Principle of Majority View

Some people referring to verse 6/116 opine that majority view should not be criterion for ascertaining what is right. It is wrong interpretation of the verse.

The verse mentioned states that “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” (al-anam-116).

This verse is clearly stating about the majority people living on the earth; the verse is saying majority people living on the earth will mislead you, if you obey them. In other words, the majority people living on the earth would always be on the wrong track. It means majority people living on the earth would always be non-Muslims. It does not mean such people would not be doing anything right; definitely they would be doing many right things, and we may follow those right things done by the majority/ non-Muslim people. But we cannot obey them because they themselves are not on the right track, they would distract us also from the right track. The difference between obedience and following should be kept in mind; in obedience there is essentially element of coercion; in following there is no element of coercion. But if non-Muslims command what is contained in Islam, there is no harm in obeying or following them because Quran allows such following or obedience. Quran says: " Say, "O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you......(ale Imran-64).

Because Muslims would never be in majority on this earth, this principle that majority view should not be taken as a criterion for ascertainment of what is right does not apply to the Muslims. In other words, in case of Muslims, principle of majority view applies and majority view should be followed, if not contradictory to Quran and Hadith. All Quranic verses in which word 'majority' has been used as NO criterion for ascertaining what is right,  actually refer to whole humanity, not to Muslims.