That also explains why the idols were made in different...

That also explains why the idols were made in different shapes in different tribes. Views and opinions as regards the attributes of various species and the conceptions of their related deities could not be the same in two nations; and even in one nation they changed with the times. Sometimes other considerations and inclinations crept into the system. Gradually, the idols usurped the place of the said deities, and even the Supreme God was relegated to obscurity.

Worshippers intended to give their devotion more and more to what was near them, which they could see and touch, and thus they tended to forget what was beyond their five senses. In this way, idols took the place of the Creator.

All this happened because initially they thought that those lesser deities had some influence and control over the affairs of their lives - that the will of those deities dominated their own will and that those deities' management prevailed over their own plans and management.

When some powerful personality appeared on the scene and took the reins of the kingdom in his hands, he often exploited this trend of thought; he had their affairs and their lives in his hands, and it was easy for him to claim for himself the status of divinity, declaring himself to be a god. This is what was done by Pharaoh, Namrud and many others.

It is interesting to note that such people included themselves in the list of deities, while, like their subjects, they continued to worship the idols of their nations. But invariably they always ended up by usurping the dominant position for themselves. In this design of theirs the same process of thought helped them which had raised the idols' status in their people's eyes: the king's influence, authority and hold over his people were more manifest than those of the other deities.

Phar­aoh declared before his people: "I am your most high Lord" (79:24). And he made this claim of supremacy while continuing to worship the other deities. Read for proof the words of Allah giving the import of the talk of the courtiers of Pharaoh with him showing the danger from Musa (a.s.) : ". . . and to forsake you and your gods?" (7:127).

The same was the claim of Namrud as may be inferred from his assertion: "I give life and cause death." The above discourse may easily explain this dispute between Ibrahim (a.s.) and Namrud. Namrud believed that there was a Supreme God.