Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning
Muhammad Asad
they would lie asleep during but a small part of the night
M. M. Pickthall
They used to sleep but little of the night
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
They were in the habit of sleeping but little by night
The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab
they used to sleep only little in the night,
Safi Kaskas
They used to sleep a little at night,
Wahiduddin Khan
sleeping little in the night-time
Shakir
They used to sleep but little in the night
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar
They had been slumbering little during the night.
T.B.Irving
they used to slumber only a portion of the night
Abdul Hye
They used to sleep but little by the night,
The Study Quran
Little of the night did they slumber
Talal Itani & AI (2024)
They hardly slept during the night.
Talal Itani (2012)
They used to sleep a little at night
Dr. Kamal Omar
They are — a small period out of the night which they pass in rest and sleep
They used to sleep but little in the night time
Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali
They used to slumber (only) little of the night
Muhammad Sarwar
They slept very little during the nigh
Muhammad Taqi Usmani
They used to sleep little in the night
Shabbir Ahmed
And rarely did they fall asleep at night without reflection. ('Haju' = Fall asleep instantly like an exhausted horse)
Dr. Munir Munshey
They did not sleep much at night, but only a part of the time
Syed Vickar Ahamed
They were in the habit of sleeping but little by night
They used to sleep but little of the night
[The Monotheist Group] (2011 Edition)
They used to rarely sleep the whole night
Abdel Haleem
sleeping only little at night
Abdul Majid Daryabadi
Little of the night they were wont to slumber
Ahmed Ali
They slept little in the night
Aisha Bewley
The part of the night they spent asleep was small
Ali Ünal
They used to sleep but little by night (almost never missing the Tahajjud Prayer)
Ali Quli Qara'i
They used to sleep a little during the night
Hamid S. Aziz
They used to sleep but little in the night
Ali Bakhtiari Nejad
They used to sleep a little of the night,
A.L. Bilal Muhammad et al (2018)
They were in the habit of sleeping only a little at night
Musharraf Hussain
they slept little at night,
Maududi
they used to sleep but little by night
[The Monotheist Group] (2013 Edition)
They used to rarely sleep the whole night.
Mohammad Shafi
They slept but little at nigh
Controversial or status undetermined works
Ahmed Raza Khan (Barelvi)
They used to sleep little by night.
Rarely did they sleep the whole night.
Hasan Al-Fatih Qaribullah
They slept but a little at night
Maulana Muhammad Ali
The used to sleep but little at night
Muhammad Ahmed & Samira
They were little from the night what they (spend in) sleep
Bijan Moeinian
They cut their sleeping at night short to worship their Lord
Faridul Haque
They used to sleep only a little during the night
Sher Ali
They slept but a little of the night
Dr. Mohammad Tahir-ul-Qadri
They used to sleep at night only for a short while
Amatul Rahman Omar
They were in the habit of sleeping but a little by night (for their being occupied in God's worship)
Muhsin Khan & Muhammad al-Hilali
They used to sleep but little by night (invoking their Lord (Allah) and praying, with fear and hope)
New, Partial, or In Progress Translations
Fode Drame
They used to sleep but little in the night.
Munir Mezyed
They used to sleep but a little of the night,
Sahib Mustaqim Bleher
They slept little at night.
Linda “iLHam” Barto
They had a habit of sleeping only a little at night.
Fadel Soliman, Bridges‘ Translation
they used to lie down but little of the night,
Irving & Mohamed Hegab
they used to slumber only a portion of the night
Samy Mahdy
They were, a little from the night, resting.
Ahmed Hulusi
They would sleep in a small portion of the night.
Mir Aneesuddin
It was (only) a small (part) of the night (during) which they used to sleep,
They hardly missed a night but apportioned part of it, be it little or much, to divine worship at the expense of their sleep
The Wise Quran
They used to sleep little of the night;