Why More People Seem Misguided: Is Shaytan Winning?

This is not Allah saying the majority of humanity is going to Hellfire. You have to look at the surah — the ayah belongs organically to it. Ayat should not be pulled out of their surah any more than you would pull a finger out of a body and try to understand it in isolation.

In Surah Yasin, Allah is talking about the most stubborn disbelievers — people who have received message after message, surah after surah, like messengers being sent to them, and yet they will not move. People who have ended up in such deep obedience to Shaytan that it looks almost like worship — the devil suggests something and they just do it. There is not a small number of people who fell into that trap throughout history.

But this is not a comment on innocent people being thrown into Hellfire. The Quran describes human beings as fully responsible for their actions and choices. There are two voices every person will hear: the voice of revelation and the voice of Shaytan. In the end, the nafs in the middle has to decide which it surrenders to. Many people have surrendered to the wrong voice.

The ayah is not a census of who goes where. It is a warning: so many nations before you chose this path. Are you not thinking?