Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 170 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:170

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ ٱتَّبِعُوا۟ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ قَالُوا۟ بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَآ أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ ءَابَآءَنَآ ۗ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ ءَابَآؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْـًٔا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ

“And when it is said to them, "Follow what Allāh has revealed," they say, "Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing." Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Told to follow revelation, they say 'we follow our fathers', as if inheriting a belief were the same as knowing it is true.

A reflection

'Wouldn't you just be what your parents were?'

A second-year student is cooking with her flatmate when he asks a sharp question. 'If you'd been born in another country, to another family, you'd believe something else. Aren't you just doing what your parents did?' She has no quick answer, and it keeps her awake.

It is a fair question, and this ayah is the right place to face it. The Quran itself quotes people saying they follow what they found their fathers doing. Then it asks: 'Even if their fathers understood nothing and were not guided?' The Quran condemns exactly the move the flatmate is describing.

A classical theologian builds a careful argument from this ayah. Ask the one who simply imitates: must you know that the person you follow is right? If yes, how did you know it? If by imitating someone else, you will never reach an end. If by your own reasoning, then reasoning was enough and imitation added nothing. If you say you need not know they are right, then you would follow them even into error. Either way, imitation alone cannot carry belief.

So the Quran does not want inherited Islam any more than inherited idolatry. It wants Islam examined. The ayah just before this passage set out the evidence, 'signs for people who use reason' (2:164). Faith is meant to be found, not merely received.

The student's honest answer, then, is not 'my parents told me'. It is 'my parents gave me a starting point, and I have checked it'. What remains open is whether she has done the checking. The ayah asks every Muslim the same question. It is not an insult to faith. It is an invitation to own it.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.