Allah has undoubtedly chosen Prophets and Messengers of God from among the sons of Adam (A.S) through the passage of time, as mentioned in Surah Ali ‘Imran. The calm and patient Nuh (A.S) was the first Prophet after Adam (A.S). Allah sent him as a beacon of hope to his people who had fallen prey to idol worship. We see this in the Story of Noah.

Amongst Adam’s descendants, it was the forefathers of Nuh’s people who kept straying from Allah’s path. Some righteous men among them would remind them of their duty to Allah SWT alone, with success. When these righteous men passed away, one after another, Shaytan came to the people and whispered evil ideas into their ears. They took heed of his suggestion that the correct way to honor the deceased righteous men, would be to make their statues and place them where they used to deliver sermons.

As stated in Sahih Al-Bukhari, after that group of people died, those who came after them were encouraged by Shaytan to worship the statues, which they did willingly. The names of those righteous men were assigned to different idols for worship. This was how the seed of idol worship was planted into the hearts of men of weak faith. It was in this era that the story of Prophet Nuh and the Great Flood begins.