Surah Al-An'aam · سُوْرَةُ الْاَنْعَامِ · Juz 8
Q 6:116
وَإِن تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَن فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ
Translations
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.Et si tu obéis à la majorité de ceux qui sont sur la terre, ils t'égareront du sentier d'Allah: ils ne suivent que la conjecture et ne font que fabriquer des mensonges.Tafsir
If you, O Messenger, supposedly followed most of the people on earth, they would mislead you from Allah’s religion. Allah’s custom has always been that the truth is with the minority. Most people follow nothing but speculation that has no basis and they think that those whom they worship will bring them close to Allah, whereas they are completely wrong in believing this.
Read Ibn Kathir (Ibn Kathir (abridged, English))
And if you obey most of those on the earth, they will mislead you far away from Allah's path. They follow nothing but conjecture, and they do nothing but lie (116)Verily, your Lord! It is He Who knows best who strays from His way, and He knows best the rightly guided (117)
Most People are Misguided
Allah states that most of the people of the earth, are misguided. Allah said in other Ayat,
وَلَقَدْ ضَلَّ قَبْلَهُمْ أَكْثَرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ
(And indeed most of the men of old went astray before them.)[37:71] and,
وَمَا أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
(And most of mankind will not believe even if you eagerly desire it.)[12:103]
They are misguided, yet they have doubts about their way, and they rely on wishful thinking and delusions.
إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ
(They follow nothing but conjecture, and they do nothing but lie.)
Thus, they fulfill Allah's decree and decision concerning them,
هُوَ أَعْلَمُ مَن يَضِلُّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ
(It is He Who knows best who strays from His way.) and facilitates that for him,
وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ
(And He knows best the rightly guided.) He facilitates that for them, all of them are facilitated for what He created them.
Arabic text: Tanzil (Uthmani). Translations: Sahih International (en), Muhammad Hamidullah (fr). tanzil.net