Pickthall	Yusuf Ali	Shakir	Sher Ali	Nooruddin	Sarwar
And they say: Fables of the men of old which he hath had written down so that they are dictated to him morn and evening.	And they say: "Tales of the ancients, which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening."	And they say: The stories of the ancients-- he has got them written-- so these are read out to him morning and evening.	And they say, `These are fables of the ancient; and he has got them written down and they are read out to him morning and evening.'	They (also) say, `(This Qur'an consists of) fables of the ancients that he has got written down and now they are read out to him morning and evening.'	They have also said, "It, (the Quran), is only ancient legends, which were written down while they were dictated to him in the mornings and the evenings"
T.B. Irving	Hilali/Khan	Rashad Khalifa	J.N. Dawood	J.M. Rodwell	Rudi Paret
They say: "He has had legends by primitive men written down; they are dictated to him in the early morning and evening!"	And they say: "Tales of the ancients, which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon."	They also said, "Tales from the past that he wrote down; they were dictated to him day and night."	And they say: `Fables of the ancients he has written: they are dictated to him morning and evening.'	And they say, `Tales of the ancients that he hath put in writing! and they were dictated to him morn and even.'	Und sie sagen: `(Es sind) die Geschichten (?) der früheren (Generationen), die er sich aufgeschrieben hat. Sie werden ihm morgens und abends diktiert.'

It is highly significant that even the extremely conservative translation by Hilali and Khan agrees with the heretic Khalifa and the non-Muslim translators.

This leads me to the suspicion that the other Muslim translators translate not the meaning of the actual Arabic text, but what they believe SHOULD BE THERE in the Arabic text, based of their belief in Muhammad's illiteracy. They seem to commit what is condemned in the Qur'an with the words "they corrupt it with their tongues" and actually, more than the tongues, with their pen.

Nooruddin and others also change "dictated to him" (to be written down by him) into "now they are read out to him" i.e. what has already been written and there is no more dictation, just recitation.

All this seems to be done to avoid the conclusion drawn by one group of Muslims (declared heretical by the orthodox), that Prophet Muhammad Wrote God's Revelations With His Own Hand. More discussion of the claim of Muhammad's illiteracy.

The Arabic says iktataba, which means "he transcribed", that is, he wrote what he heard. The word for "cause to write" is 'aktaba. The usual word for writing something oneself is kataba.

Qur'an Versions
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