a translation conveys meaning, not the inimitable Arabic. Where Pickthall's wording needs explaining (for example “within ten years” for bid'i sinin in 30:4, or “bulwarks” for awtad in 78:7), we explain the Arabic word beside it. We never edit his text. Every verse links to Quran.com, where you can compare many translations.

Automated cross-verification

The site is generated by a build script. Before any page is built, each cited verse is fetched from two independent sources:

1. AlQuran Cloud API: Tanzil Uthmani Arabic and Pickthall English (the text displayed).
2. Quran.com API v4: its own Uthmani Arabic and its own copy of the Pickthall translation (the check).

The two Arabic texts are compared letter by letter, after removing vowel marks and orthographic signs, because the two sources encode the same script slightly differently. The two English texts are compared word for word. If any verse fails, the site is not built. The verse data is stored with the source code, and a full re-check can be run at any time.

Hadith

We cite only a small number of hadith, chiefly from Sahih al-Bukhari, whose authenticity is accepted by Sunni scholars. Each one was checked on sunnah.com for its number (standard numbering), narrator and content. Where a report is not graded sahih, such as Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3046, which at-Tirmidhi graded gharib, we say so. Hadith are summarised in meaning rather than re-typed, and each links to the full text.

Text, interpretation and science

A verse is revelation, and an interpretation is human understanding. On every page we keep the two apart. For the reflections on nature, each topic sets out the classical reading, the modern observation and a note of caution. Science changes, and the meaning of the Quran is not tied to any scientific theory.

What we deliberately exclude

• Numerical “codes”, such as the “miracle of 19” proposed by Rashad Khalifa in the 1970s. Its counts were inconsistent, and Khalifa eventually declared two verses of the Quran (9:128–129) inauthentic to make them work. Muslim scholars reject it. Word-count “symmetries” that depend on selective counting are also excluded.
• Unverified stories and quotations, such as the claim that Neil Armstrong heard the call to prayer on the Moon, which he denied, or quotations attributed to scientists that cannot be traced to a primary source.
• Fragile scientific claims, where the verse has to be stretched or the science overstated.
• Weak or fabricated hadith.

Corrections

If you believe anything on this site is inaccurate, whether a verse, a reference, a date or an interpretation, please write to [email protected] with the page and the source. Corrections are made promptly, and religious content is held to the highest standard.