al-Aḥzāb

وَقَالُوا رَبَّنَآ إِنَّآ أَطَعْنَا سَادَتَنَا وَكُبَرَآءَنَا فَاَضَلُّونَا السَّبيلاَ

67. “And they shall say: ‘O our Lord! Verily we obeyed our chiefs and our elders, and they led us astray from the path’.”

Those who in the world did not say “Our Lord” even for one time, they will be faced with groan and regret in Hereafter. The Arabic word /sadah/ is the plural form of /sayyid/ with the sense of owner and a great person who has undertaken the management of the affairs of some important cities or a country. The Arabic word /kubara’/ is the plural form of /kabir/ in the sense of some great men, whether from the point of age, or knowledge, or social position, and the like.

Thus, the Qur’anic word /sadah/ has an indication to the great chiefs of the locality, and /kubara’/ means those who run the affairs under their control, as if they were their assistants and counsellors. In fact, we have set a simple obedience instead of the obedience of Allah, and have exchanged the obedience from the Prophet (S) for the obedience from the elders, and that is why we have encountered kinds of deviations and kinds of misfortunes. It is evident that the criterion of /siyadat/ (to be a chief) and greatness among them was the criterions of force, oppression, unlawful wealth, and deceit and guile. The choice of these two meanings here is for the sake that they show their excuse adjusted and say that they have been under the effect of their apparent greatness.