The Beauty of the Timeless-ness Of the Quran
Quran 6:116 — A timeless warning about following the majority
“And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allah. They follow not except assumption, and they are not but falsifying.” — Quran 6:116
I have been reflecting on this verse, and what strikes me most is how timeless its message is.
At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the believers were a minority surrounded by a society whose majority followed beliefs and practices that contradicted his message. Allah warned the believers not to mistake the majority's beliefs for the truth.
But the Quran is not merely a book for one generation. Its message continues to speak to people across different times and circumstances. So why should we assume that this warning has no relevance when the majority today consists of people who identify themselves as Muslims?
Today, the majority of Muslims identify as Sunni and accept hadith collections alongside the Quran as religious authorities. Yet there are also people who believe that the Quran alone is the divine revelation they are accountable for following.
When these people question the authority of hadith literature, they are often labelled misguided, deviant, or even mushrik. But does the number of people making these accusations establish that they are correct? If majority opinion is not proof of religious truth, why should it become proof simply because the majority identifies as Muslim?
This is where I find the Quran's message particularly powerful.
The Quran repeatedly directs people to reflect, reason, examine revelation, and avoid blindly following inherited beliefs. Consider these verses:
- Quran 6:116 — A warning against following the majority when it leads away from Allah's path.
- Quran 12:111 — The Quran is described as a confirmation of what came before it, a detailed explanation, guidance, and mercy.
- Quran 16:89 — The Book is described as an explanation of all things, guidance, mercy, and good tidings for those who submit.
- Quran 45:6 — After Allah's revelations, what other statement will people believe in?
For me, these verses raise a fundamental question: if the Quran is Allah's revelation and the ultimate criterion by which religious claims must be examined, why should reports compiled by human beings centuries after the Prophet automatically become binding religious authority?
I understand that Sunni Muslims regard hadith as essential for understanding and practising their religion. But that is precisely the point of disagreement: does the Quran itself establish that these later collections must be accepted as an independent source of religious authority? Or have generations of inherited religious tradition made something that should be examined into something that must never be questioned?
I am not arguing that a minority is automatically right, or that a majority is automatically wrong. I am arguing that neither numbers nor inherited labels can replace evidence from Allah's revelation.
The people who followed the Prophet were once a minority. Today, someone who questions the religious authority of hadith may also find himself in a minority, facing condemnation from people who believe their inherited tradition is unquestionably correct.
I cannot claim to know the hearts of those people, nor can I declare that every Sunni Muslim is misguided. That judgment belongs to Allah. But I can ask whether we are applying the Quran's warnings consistently, including when they challenge our own traditions.
Again I want to end with the note about the the beauty of Quran on how in so many ways it keeps establishing itself as the sole guide for us followers of one God alone .