Types of False Deities All those things that deterred man...

Types of False Deities All those things that deterred man from the worship of One God and all those things that he came to regard as deities are either inorganic, or organic like the plants, the animals, man, jinns and angels etc. So we shall refer to them in brief only because greater details will prolong the discussion. Inanimate objects can be heavenly bodies like the moon and the stars or the idols. People usually made idols of wood or stone.

They used to embellish them with gold, silver and precious stones and make them in different shapes. In the same way they used to make statues of the stars and install them in their worship-houses. Then these ignorant people used to worship these idols their own hands had wrought. They used to rely on them and invocate them. Prophet Ibrahim (a.s.) told the idol-worshippers of his nation: What! Do you worship what you hew out?

And Allah has created you and what you make **.**[^3] How can reason justify this action that man is bowing down before something that he has himself made? It is Allah Who has created all the material that you use for making the idols. The verses that are revealed in denouncement of idol-worship are numerous. Worship of the most lowly things It is obvious that the position of man is higher than that of animals. In the same way the position of animals is higher than inanimate objects.

Thus if man begins to worship something that can neither move nor think, which does not even have a proper shape or body, and considers himself subservient to inanimate objects, it shall be definitely an illogical thing to do. In this way man has degraded himself to become lowlier than inanimate objects. Excuses for Idol Worship Some idol worshippers justify their wrong practice saying, “We know that these idols are not our creator and sustainer.

But since it is not possible to contact God without a medium, we are compelled to make them in the form of God or proximate angels and worship them. So that we can gain proximity to the Creator of the Universe. Respecting the image of a person signifies respecting this person himself.” This is just like repeating the words of the Holy Quran: We do not serve them save that they make us nearer to Allah **.**[^4] Allah is Near but He has no body! This is a wrong notion of the idol-worshippers.

Everyone knows that no one is more proximate than Allah? Reason and nature desire that every creature should ever be engaged in struggle to reach Him.