How Shirk Started – Story of Nuh His name was Nuh bin Lamak bin Matushalakh bin Khanukh. And Khanukh was, as they claim, the Prophet Idris. And Idris was the first person to write letters using pen, and he was the son of Barad bin Mahlil, bin Qanin bin Yanish bin Shith bin Adam, upon them all be peace. This lineage is mentioned by Muhammad bin Ishaq and other Imams who document lineage. He was the first Messenger whom Allah sent to the people of the earth who were polytheists involved in worshipping idols. For many generations his people had been worshipping idols that they gave names such as Waddan, Suwaan, Yaghutha, Yaauga, and Nasran, Allah the Almighty revealed: They (idolaters) have said: You shall not leave your gods nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwa, nor Yaghuth, nor Ya uq nor Nasr). [71:23]. Narrated Ibn Abbas: All the idols which were worshipped by the people of Noah were worshipped by the Arabs later on. As for the idol Wadd, it was worshipped by the tribe of Kalb at Daumat-al-Jandal; Suwa was the idol of (the tribe of) Murad and then by Ban, Ghutaif at Al-Jurf near Saba; Yauq was the idol of Hamdan, and Nasr was the idol of Himyr, the branch of Dhi-al-Kala. The names (of the idols) formerly belonged to some pious men of the people ofNoah, and when they died Satan inspired their people to (prepare and place idols at the places where they used to sit, and to call those idols by their names. The people did so, but the idols were not worshipped till those people (who initiated them) had died and the origin of the idols had become obscure, whereupon people began worshipping them. [Al-Bukhari] Ibn Jarir recorded from Muhammad bin Qays that he said concerning Yaghuth, Ya`uq and Nasr, They were righteous people between the time of Adam and Nuh, and they had followers who used to adhere to their guidance. Then, when they died, their companions who used to follow them said, `If we make images of them, it will increase our desire to perform worship when we remember them. So they made images of them. Then, when those people died and other people came after them, Iblis approached them and said, `They (your predecessors) used to worship these statues and they were granted rain by their worship of them. Thus, they (the latter people) worshipped them. Ibn Abi Hatim related this story: Waddan was a righteous man who was loved by his people. When he died, they withdrew to his grave in the land of Babylonia and were overwhelmed by sadness. When Iblis saw their sorrow caused by his death, he disguised himself in the form of a man saying: I have seen your sorrow because of this mans death; can I make a statue like him which could be put in your meeting place to make you remember him? They said: Yes. So he made the statue like him. They put it in their meeting place in order to be reminded of him. When Iblis saw their interest in remembering him, he said: Can I build a statue of him in the home of each one of you so that he would be in everyones house and you could remember him?They agreed. Their children learned about and saw what they were doing. They also learned about their remembrance of him instead of Allah. So the first to be worshipped instead of Allah was Waddan, the idol which they named thus. The essence of this point is that every idol from those earlier mentioned was worshipped by a certain group of people. It was mentioned that people made picture sand as the ages passed they made these pictures into statues, so that their forms could be fully recognized; afterwards they were worshipped instead of Allah. Nuh commanded his people to worship Allah alone without partners, saying, O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other Ilah (God) but Him. (La ilaha ill-Allah: none has the right to be worshipped but Allah). Certainly, I fear for you the torment of a Great Day! [7:59] i.e. the torment of the Day of Resurrection, if you meet Allah while associating others with Him. His words touched the hearts of the weak, the poor, and the miserable and soothed their wounds with its mercy. As for the rich, the strong, the mighty and the rulers they looked upon the warning with cold distrust. First they accused Noah of being only human like themselves. Then they started to verbally attack, taunt and insult him. Allah the Almighty told us: The chiefs who disbelieved among his people said: We see you but a man like ourselves, nor do we see any follow you but the meanest among us and they (too) followed you without thinking. And we do not see in you any merit above us, in fact we think you are liars. [11:27] and, The chiefs of his people who disbelieved said: He is no more than a human being like you, he seeks to make himself superior to you. Had Allah willed, He surely could have sent down angels. Never did we hear such a thing among our fathers of old. He is only a man in whom is madness, so wait for him a while. [23:24-25] (The leaders of his people said) i.e. the chiefs, commanders and great ones of his people, Verily, we see you in plain error [7:60] because of your calling us to abandon the worship of these idols that we found our forefathers worshipping. This, indeed, is the attitude of evil people, for they consider the righteous people to be following misguidance. Noah refuted all the arguments of the disbelievers with the noble knowledge of the prophets. It is the logic of intellect that rids itself of personal pride and interests. [Nuh] said: O my people! There is no error in me, but I am a Messenger from the Lord of the Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)! meaning, there is nothing wrong with me, but I am a Messenger from the Lord of all that exists, Lord and King of all things, I convey unto you the Messages of my Lord and give sincere advice to you. And I know from Allah what you know not. Do you wonder that there has come to you a Reminder from your Lord through a man from among you, that he may warn you, so that you may fear Allah and that you may receive (His) mercy [7:61-63] And O my people! I ask of you no wealth for it, my reward is from none but Allah. I am not going to drive away those who have believed. Surely, they are going to meet their Lord, but I see that you are a people that are ignorant. And O my people! Who will help me against Allah, if I drove them away? Will you not then give a thought? And I do not say to you that with me are the Treasures of Allah, Nor that I know the Ghaib (unseen); nor do I say I am an angel, and I do not say of those whom your eyes look down upon that Allah will not bestow any good on them. Allah knows what is in their inner-selves (as regards belief, etc.). In that case, I should, indeed be one of the Zalimun (wrong-doers, oppressors, etc.). [11:29-31] Noah continued appealing to his people to believe in Allah hour after hour, day after day year after year. He admonished his people and called them to Allah day and night, in secret and openly. He gave them examples, explained Allahs signs and illustrated Allahs ability in the formation of His creatures. But whenever he called them to Allah, they ran away from him. Whenever he urged them to ask Allah to forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears and became too proud to listen to the truth. Allah the Exalted related their attitude: They said: O Nuh! You have disputed with us, and much have you prolonged the dispute with us, now bring upon us what you threaten us with, if you are of the truthful. [11:32] And Allah said, (But they belied him) but they insisted on rejecting and opposing him, and only a few of them believed in him, as Allah stated in another Ayah. Allah said next, (So We saved him and those along with him in the Fulk) the ark, (And We drowned those who belied Our Ayat.) Allah said in another Ayah, (Because of their sins they were drowned, then they were admitted into the Fire. And they found none to help them instead of Allah.) [7:25] (They were indeed a blind people.) [7:64] meaning, blind from the Truth, unable to recognize it or find their way to it. Take not that Shirk began with Grave Worship, of the righteous and was something seemingly innocent at first until it became full worship of those righteous ones who had passed away until idols where made.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 05:44:32 +0000