Lesson 1: The People of Nuh
“Between Nuh 
and Adam were ten generations, all of them were upon Sharee’ah of the truth, then they differed. So Allah sent prophets as bringers of good news and as warners.”
Related by Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree in his tafseer (4/275) and al-Haakim (2/546)
Those That Differed
Between Adam and Nuh there were ten generations, all of them upon the Sharee’ah of the truth and upheld the belief of the Oneness of Allah -TAWHEED.
Among them were righteous individuals named Wadd, Suwaa, Yaghooth, Ta’ooq, and Nasr.
These righteous men had followers who adhered to their teaching and guidance.
After their death, their followers began to VENERATE them and sit at their graves.
Upon seeing this, Shaytaan saw the LOVE AND REVERENCE the followers had for these righteous individuals and CORRUPTED their beliefs. He whispered to them to create pictures and idols in remembrance of them only, and when they had remembered them, it would increase in their desire to worship.
Eventually, this led the people to place these idols around where the individual passed away or where they spoke or sat when they were alive.
Generation passed and Shaytaan adhered to his promise to Allah to LEAD MANKIND ASTRAY.
When the people who created these idols died, Shaytan approached the latter generation deceiving them to start worshipping these idols and statues like their predecessor..
Thus the latter generation began to worship these statues, EXAGGERATING in reverence and forgetting the original purpose behind their creation for remembrance. Due to their ignorance, they were led astray.
The spread of shirk ACCELERATED among the people, worshipping idols alongside Allah rather than intermediates to draw nearness to Allah.
Wadd is noted as the first to be worshipped alongside Allah on Earth.
- “Between Nuh and Adam were ten generations, all of them were upon Sharee’ah of the truth, then they differed. So Allah sent prophets as bringers of good news and as warners.” [Related by Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree in his tafseer (4/275) and al-Haakim (2/546) who said: “It is authentic according to the criterion of al-Bukhari.” Adh-Dhahabee also agreed.]
- Mankind was one community and Allah sent Prophets with glad tidings and warnings, and with them He sent the Scripture in truth to judge between people in matters wherein they differed. And only those to whom (the Scripture) was given differed concerning it after clear proofs had come unto them through hatred, one to another. Then Allah by His Leave guided those who believed to the truth of that wherein they differed. And Allah guides whom He wills to a Straight Path. [Al-Qur’an 2:213]
- "And they have said: 'You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth, nor Ya'uq, nor Nasr (names of the idols);" [Al-Qur’an 71:23]
- 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." [Sahih al-Bukhari 4920] [Sahih al-Bukhari Book 65, Hadith 440]