The Verse of Surah al-Najm 28
They have no knowledge of it; they follow only conjecture, and conjecture does not avail against the truth anything. (53:28) So turn away from him who turns away from Our Remembrance and desires only the present life. That is their attainment of knowledge. (29) Your Lord knows very well who has strayed from His way, and He knows very well who is guided. (30)
The verse does not explicitly mention taqlid, but since it addresses following without knowledge and based on conjecture (zann), it relates to taqlid. Some commentaries have pointed to this connection:
"What they believe has no external reality. God has neither son nor daughter, nor are angels God's daughters, nor are these idols worthy of worship. These are merely names that you and your fathers have invented based on your imagination, without any proof or evidence from God or reason. The polytheists follow nothing but false conjecture arising from imitation of fathers and their own desires, even though divine guidance and the true guide from their Lord — the Noble Qur'an and the Final Prophet — have come to them to show the truth." (Tafsir Rawan Javid)
Nevertheless, Allamah Tabatabai in his commentary again excludes practical religious rulings from the scope of this verse:
"...The word 'truth' (haqq) means the reality of everything, and we all know that the reality of anything is perceived only through knowledge — that is, a belief that precludes its opposite, or in other words, a hundred percent probability. Anything other than knowledge — whether conjecture, doubt, or illusion — does not show the reality of something. Therefore, there is no justification for a person to rely on it in understanding realities. God Almighty has said: 'And pursue not that you have no knowledge of.' As for acting upon conjecture in practical religious rulings, this is because in this particular matter, evidence has come from the Lawgiver that qualifies the general application of the noble verse, exempting only this one case. In no other belief-related matter can we follow conjecture, because the general application of the verse in that regard remains intact."
He writes that in the case of taqlid in practical rulings, evidence has been adduced that limits the verse's application, but in beliefs the general application remains intact. Of course, he does not mention what that evidence is, but this series of articles has thus far shown that such evidence does not exist, and as this chapter continues, we will see that neither in the Qur'an nor in hadiths do we have valid evidence — as some teachers of kharij fiqh have also admitted that there is no narrative evidence for taqlid and their only recourse is the practice of the wise. Here, we want to show that the general application of the verse remains intact in practical rulings as well.
The verb "yattabi'una" (they follow) itself conveys practical following more than merely theoretical following. If it were only about beliefs, it could have used "yazunnuna" (they conjecture), similar to 33:10. Moreover, verse 29 says that those who follow only conjecture turn away from God's Remembrance (which may mean the Qur'an and other scriptures) and desire only the present life. This closely describes the people of taqlid who lack the patience to reflect on God's verses, outsource this duty to others, and prefer to spend any free time on non-essential worldly matters instead of examining the evidence for their actions.
Verse 31 says: "...that He may recompense those who do evil for what they have done, and recompense those who do good with the best." This speaks of action and deeds, not just beliefs. Verse 32 describes the virtuous: "Those who avoid the great sins and indecencies, except the slight faults... Your Lord knows best him who is godfearing." Taqwa means fearing the correctness or incorrectness of actions, being careful and pious — something those who suffice with others' conjecture and opinions do not usually have.
A few verses later: "That no burdened soul shall bear the burden of another, (53:38) and that a man shall have to his account only as he has labored, (39) and that his labor shall surely be seen, (40) then he shall be recompensed for it the most full recompense." (41) These again relate to actions and explicitly reject the claim of the people of taqlid who imagine that the sin of their potential errors falls on the marja', emphasizing that each human has only what he himself strives for. In any case, all these verses refer to the actions and deeds of the people addressed by the sura, and there is no evidence to say that the phrase "conjecture does not avail against the truth anything" only forbids conjecture in determining the truth of theoretical matters, while in practical matters, the truth and correctness of actions depend on and rely on conjecture!
Parent page: Verses Condemning Following without Knowledge