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2. The Quran Discourages Blindly Following Ancestral Ways and Religious Preachers
O you who believe, many religious leaders and preachers take people’s money illicitly, and repel from the path of God. (Quran, 9:34)
And they (the common people) will say: O our Sustainer! Behold, we paid heed unto our leaders and our great men, and it is they who have led us astray from the right path! (Quran, 33:67)
If you obey the majority of people on earth, they will lead you astray from God’s way. Most of the people follow nothing but conjecture and they only live by guesswork. (Quran, 6:116)
It would come as a surprise to many (even Muslims who haven’t read the Quran) that the Quran warns people about the dubious ways of many religious preachers, and asks people to be wary of them. A religion that was only devised to control and cheat people would never expose religious preachers like this, for it would be against their very interests!
Time & time again, we find passages in the Quran about people blaming themselves on the Day of Accountability because they had not reasoned for themselves, and had blindly adopted the ways of their ancestors and/or religious and political leaders. These serve as excellent reminders to continually re-evaluate one’s beliefs. As Mark Twain also once said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
What did I learn from these verses? That just because a belief and/or practice is popular and accepted by many does not necessarily make it true or beneficial. These verses have taught me to question everything – be they cultural norms, religious opinions or whatever else.
[Note: This, of course, does not mean that all religious preachers are corrupt, but that people should only adhere to their advice when it makes sense to them. After all, at the end of the day, only we are responsible for what we do (Quran 2:134).]
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