And polytheism among the children of Adam began with associating revered, righteous people with Allah. When these people died, others kept vigil at their graves, then made statues of them, and finally worshipped them. This was the first polytheism among the children of Adam, and it arose among Noah’s people. He was the first messenger sent to the people of the earth, calling them to worship Allah alone and forbidding them to associate partners with Him. As Allah Most High says:

“And they said, ‘Never abandon your gods; never abandon Wadd, Suwā‘, Yaghūth, Ya‘ūq, or Nasr.’”

“And they have already led many astray.”

These were the names of righteous men among Noah’s people. When they died, people fashioned idols in their likenesses. These idols disappeared when Allah drowned the inhabitants of the earth, then later passed to the Arabs, as Ibn ‘Abbās and others mentioned. If they were not the very same idols, they were their counterparts.

As for associating Satan with Allah, this is widespread. Unless people believe that “there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah”—meaning that He alone deserves worship, to the exclusion of everything else; that He loves to be worshipped and has commanded that He be worshipped; and that He is to be worshipped only through what He loves of the obligatory and recommended acts He has prescribed—they will inevitably fall into polytheism and other wrongdoing. Thus, those who regarded all words and deeds as equal in relation to Allah, holding that He does not love