Quran & Sunnah

OPINION OF THE MAJORITY

Wert thou to follow the common run of those on earth they will lead thee away from the Way of Allah. They follow nothing but conjecture: they do nothing but lie.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali 6:116  

Thus, then, have We bestowed from on high this [divine writ] as an ordinance in the Arabic tongue.And, indeed, if thou shouldst defer to men's likes and dislikes after all the [divine] knowledge that has come unto thee, thou wouldst have none to protect thee from God, and none to shield thee [from Him].  16:37

Lit., "as an Arabic ordinance (hukm)": i.e., so as to enable the Arabian Prophet to propound it to the people of his immediate environment and, through them, to the whole world. Cf. in this connection 14:4 , where it is stated that every one of God's prophets was entrusted with a message "in his own people's tongue, so that he might make [the truth] clear unto them". That the message of the Qur'an is universal, and not restricted to the Arabs alone, is brought out clearly in many places, e.g., in 7:158 , "Say [O Prophet]: 'O mankind! Verily, I am an apostle of God to all of you.'"

Lit., "follow their likes and dislikes (ahwahum)" - i.e., by compromising with the followers of other creeds who, while accepting some of the fundamental verities of the Qur'an, are unwilling to accept the whole of it.