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Serving the Quran with technology: tools and sources for developers and organisations
For developers, charities, mosques and Quran schools who want to serve the Book of Allah online: add Quran Chat to your site for free, learn which Quran data sources you can use and how, and see how we built the service.
Embed the chatWhatsApp buttonData sources & licencesLessons learnedHow it’s builtFor organisations
Add Quran Chat to your website, free
A ready-made chat window for charity, mosque, Quran-school and blog websites. It answers questions about the tafsir of verses and the meanings of words with text quoted verbatim from tafsir books, citing the source. Free, ad-free, no sign-up. Copy the code into any page:
<iframe src="https://quran.solutions/en/developers/chat-widget/" title="Quran Chat" loading="lazy" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:600px;border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px"></iframe>For the Arabic interface use https://quran.solutions/chat-widget/. Here is the same widget, live:
Simple conditions
- Show the widget as it is, without hiding the source line or the “Powered by Watsio” credit.
- Don’t place it next to ads or content unfitting for the Quran.
- Each visitor can send up to 30 messages a minute and 100 a day.
Answers are richest in Arabic. In English, ask in the form “Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:255”.
An “Ask on WhatsApp” button
Opens a chat with the same number on WhatsApp and gives the same answers. Prefill the first message with the text parameter:
<a href="https://wa.me/966597002727?text=Tafsir%20of%20Al-Baqarah%202%3A255" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ask about a verse on WhatsApp</a>Quran data sources and their licences
The most common mistake is picking a data source whose licence doesn’t allow the way you use it. This is a summary of what we reviewed in October 2026; each source’s own licence text is the reference:
| Source | What it offers | Licence and key conditions | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanzil.net | Quran text in several scripts (Uthmani, simple) and translations | Text under CC BY 3.0: verbatim copies only, credit with a link to tanzil.net. Permanent storage and indexing are allowed. | Static pages, SEO, offline apps |
| QuranEnc.com | Translations of the meanings in 80+ languages and tafsir such as Al-Mukhtasar, with an API and files | Free with conditions: no editing, adding or deleting; credit the publisher and the source; state the version number; follow updates; no unfitting ads. | Tafsir and translations in pages and apps |
| Quran Foundation API (quran.com) | Text, translations, tafsir, recitations, word-by-word | Developer account. No storage beyond one week, no indexing outside API responses, no prebuilt bundles; Content Sync exists for offline use. Redistributing data needs a written licence. | Live in-app features: audio, word-by-word, extra translations |
| Al Quran Cloud (Islamic Network) | Free API for text, translations and recitation audio | Free non-commercial redistribution; reciters keep rights to recordings. Check their terms first. | A simple audio player crediting the reciter |
| Sunnah.com | Hadith collections in Arabic and English | Link and quote with the hadith number; their API needs a requested key. | Referencing hadith on virtue pages |
Lessons from building it
- Separate indexable pages from live features. Build static pages that Google indexes from sources that allow it, such as Tanzil and QuranEnc. Use sources that forbid storage or indexing, such as the Quran Foundation API, only for features loaded at the moment of use.
- The basmala in Tanzil’s text is part of verse 1 of every surah except Al-Fatihah and At-Tawbah. Show it as its own line above verse 1 without changing its letters — and note it is written «بِّسْمِ» with a shadda in Surahs At-Tin and Al-Qadr.
- Match the font to the text encoding. The QPC Hafs font needs text encoded specifically for it. With Tanzil text, use a font such as Amiri Quran (OFL licence).
- Don’t generate tafsir with AI. Quote verbatim from a named book, cite the source and version, and return the full tafsir unit for a verse without cutting it.
- Don’t publish thousands of near-identical pages at once. Google’s 2026 spam policies treat that as scaled content abuse, and the whole site can lose trust.
- Religious questions are sensitive data. Don’t tie a question to the asker’s name or number, and set a retention period for logs.
How Quran Chat is built
- Site: WordPress with Polylang for two languages and SEOPress; surah and verse pages are static, built from Tanzil and QuranEnc.
- Chat: the Watsio Quran API, called from the visitor’s browser with a random ID not linked to their identity.
- WhatsApp: the same number on the Watsio platform, with the same engine.
- Principle: No answer is written by AI; every text is quoted word for word from tafsir books. Your question’s text may be sent to an AI provider only to understand what you mean, and WhatsApp voice notes are turned into text the same way. Your name and number are not sent with it.
Need a deeper integration, or an assistant for your organisation?
The question-and-answer API is available on request to non-profits and Quran projects. And Watsio, the platform behind Quran Chat, gives charities and Quran schools a WhatsApp assistant that answers from their own content, registers students and sends reminders to parents.