Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
for, [O Muhammad,] thou hast never been able to recite any divine writ ere this one [was revealed], nor didst thou ever transcribe one with your own hand or else, they who try to disprove the truth [of thy revelation] might indeed have had cause to doubt [it]
Arthur John Arberry
Not before this didst thou recite any Book, or inscribe it with thy right hand, for then those who follow falsehood would have doubted
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
And thou wast not (able) to recite a Book before this (Book came), nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand: In that case, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted
Arabic
وَمَا كُنتَ تَتۡلُوا۟ مِن قَبۡلِهِۦ مِن كِتَـٰبࣲ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُۥ بِیَمِینِكَۖ إِذࣰا لَّٱرۡتَابَ ٱلۡمُبۡطِلُونَ ٤٨
Transliteration (2021)
wamā kunta tatlū min qablihi min kitābin walā takhuṭṭuhu biyamīnika idhan la-ir'tāba l-mub'ṭilūn