6:116

Salaam all,

6:116
Wain tutiAA akthara man fee alardi yudillooka AAan sabeeli Allahi in yattabiAAoona illa alththanna wain hum illa yakhrusoona

The Aya says:
And if you (singular) voluntarily comply with the majority of the ones on earth, they lead you astray away from Allah’s path. They do not follow but unverified ideas and they do nothing but speculate.

My personal note:

One may take this Aya and says that it is a proof that Islam is against democracy in a sense. The Aya tells us that the majority of those on earth may lead us astray if we obey them. What the Aya says that if what the majority of people on earth are asking you to do something other than what Allah ordered or blessed then they are leading you astray.

There are parallels to this within the American system of governance. If a state voted in majority to establish a new law, but it was found unconstitutional by the Supreme court of the United States of America then that law will be invalid and cannot take effect despite that it came from a majority opinion.

So, the Aya sets the limits of the rules of majority and those limits are that the majority cannot make the orders and prohibitions of God obsolete.

The other message of the Aya is the issue of the place of unverified opinions or ideas or beliefs. They do have their place in our thought process as long as they are the best available to us and as long as they are based on sound thinking. However, if they contradict objective verified findings then the objective findings prevail and those thoughts will have to disappear and make way for other thoughts that are more in line with the objective findings. This is, in fact the basis of scientific thought and development.

Translation of the transliterated words:
Wain: and if
tutiAA: you (singular) obey/ voluntarily comply with
Note: the root is TTa-W-Ain and it means willing compliance as a concept. This can be extended to obeying and so forth and also easy capability. TUTiAA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of voluntarily obeying or complying with the object (AKTHARA= the majority of) is happening or will be happening in a conditional statement (because preceded by the if) by the subject (second person singular).

akthara: most of / the majority of
Note: the root is K-TH-R and it means many or numerous in all the planes of thought. AKTHARA means: the bigger number of/
Man: who
Fee: in/ on
Alardi: the earth/ the land
Note: ALARDI is derived from the root Hamza-R-Dhad and it means earth or land. ALARDI is the earth/ the land.

Yudillooka: they make you lost/ they mislead you/ they misguide you/ they lead you (singular) astray
Note: YUDILLOO is derived from the root Dhad-L-L and it means getting lost as in lost the path or road in concrete terminology. Conceptually, it is used for any form of loosing the path, whether it is the path to a location or to the truth, or to be correct spiritually and so on. The imagery is very strong since loosing the path in the desert can mean near certain death. YUDILLOO is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the actions of making the object (KA= singular you) loosing the path, or misguiding the object is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person plural).

Aaan: away from
Sabeeli: path of
Note: the root is S-B-L and it means and it means flowing water from the falling rain from the sky to the flowing water in the river and so forth. This is the concrete and the other uses are related as in path, which allows the flow, to soft flowing hair and so forth. SABEELI is the flowing water or the path of. It takes the meaning of path or even the trip on the path.
Allahi: Allah

in yattabiAAoona illa: they follow nothing but
Note: the IN before and ILLA after are limiting the meaning of the word in the middle to only one thing. YATTABiAAooNA is derived from the root T-B-Ain and it means following footsteps or join and follow footsteps. YATTABiAAooNA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making oneself follow footsteps or join and follow footsteps of the object (ALTHANNA= the unverified thoughts) is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person plural).

Alththanna: the unverified thought/ the unproven hypothesis
Note: the root is Tha-N-N and it means conclusion without certainty or conclusion without verification. Therefore, it includes theory, suspicion and all thoughts that are not conclusively proven. ALTHTHANNA is the unproven hypothesis or unverified thought.
wain hum illa: and they nothing but
yakhrusoona: speculate/ estimate
Note: the root is KH-R- Sad and it means in one concrete usage speculation of the date harvest or grape harvest of a particular area. The person who does that looks at particular features and then makes his or her estimation. Conceptually, it is used for any estimation that is not expected to be completely accurate. With that it is sometimes accepted as the next best thing when one cannot be accurate as in the estimation of the produce of the land. However, when better measures are available then resorting to speculation should be left. YAKHRUSOON is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of speculation is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person plural). In this they are blameworthy because they left the more certain to the less certain.

Salaam all and have a great day.

Hussein