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Sources and authenticity

Trust has to be earned. Here is exactly how we handle the Quran, hadith and other sources.

The Quran text

The Arabic text is the Uthmani text, version 1.1 (riwayah of Hafs from 'Asim), of theTanzil Project, produced from the Madinah Mushaf. It was downloaded directly from tanzil.net on 29 September 2026 and has never been edited. Every time the site is built, it checks that:

• all 6,236 ayat are present, and every surah's ayah count matches an independent reference;
• the files' SHA-256 fingerprints match the ones recorded when they were first checked, so a change of even one character stops the site from being published.

Tanzil's text begins the first ayah of each surah (except Al-Fatihah and At-Tawbah) with the basmala. Like a printed mushaf, we show the basmala as a heading above the surah rather than as part of the first ayah.

Current fingerprints: Arabic 18c719bb3ba26d32…, translation 4aabbfa9d96796f5…

Scholar review of the text

Software can prove the text has not changed. Only qualified people can confirm it reads correctly on screen. Our scholars are checking each surah, word by word, against the printed Madinah Mushaf.

Progress: the review has not started yet. Each surah page shows its status.

Spotted something? Tap any word in the Quran and choose “Report a possible mistake”. Every report is read.

Translation, recitation and tafsir

• Translations from Quran Foundation (Quran.com): The Meanings of the Noble Quran by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (English), and the Urdu translation by Shaykh al-Hind Mahmud al-Hasan with Tafsir-e-Usmani. Used under Quran Foundation's developer terms and refreshed from their service at least every 7 days.
• Word meanings and pronunciation: Quran Foundation (Quran.com), shown when you tap a word.
• Second check of the Arabic: every update compares the Tanzil text with Quran.com's Arabic, letter by letter (vowel marks aside). At the last update, all 6,236 ayat matched (1 November 2026).
• Translation: Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), via Tanzil.
• Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy, verse by verse, streamed from the Islamic Network CDN (Al Quran Cloud).
• Tafsir: every ayah links to Ma'arif al-Qur'an (Mufti Muhammad Shafi) and Ibn Kathir on Quran.com. We link to it rather than copying it.
• Arabic font: Amiri Quran, under the SIL Open Font License.

Surah guides and theme explanations are written by our team in plain language. They are labelled as drafts until scholars have reviewed them. When we explain what an ayah says, we label it as a meaning, not as the words of the Quran.

Credits and licences

Islam Guidance is built on the work of many people and organisations. May Allah reward them all.

• Quran text (Arabic): Tanzil Project, Uthmani text version 1.1. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0; used verbatim, never changed. Updates: tanzil.net/updates.
• Translations and word-by-word meanings: content provided by Quran Foundation through the Quran.com developer API, used under the Quran Foundation Developer Terms. Refreshed from their service every 2 days; last refreshed 1 November 2026 at 20:34 (Irish time).
• English translation: Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, The Meanings of the Noble Qur'an.
• Urdu translation: Shaykh al-Hind Mahmud al-Hasan, with the commentary Tafsir-e-Usmani by Allama Shabbir Ahmad Usmani.
• English translation: Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), text from Tanzil.
• Recitation: Shaykh Mishary Rashid Alafasy, streamed from the Islamic Network audio service (Al Quran Cloud).
• Tafsir (linked): Ma'arif al-Qur'an by Mufti Muhammad Shafi, and Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged), on Quran.com.
• Word grammar (linked): Quranic Arabic Corpus, University of Leeds.
• Hadith references (linked): Sunnah.com.
• Fonts: Amiri Quran (The Amiri Project Authors) and Noto Nastaliq Urdu (The Noto Project Authors), both under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
• Surah names and ayah counts: the quran-meta library (MIT licence).
• Website software: built with Astro (MIT licence) and hosted on Amazon Web Services.

Tanzil notice

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE OR CHANGE THIS COPYRIGHT BLOCK
====================================================================
Tanzil Quran Text (Uthmani, Version 1.1)
Copyright (C) 2007-2026 Tanzil Project
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
This copy of the Quran text is carefully produced, highly
verified and continuously monitored by a group of specialists
at Tanzil Project.
TERMS OF USE:
- Permission is granted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this text, but CHANGING IT IS NOT ALLOWED.
- This Quran text can be used in any website or application,
provided that its source (Tanzil Project) is clearly indicated,
and a link is made to tanzil.net to enable users to keep
track of changes.
- This copyright notice shall be included in all verbatim copies
of the text, and shall be reproduced appropriately in all files
derived from or containing substantial portion of this text.
Please check updates at: http://tanzil.net/updates/
====================================================================

Hadith

We only rely on hadith that scholars have graded as authentic (sahih) or sound (hasan), and we give the collection and number, such as “Sahih al-Bukhari 1303”, so you can look it up.

Scholarly review

Each answer shows its status. Draft means it is still being reviewed.Scholar reviewed means qualified scholars have checked it, and we show who and when.

Copyright

We don't copy other websites' answers or reproduce copyrighted translations. If we quote a book, we keep it short, name the author and link to the source.

Corrections

If you think an answer contains a mistake, send it through the Ask page and choose “Correction to an existing answer”. Every correction is read.