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Question 006: Who was the first idol worshiper?
Answer 006: It is not possible to mention an exact time regarding the start point of polytheism, but there were two kinds of idol worship: open polytheism and hidden polytheism.

  1. Open polytheism – there has been found three reports in this regards by researching throughout narrative and historical resources:

  • The People of the time of Yard ibn Mahlaeel bin Qaynaan bin Anush bin Shees bin Adam (a.s) who built idols and were idol worshippers [1]. The Holy Enoch (Idris) (a.s) was the son of Yard. [2]
  • The people of the time of the Holy Prophet Noah (a.s). He himself fought against idolatry. Some of these idols names that existed at that time have been mentioned in the Holy Quran. The Quran says about the idol worshippers: “They say, “Do not abandon your gods. Do not abandon Wadd, nor Suwa, nor Yaghouth, Ya’ouq and Nasr,” ” [3]
  • Namrud ibn Kanaan ibn Kush bin Ha’m bin Noah, was the first person who tyrannized after Noah’s (a.s) Deluge. He wore a crown and occupied the land of Babel. He assigned Arab and non-Arab people to build an idol-temple, idolatrized and built golden and silver idols, embellished them with jewelry, and followed astrology. He appointed Azar, the idol maker, as his treasurer and idol keeper. There is a great chance that those idols were made based on the form of the stars and were worshipped by them[4].

  1. Hidden polytheism – this means neglect of pure monotheism. (E.g. neglect thanksgiving). This kind of polytheism had been done by the Holy Prophet Noah’s (a.s) children.

[1] . Tabari, Abu Jaafar Muhammad bin Jarir, Tarikh ul-omam wa al-moluk (Tarikh Tabari), by: Abraham, Muhammad AbulFazl, Vol. 2, Pg. 276, Darul-Toras, Beirut, second edition, 1387 ah; refer to: Ibn Asir, Ali bin Muhammad, al-Kamel Fi al-Tarikh, Vol. 1, Pg. 57 and 59, Dar Sader, Beirut, 1385 ah.

[2] . Belazari, Ahmad bin Yahya, Ansab al-Ashraf by: Zekar, Sohail, Zarkoli, Riyadh, Vol. 1, Pg. 3, Dar ul-Fikr, Beirut, 1385 ah.

[3] . Surah Nooh, verse 23. (Waqâlô  lâ  tadharonna  ââlehatakom  wa  lâ  tadharonna  waddaw  wa  lâ  sowâ’w­wa  lâ  yaghôtha  wa  ya’ôqa  wanas­râ)

(وَ قَالُواْ لَا تَذَرُنَّ ءَالِهَتَكمُ‏ْ-p وَ لَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَ لَا سُوَاعًا وَ لَا يَغُوثَ وَ يَعُوقَ وَ نَسْرًا)

[4] Tabaqat Nasiri Tarikhe Iran va Islam, Minhaj Siraj, vol. 1, pg. 138, researched by Habibi Abd al-Hayy, Tehran, Donyaye Ketab, first edition, 1984.

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