Prophet Muhammad ﷺ too was no exception and he and his few followers had to endure extreme physical and mental torture, yet he never gave in to the voice of the majority and the world later witnessed how a small community of believers expanded and today ranks as the second biggest religion of the world.
Even today, the dominating majority is extremely aggressive and every effort is being made to tarnish the image of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ by way of speech and caricatures and creating hurdles in the way of progression of expansion of Islam. Yet Muslim scholars, men of pen and even ordinary Muslims are not giving in and continuing to extend invitation to the non Muslims to come under the fold of Islam. The following 116th verse of Surah 6. Al An'am is one of the many verses from Qur'an which is the driving force behind the Muslims to never give in to the voice of the majority of the people of the world and continue unabated in their efforts to invite people to Islam:
وَاِنۡ تُطِعۡ اَكۡثَرَ مَنۡ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ يُضِلُّوۡكَ عَنۡ سَبِيۡلِ اللّٰهِؕ اِنۡ يَّتَّبِعُوۡنَ اِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَاِنۡ هُمۡ اِلَّا يَخۡرُصُوۡنَ (6:116) (O Muhammad!) if you obey most of those on the earth, they will mislead you far away from Allah's path. They follow nothing but conjecture, and they do nothing but lie.
The right thing for a seeker-after-truth is not to consider what way the majority of the people are following because that is based on guess-work instead of knowledge. Their beliefs, theories, philosophies, principles of life and laws are the result of guess-work and are, therefore, sure to mislead. In contrast to that, the way of life with which Allah is pleased, can only be the Way which Allah Himself has taught. Therefore, the seeker-after-truth should adopt that way and steadfastly follow it, even though he is left alone on it.
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir:
Most People are Misguided - Allah states that most of the people of the earth, are misguided.
Allah said in other Ayat:
(And indeed most of the men of old went astray before them.) [37:71] and,(And most of mankind will not believe even if you eagerly desire it.) [12:103]
That is they are misguided, yet they have doubts about their way, and they rely on wishful thinking and delusions. and (They follow nothing but conjecture, and they do nothing but lie.) Thus, they fulfill Allah's decree and decision concerning them,
Muhammad Asad Explanation:
I.e., regarding the true nature of human life and its ultimate destiny, the problem of revelation, the relationship between God and man, the meaning of good and evil, etc. Apart from leading man astray from spiritual truths, such guesswork gives rise to the arbitrary rules of conduct and self-imposed inhibitions to which the Qur'an alludes, by way of example, in verses {118} and {119}.
Qur'an Wiki:
Having stated that the truth is simply what is contained in the Book revealed by God, the surah states that what human beings legislate is the result of following conjecture which is devoid of all certainty. To follow it leads to one clear outcome: error. It also explains that human beings cannot be certain of the truth and cannot follow it unless they receive it from its only source. The surah also warns God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) against obeying people in what they say or advocate, no matter how great their number may be. Ignorance remains the same even though it gathers a very large following:
At the time when the Qur’an was revealed, most people on earth belonged to the world of jahiliyyah (period of ignorance), as is certainly the case today. They did not refer to God for judgement in all their affairs. Nor did they make the divine law contained in His revealed Book the law which they implemented. Nor did they derive their concepts, ideas, thoughts and code of living from God’s guidance. Hence, they followed the way of ignorance, as they certainly do today. They could not formulate any opinion or advocate any ruling based on the truth, and they could not lead anyone who followed them except into error. Just as people do today, they abandoned certitude in order to follow conjecture and guesswork. Hence, God warns His Messenger and his followers against obeying them so that they do not stray from His path. This warning has a general import, although it is given in connection with the prohibition of certain types of slaughtered animals and permitting others, as is later explained.
Please listen to explanation of the ayat by eminent Muslim scholar Nouman Ali Khan:
May Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that the exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided, additional input has been interjected from following sources:
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
In addition the references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
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