Amr bin Luhay was the first person to bring idols into the city and encouraged people to worship them. When Amr went to Damascus, he passed by someplace called Maab, and saw a tribe having descended from Noah that was worshipping idols. When he asked them why they were worshipping idols, they answered: “We ask for help from them and we receive help; we ask for rain and we get rain.” Upon this, Amr wanted an idol so that he could take it to Makkah. They accepted his wish and gave him an idol named Hubal. Amr took Hubal with him to Mecca and put it there. He encouraged people to worship it. Ignorant people became convinced and started to worship idols.

This is how the first idol was brought to Makkah and how people began to worship idols.

After that, idolatry began to spread in Makkah. Every tribe had its own idol. Quraysh worshipped and considered Uzzah to be the greatest idol. The tribes of Aws and Khazraj used to worship an idol named Manat which was located in between Makkah and Madinah in a place called Mushallal. At a later time, these two tribes began to worship the idols Lat and Uzza alongside Manat. Wad, which was the idol that belonged to the tribe of Kalb, was in someplace called Dumatu’l-Jandal. The tribe of Huzail used to worship an idol called Suwa which was in Ghatafan. The Haywan, which was one branch of the tribe of Hamdan, used to worship an idol called Yauk which was somewhere in Hamdan. The tribes of Tayy and Nasr used to worship an idol called Yaghuth. And the people of Himyari tribe used to worship Nasr. The Sons of Bakr and the tribe of Kinana used to worship Sa’d.

The aforementioned tribes used to worship those idols and ask for help, rain and victory from them. According to their belief, these lifeless, soulless items made of stones or wood were capable of making their wishes come true. However, anyone who is sane enough knows and agrees that lifeless, soulless items can neither give benefit nor cause harm to people. They have neither the capability nor the power to help people. Nevertheless, the Arabs of that time were so unreasonable that they were not able to think of this truth.

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) would to come in order to save those people suffering from ignorance and aberration in terms of faith, with the light of knowledge and righteousness. He would undertake the duty of giving them light and peace.