Allah's statement: {And said: Never leave your gods and never leave Wadd or Suwā‘ or Yaghūth and Ya‘ūq and Nasr} [Sūrat Nūh: 23]. Ibn ‘Abbās said: These are names of some pious men of the people of Nūh (Noah)

Explanation

Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) explained this noble verse; he said that the idols which Allah, the Exalted, mentioned – which the people of Nūh worshiped generations after generations after Nūh (peace be upon him) had prohibited them from polytheism – are originally names of pious men. They, however, extolled them extremely. So Satan deceived them until they made statues, which eventually led to those statues being worshiped.

Lessons

• Immoderate reverence of pious people can lead to worshiping them apart from Allah and eventually abandoning the religion altogether.
• It warns of creating and hanging images, especially the images of great figures.
• It warns against the cunning of Satan and his way of presenting falsehood under the guise of the truth.
• We are warned of religious innovations, even if they are done with a good intention.
• Making images is one of the means that lead to polytheism. So, we should beware of making images of living beings.
• It indicates the worth of knowledge and the harm of losing it.
• The loss of knowledge is caused by the death of scholars.
• It warns against imitation and points out that it can lead to deviation from Islam.
• Polytheism existed in the past nations.
• These five names mentioned in the Hadīth belong to some objects of worship taken by the people of Nūh (Noah).
• It shows how the people of falsehood cooperate together and support one another.
• It is permissible to supplicate against the disbelievers in general.