قدو

Core meaning

To set one's course by another's: to take as a model and conform to it. The word does not judge the model; everything depends on the one followed.

Uses

1. ٱقْتَدِهْ → "to model oneself" : to conform to the guidance of those whom God has guided.

   • «فَبِهُدَىٰهُمُ ٱقْتَدِهْ» — "model yourself, then, on their guidance" (6:90)

2. مُّقْتَدُونَ → "to model oneself on their footsteps" : to reproduce the way of the ancestors.

   • «وَإِنَّا عَلَىٰٓ ءَاثَٰرِهِم مُّقْتَدُونَ» — "and it is on their footsteps that we model ourselves" (43:23)

Evidence from the text

The only two uses apply the same gesture to two opposite models. In 6:90 one is commanded to set one's course by the guidance of those God has guided. In 43:23 the affluent of every city set the way of their ancestors against the warner, and the preceding verse says the same with "we let ourselves be guided" (43:22).

The root therefore gives imitation no value: it describes it. The value comes from what is followed, hence the answer that comes at once: "Even if I brought you what guides better than what you found your ancestors upon?" (43:24).

Distinctions

• تبع — to follow, to go behind someone; قدو names conforming to a model
• اثر — the trace left behind, by which one sets one's course

See also

هدى (guidance)