It is well known that this assertion is traceable to the Magians; it is not attributed to the Arab idol-worshippers. Hence it becomes clear that the Magians fall into a graver polytheism than the polytheists among the Arabs, the Indians, and others who still maintain that Allah is the Creator of all things.

They too are worshippers of beings other than Allah: they venerate the sun, the moon, and fire, and they had imposing temples devoted to the sacred flame which they adored. Such devotion to both the higher (celestial) and lower (terrestrial) entities is of the same kind as the associationism of Abraham’s people, who worshipped the stars and also bowed to earthly idols. This form of polytheism is the more serious of the two principal kinds of idolatry found among the people of the earth.