The Verse "God Guides to the Truth"

Say, "Are there of your partners any who guides to the truth?" Say, "Allah guides to the truth. So is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or he who does not guide unless he is guided? Then what is the matter with you? How do you judge?" (10:35)

Those who use this verse to argue for taqlid claim that the verse commands following those who are guided, that God is the guide by essence, and the Prophet (p) and Imams (a) are the guided, so taqlid of them is permitted, and by extension, if maraji' are also guided, taqlid of them is permitted^[1]. However, for various reasons, this argument is flawed.

The Verse Speaks of Following, Not Imitation

• The verse is about following (ittibā'), not imitation (taqlid), and as explained in the definition, following is different from imitation. If following is "without acquiring knowledge and merely based on what others say," then it becomes imitation. To claim this verse intends imitation, we must show that the following mentioned here is of the type "without acquiring knowledge and merely based on what others say." But we see that in the very next verse, following based on assumption and conjecture is rebuked: "And most of them follow not except assumption. Indeed, assumption avails nothing against the truth. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of what they do." (10:36) Later in verse 39, denial without knowledge is condemned: "Rather, they have denied that which they encompass not in knowledge..." (10:39) Then in verses 42-43, the use of ears and eyes is addressed, and God asks the Prophet (p) in a rhetorical question: if someone listens to you or looks at you but does not engage his mind, how can you guide him? — impossible:

  And among them are those who listen to you. But can you cause the deaf to hear, although they will not reason? (42) And among them are those who look at you. But can you guide the blind although they will not see? (43)

  All of this shows that the guidance and following mentioned in our target verse (35) are not blind and without pursuit of proof. On the contrary, being guided to the truth by the Prophet (p) is not possible unless people open the eyes and ears of their hearts and use reason. Therefore, even following the Prophet (p) and God cannot be imitative, let alone following others.

You Must Recognize the Truth; Just Open Your Eyes and Ears

Suppose the verse tells people that you should not or cannot or need not be precise about the good and bad of your actions — that is not your job; just find someone who is guided and follow him blindly, something like what Allamah Tabataba'i and Mr. Lankarani have called "delivering to the destination" (īṣāl ilā al-maṭlūb)^[2]. In that case, the two questions God asks His audience become meaningless. God asks, "Do those whom you follow guide to the truth?" and then asks, "Is he who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed?" Both questions show that God expects people to recognize the truth and, based on that, set aside those who do not guide to the truth and deem worthy those who do. The problem is: if they do not ask those in authority for their proofs, how will they know whether a claimant of guidance guides to truth or falsehood? If the condition of "guiding to the truth" is to be verified through some means other than asking for and examining proofs, what means is that?

In other words, if the verse had stated as a declarative sentence: "Follow those who guide to the truth," perhaps it could be argued that the verse commands following anyone who appears truthful and is attributed to truth. In that case, we would respond that this general indication includes both following with and without knowledge, and then by citing verse 36 of Surah al-Isra' ("Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge"), we would exclude knowledge-less following. But now that the verse twice asks in an interrogative tone: "Have you examined whether those you follow guide to the truth or not?" there is no room left for person-centered following. The only condition permitting following is that we hear their proofs and verify that what they invite to is true and correct. The subsequent verses confirm this. So this verse not only does not indicate taqlid, it permits only its opposite.

On What Basis Do You Choose?

The final clause of the verse emphasizes with a striking tone the method of determining who is worthy of following: "Then what is [the matter] with you? How do you judge?" How do you select your a'lam (most learned)? And the next verse answers: God knows what they do — they follow nothing but assumption and conjecture, while assumption avails nothing against the truth. From the preceding questions, it is clear that the only way to choose whom to follow is to reflect on who speaks the truth and invites to the truth. This means examining the content of their message — the status, personality, and attributes of individuals are not good criteria for judging their truthfulness, because these are mere conjectures, and no one has knowledge of others' inner realities and their ultimate fate.

Allamah Tabataba'i, in explaining this clause, wrote that people who do not distinguish between "one who invites to the truth" and "one who is not guided unless guided" are worthy of blame, because "their own reason has a clear and evident ruling that one should not follow someone or something that has not itself found the way"^[3]. The question is: if people are permitted to practice taqlid and not examine the proofs of rulings, how are they to recognize and set aside a marja' who "has not himself found the way"? Especially since Allamah himself states that human nature rules in favor of following the truth, saying:

"Even if a person occasionally deviates from the truth in one of his actions, and follows untruth due to a mistake or error or whim, at the very moment he performs that untruthful action, he considers it truthful, because the matter is confused for him. That is why we see that after the dust and turmoil of his whim settles, he excuses himself by saying 'I thought that action was right'^[4]."

The same applies to choosing a marja': every human who selects someone to follow, even when following the wrong leader, imagines him and his words to be true. So to avoid falsely deeming a marja's fatwa to be true, to avoid the matter being confused for us, and to avoid merely imagining, there is no way but to examine the proofs.

Only God Guides to the Truth

The wording of the verse considers only Allah as the guide to the truth and does not consider one who himself needs guidance as more worthy of being followed than God. Nevertheless, commentators include the Prophet (p) and Imams (a) under this proposition on the grounds that they too are guided by God without intermediary. They also claim that the guidance intended in this verse is of the type "delivering to the destination" rather than merely showing the way^[5] — meaning it suffices to follow them and we will reach the destination even if we do not pay attention to the path or learn it. This claim conflicts with many pieces of evidence in the Qur'an^[6], but we will not enter that discussion here as it would divert us from the purpose of this article.

What is important here is that, even if we accept the above proposition, there is still no room to include religious scholars. A marja' taqlid is more an instance of "one who is not guided unless guided" than of "one who guides to the truth," and placing them alongside God in this proposition is an enormous exaggeration. This shows why taqlid is a form of polytheism. Moreover, claiming that they, like the Prophet and Imams, are guided by God without intermediary is another great exaggeration for which no proof or evidence has been provided. Ultimately, no mujtahid can claim to perform the function of "delivering to the destination." Therefore, either the above propositions regarding this verse are incorrect, or this verse does not command taqlid of mujtahids.

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Parent page: The Qur'an Has Not Recommended Taqlid

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