Page 64 - Those Who Do Not Heed The Qur'an

62 THOSE WHO DO NOT HEED THE QUR'AN

for everybody to be wrong at once," but by declaring in the 116th
verse of Surat al-An'am "If you obeyed most of those on earth, they
would misguide you from Allah's Way. They follow nothing but
conjecture. They are only guessing," Allah informs us that a person
who conforms to the majority may fall into error. Therefore the fact
that an idea is supported by a large number of people does not mean
that it is definitely correct.
For this reason a person should listen to his conscience and give
up acting according to the pre-judgments of the majority, otherwise
the twisted logic will emerge that anybody who bands together a
large number of people is on the right path and a misguided major-
ity view will be accepted, instead of objective evidence.
Believing crowd psychology to be a strength, when he met the
Prophet Musa, the Pharaoh also used the same method in a different
way. When Musa (peace be upon him) arrived to present the clear
proofs of the existence of Allah, the Pharaoh gathered all the people
together and turned them into a mob.
In doing so, his primary purpose was his belief that he would be
able to take pride in winning victory in front of a large crowd and
that he would have a positive effect on the people. Secondly, he was
deluded by the false belief that the strength of the mob would have
a negative effect on the faithful. The same is true of the Prophet
Ibrahim's tribe of idolaters. The leaders of the tribe gathered all the
people together when the Prophet Ibrahim was about to speak. In
the Qur'an, this incident is related in this way:

They said, "Who has done this to our gods? He is definitely one
of the wrongdoers!" They said, "We heard a young man men-
tioning them. They call him Ibrahim." They said, "Bring him
before the people's eyes so they can be witnesses." (Surat a-
Anbiya': 59-61)