While the minority of them know the truth and follow it; as God Almighty has said: ﴿فَقَلِيلًا مَا يُؤْمِنُونَ﴾[1], and said: ﴿فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا﴾[2], and said: ﴿تَوَلَّوْا إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِنْهُمْ ۗ﴾[3], and said: ﴿وَمَا آمَنَ مَعَهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ﴾[4], and said: ﴿وَقَلِيلٌ مِنَ الْآخِرِينَ﴾[5], and said: ﴿وَقَلِيلٌ مِنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ﴾[6]. It is hereby understood that following the majority of people is not justified, and it is considered an impediment to cognition because if the truth contradicts their sayings or actions, it is considered as falsehood; as God Almighty has said: ﴿وَإِنْ تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ﴾[7]; “And if you follow the majority of people on the earth, they will mislead you from the path of God.”

[Invalidity of fame]

From here it becomes clear that the fame of a saying does not mean that it is true, and the prevalence of an action does not prove that it is correct; as the lack of fame of a saying or the lack of prevalence of an action does not indicate its incorrectness; considering that the incorrectness of what most people say and do is possible, but rather prevalent. However, many Muslims have taken what most of them say and do as a model for their sayings and actions and have been influenced by it, knowingly or unknowingly; but rather most of them have taken their beliefs and actions from the majority in their societies and have no reason for it other than imitating them; to the extent that whoever was born among the Hanafis has become Hanafi, whoever was born among the Malikis has become Maliki, whoever was born among the Shafi‘is has become Shafi‘i, whoever was born among the Hanbalis has become Hanbali, and whoever was born among the Shias has become Shia, and in this way, each of them has followed the sect prevalent in his environment,