Surah 71. Nuh, Ayah 23

As is evident from early sources, these five gods were among the many worshipped by the pre-lslamic Arabs as well (see the small but extremely valuable work by Hisham ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi, Kitab al-Asnam, ed. Ahmad Zaki, Cairo 1914). Their cult had probably been introduced into Arabia from Syria and Babylonia, where it seems to have existed in earliest antiquity.

 These are the names of their main idols. Initially, these idols had been erected to commemorate some righteous people before the time of Noah. After many generations, however, the idols were taken as objects of worship.

For an account of how these Pagan gods and superstitions connected with them originated, and how they became adopted into the Arabian Pagan Pantheon.