Qur’an says in Surah Aaraf...

Qur’an says in Surah Aaraf: وَإِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً قَالُوا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهَا آبَاءَنَا وَاللَّهُ أَمَرَنَا بِهَا قُلْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَأْمُرُ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ أَتَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ “When these people commit a shameful act, they say, “We have seen our elders do these deeds and Allah has ordered us to do so.” Tell them, Allah never orders doing bad deeds. Do you in the name of Allah say such things that you have no knowledge of?” [^2] And this is not the only verse.

There are others such as in Surah al-Ma’ida: وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ قَالُوا حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا ۚ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ “And when they are told to come towards the constitution that came from Allah and follow the Prophet, they say, “whatever we have seen our ancestors do, suffices for us.” Will they continue to follow their ancestors, even if those ancestors had no knowledge and were totally ignorant of the true path?” [^3] Now let us look at the portion of Surah Shu’ara where Prophet Ibrahim (as) talks to his community: وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ أَصْنَامًا فَنَظَلُّ لَهَا عَاكِفِينَ قَالَ هَلْ يَسْمَعُونَكُمْ إِذْ تَدْعُونَ أَوْ يَنْفَعُونَكُمْ أَوْ يَضُرُّونَ قَالُوا بَلْ وَجَدْنَا آبَاءَنَا كَذَٰلِكَ يَفْعَلُونَ “And recite to them the story of Ibrahim.

”[^4] Next let us benefit from a few verses of Surah Zukhruf: وَقَالُوا لَوْ شَاءَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ مَا عَبَدْنَاهُمْ مَا لَهُمْ بِذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ أَمْ آتَيْنَاهُمْ كِتَابًا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ فَهُمْ بِهِ مُسْتَمْسِكُونَ بَلْ قَالُوا إِنَّا وَجَدْنَا آبَاءَنَا عَلَىٰ أُمَّةٍ وَإِنَّا عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ مُهْتَدُونَ “And they [the polytheists] say, “If compassionate Allah did not want, we would not worship these idols.” They are not aware of the root cause of the problem and talk nonsense.