Every intelligent person is surprised by idolatry as to how a person who is intelligent could bow his head before the idols (that he himself has designed and created)? Even a person of average intelligence can understand that idolatry is a foolish exercise but when we study its causes we realize that the matter is not so shallow. The real fact is that thoughts, fancies, superstitions, habits and misconceptions confront people like intelligent proofs and they are misled.
Explanting verse 18 of Surah Yunus Fakhruddin Razi writes, “How did the people take the idols to be intercessors before God? There are many views about it:
1. One group believes that in all the nations in this world there is a soul that looks after each nation and since (according to them) it is impossible to reach it they design idols and consider them to symbolize that Spirit and have started worshipping them but in fact they worship the soul only. Then they have assumed that this spirit or soul is obedient to God and obeys Him.
2. One group worships the stars because it believes that they and not the people deserve to be worshipped but when they saw that the stars are not always visible they created images for them and named the idols accordingly. Then they began to worship them though they feel that they are actually worshipping the stars.
3. They designed special omens, amulets and charts or diagrams and presented it to the idols.
They thought that they will gain closeness to this idol through this charm or amulet. The word “tilsm” means a précis kind of sorcery and it includes reading of chants and making of diagrams and some people are of the views that through these diagrams the forces from the heavens intervene in worldly affairs and strange effects can be discerned from them. They make symbols on various things and believe that they can ward of wild and harmful animals and hardships through them.
4. They made idols resembling the faces of the apostles and the saints and worshipped them in the hope that they would intercede on their behalf with God.
5. They believed that God was a great big light and the angels were the smaller ones so they made huge idols for God and smaller ones for the angels.
6. Some of the idolaters believed in spiritual discordance and they believed God would enter some bodies and also enters some idols and that is why they worshipped the idols. (2)
Some commentators believe that idol worshipping began at the time of Hazrat Noah. Noah had five sons, Wod, Suwa”, ya ‘ooq, Yaghus, and Nasr. Wod died and the people were very sad. They would sit regularly at his grave. Then the Satan appeared and said, “Come and I will make a statue of Wod for you so that you and enliven his memory by looking at it” They said, “Yes do it “and Satan created the idol of Wod.
This continued and idols were made for all the sons of Noah when they died. Time passed and Satan convinced them that their forefathers used to worship these idols so they should do the same. This was the time when God asked Noah to stop this idol worship (3)
1. See Daira Al Maarif That God Vol.32 and Daira Al Maarif “Masahib” Vol.2. To study the word “Tilsm”
2. Tafsir Kabeer Fakhr Razi Vol. 17 Page60
3. Tafsir Ruhul Bayan Vol.4. Page 26 (extract)
