PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/The Quran

How to Cite the Quran in APA 7

An APA 7 Quran reference has no author. It starts with the title of the translation you read in italics, then the translator's initials and last name with Trans. in parentheses, the year, and the publisher or website. Add (Original work published …) when your copy reprints an earlier edition of that translation. The in-text citation gives the title, the year, and the surah and verse: (The Qur'an, 2004/2008, 2:185).

The format

Title of the Translation (A. A. Translator, Trans.). (Year). Publisher or Website Name. URL (Original work published Year)

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

In PERRLA, type Quran or Koran into the reference search and choose Religious Work, or pick Religious Work from the reference types. PERRLA can't look up a Quran translation's details for you, so fill them in from your copy's title page or the website.

  • Contributors: add the translator with the role Translator. Leave out any author.
  • Title of the Work: the title as your edition spells it: The Qur'an, The Koran, or a translation's own name like The Clear Quran.
  • Publication Year, the publisher or website, and the URL if you read it online.
  • Original Publication Year: only when your copy is a reprint of a translation that came out earlier.

When you cite a verse, choose Book, chapter, & verse in the citation box, leave Book empty, and type the surah and verse in Chap: Verse, like 2:185. PERRLA adds the title and the year in front.

Using a study edition with commentary by editors? Add them with the role Editor.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Title of the translation

The Quran has no author in APA 7, so the title goes first, in italics. Spell it the way your edition spells it on the title page: The Qur'an, The Quran, and The Koran are all correct when they match the book. A translation with a name of its own, like The Clear Quran, uses that name.

The Qur'an

Quoting more than one translation? Each one gets its own reference, under its own title.

2. Translator

Right after the title, in parentheses, give the translator's initials and last name, a comma, and Trans. Use every initial the title page shows, and keep a two-word family name together.

(M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Trans.).

Some translations are credited to a group, not a person. Write the group's name as it appears: (Saheeh International, Trans.).

3. Year

Give the year your copy was published, in parentheses, followed by a period. For a print or e-book edition, it's on the copyright page. Quran websites often show no date for their translations, so write (n.d.) for those.

(2008).

4. Publisher or website

For a book, give the publisher from the title page. For a website or app, give the site's name and then its URL, with no period after the link.

Oxford University Press.

5. Original publication date

When your copy reprints a translation that first came out in an earlier year, add (Original work published …) at the end of the reference, with no period. Abdel Haleem's translation first appeared in 2004, and the Oxford World's Classics paperback many students own came out in 2008.

(Original work published 2004)

This date is the translation's first publication, not the date of the Quran's revelation. APA leaves out a date that's unknown or disputed, so don't add one for the original text.

Examples

M. A. S. Abdel Haleem's translation in the Oxford World's Classics paperback, cited for 2:185, the verse that excuses anyone who is ill from fasting during Ramadan. The translation was first published in 2004, so both years appear in the citation.

  • Parenthetical citation(The Qur'an, 2004/2008, 2:185)
  • Narrative citationThe Qur'an (2004/2008, 2:185)

A translation on a Quran website

Quran.com shows Dr. Mustafa Khattab's The Clear Quran as its English translation unless you choose another. This one is cited for 5:32: "whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity." The site gives no date for the translation, so the year is n.d.

  • Parenthetical citation(The Clear Quran, n.d., 5:32)
  • Narrative citationThe Clear Quran (n.d., 5:32)

A study edition with editors

The Study Quran, a translation with verse-by-verse commentary from an editorial team led by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. APA treats an annotated religious work differently from a plain one: the editors take the author position, so the reference starts with their names and the in-text citation uses them, not the title.

  • Parenthetical citation(Nasr et al., 2015, 5:32)
  • Narrative citationNasr et al. (2015, 5:32)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for the Quran gives the title in italics, the year, and the surah and verse numbers joined by a colon. Use those numbers instead of page numbers: they're the same in every translation and every printing.

