"Qur'āni Wahdahu/Quran Alone" - 17:46

By Omid Gul - 9 JUNE 2018

Islamists love to misinterpret the Qur'an to suit their hadiths. One example of this is by examining the many translations of 17:46, most Sunnis and Shias translate this verse as:

"And We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness. And when you mention your Lord alone in the Qur'an, they turn back in aversion." (Qur'an 17:46)

However, when one looks closer at the Arabic words in the verse, you would realize that the translation above is clearly incorrect.

They have chosen to translate the verse to say "Lord alone in the Qur'an". However, when actually reading the verse in Arabic, we would see that the word "Qur'an" and the word "alone" are both right after each other:
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​l-qur'āni 17:46:14 (Qur'an)
waḥdahu 17:46:15 (Alone)

First it says l-qur'āni, meaning Qur'an, then it says waḥdahu, meaning alone. It doesn't say "Lord alone in the Qur'an", it says "Lord in the Qur'an alone."

Therefore, the correct translation would be this:

"And we place shields over their hearts, that they should not understand it, and a deafness in their ears. And if you mention your Lord in the Qur'an alone, they run away turning their backs in aversion." (Qur'an 17:46)

You can check the official Quran Corpus on that verse here to verify for yourself:

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=17&verse=46#%2817:46:1%29

The Qur'an was revealed in Arabic, some translations can be misleading... never blindly follow anyone or any translation, always verify for yourself (17:36).