Tafsir Ibn Kathir -> Surah Nuh -> The Idols of the People of Nuh and what happened to Him

﴿وَمَكَرُواْ مَكْراً كُبَّاراً - وَقَالُواْ لاَ تَذَرُنَّ ءَالِهَتَكُمْ وَلاَ تَذَرُنَّ وَدّاً وَلاَ سُوَاعاً وَلاَ يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْراً ﴾

(And they have plotted a mighty plot. And they have said: `You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwa`, nor Yaghuth, and Ya`uq and Nasr.') These are the names of their idols which they used to worship besides Allah. Al-Bukhari recorded from Ibn `Abbas that he said, "The idols that were among the people of Nuh wound up among the Arabs afterwards. In reference to Wadd, it became the idol of the people of Kalb in the area of Dawmat Al-Jandal. Suwa` became the idol of the people of Hudhayl. Yaghuth became the idol of the people of Murad, then the people of Bani Ghutayf at Al-Juruf in the area of Saba' worshipped it after them. Ya`uq became the idol of the people of Hamdan. Nasr became the idol of the people of Himyar for the family of Dhu Kala`. These idols were all named after righteous men from the people of Nuh. Then when these men died, Shaytan inspired his (Nuh's) people to erect statues in honor of them at their gathering places where they used to come and sit, and to name these statues after these men (with their names). So they did this (as Shaytan suggested), but these statues were not worshipped until after those people (the ones who built them) had died and the knowledge was lost. Then, those statues were later worshipped.'' This has also been similarly reported from `Ikrimah, Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah and Ibn Ishaq. `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas that he said, "These are statues that were worshipped in the time of Nuh.'' 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.''