Quran Universe
6:117

إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعۡلَمُ مَن يَضِلُّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦۖ وَهُوَ أَعۡلَمُ بِٱلۡمُهۡتَدِينَ

Inna rabbaka huwa aAAlamu man yadillu AAan sabeelihi wahuwa aAAlamu bialmuhtadeena

Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who strays from His way, and He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided.

Word by word
  1. إِنَّIndeed
  2. رَبَّكَyour Lord
  3. هُوَHe
  4. أَعۡلَمُknows best
  5. مَنwho
  6. يَضِلُّstrays
  7. عَنfrom
  8. سَبِيلِهِۦۖHis way
  9. وَهُوَand He
  10. أَعۡلَمُ(is) most knowing
  11. بِٱلۡمُهۡتَدِينَof the guided-ones
Al-An'am · 6:117Makkah

Your Lord knows best who strays and who is guided.

Leave the final sorting to Him

Who knows
who straysfrom His way
who is guided
both known best by
your Lord
My role
judge everyonerank who is guided
follow, and leave it to HimHe knows each heart

Right after warning against following the guessing majority, Allah adds that He knows best who goes astray and who is guided. Ibn Kathir says each one is made easy for what they were created for. The believers did not need to sort the people of Makkah themselves.

You see someone without hijab at the mosque, or a bearded man cutting in line, and your mind ranks them instantly. You have no access to their heart. Allah knows who is guided. Your job is your own path.

I can tell who is really guided by how they look.

Only my Lord knows who is truly guided. I focus on my own way.

Try this

Catch yourself judging someone's faith today. Replace the thought with a short dua for them.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 6:116)

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.