  • One verse: (The Clear Quran, n.d., 5:32)
  • A range of verses: join them with an en dash, like 2:183–185
  • Two dates: the translation's first year, a slash, then your copy's year: (The Qur'an, 2004/2008, 2:185)
  • No date: n.d. in place of the year
  • A study edition with editors: the editors' names, then the year and verse: (Nasr et al., 2015, 5:32)

A narrative citation puts the title in your sentence: As translated in The Qur'an (2004/2008), anyone who is ill during Ramadan "should make up for the lost days by fasting on other days later" (2:185).

Writing about the Quran in general, not quoting a translation? Write the Quran in plain type, with no italics and no citation.

Common mistakes

  • (Quran 2:185)(The Qur'an, 2004/2008, 2:185)APA 7 gives the Quran a reference entry like any other source, and the citation has to point to it with the translation's title and year. Wording changes from one translation to the next, so your reader needs to know whose words you quoted.
  • Abdel Haleem, M. A. S. (2008). The Qur'an. Oxford University Press.The Qur'an (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Trans.). (2008). Oxford University Press.A translator isn't the author. The title goes first and the translator follows it in parentheses with Trans.
  • (The Qur'an, 2008, p. 21)(The Qur'an, 2004/2008, 2:185)Page numbers only work for one printing. Surah and verse numbers find the passage in any copy. And a reprint carries both years, the original first.
  • The Qur'an (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Trans.). (2008). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 610)The Qur'an (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Trans.). (2008). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 2004)The original date is for the translation's first edition. APA leaves out dates for ancient texts when they're unknown or disputed, so don't put a date for the revelation in the reference.
  • The Holy Quran. (n.d.). Quran.com.The Clear Quran (M. Khattab, Trans.). (n.d.). Quran.com. https://quran.com/Quran websites let you pick from many translations. Name the one you actually read, credit its translator, and include the link.

Quick checklist

  • No author: the translation's title comes first, in italics
  • Spell Qur'an, Quran, or Koran the way your edition does
  • The translator in parentheses after the title, with Trans.
  • The year of your copy, or n.d. for an undated website
  • (Original work published …) only for a reprinted translation
  • In the text: title, year, then surah:verse, never a page

Questions students ask

Do I need a reference entry for the Quran in APA 7?

Yes. Earlier editions of APA let you skip religious works on the references page, but APA 7 gives the Quran a full entry. Your in-text citations then point to it by title and year.

Should I write Quran, Qur'an, or Koran?

In the reference and its citations, copy the spelling your edition uses, since that's its title. In your own sentences, pick one spelling and use it the whole way through. Quran and Qur'an are the most common today.

Do I include the surah name in the citation?

The numbers are what APA needs: 2:185 means surah 2, verse 185. If your instructor wants the surah's name too, you can add it before the numbers, like Al-Baqarah 2:185, and keep the same format through the whole paper.

How do I cite the Quran from an app or website?

Cite the translation you read on it, credit its translator, and give the site or app's name and URL in place of a publisher. Use the date the site gives for the translation, or n.d. if it gives none.

What if I quote two different translations?

Give each translation its own reference entry and cite each by its own title. If two share a title, like two editions both called The Qur'an, their different years and translators keep them apart on your references page.

How do I cite the commentary in a study Quran?

Cite the editors and the year. For the translated verses, give the surah and verse: (Nasr et al., 2015, 5:32). For the editors' own commentary or essays, give the page number where it appears.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.28, 9.42, and 10.2, the APA Style website's religious work reference examples, and the APA Style blog post on classical and religious works. Example sources verified on Oxford University Press's product page and copyright notice for the Abdel Haleem translation, Quran.com's surah 5 page and translator credit, and HarperCollins's page and cover for The Study Quran.

PERRLA builds the Quran reference from the translation's details and puts the title, the year, and the surah and verse in every citation.

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