Surah Al-An'am (The Cattle — الأنعام) (Ayah 136)

Man invents tangible deities because he does not have full faith in the intangible Supreme Being—God. In ancient times polytheists did, however, pay lip service to God, while reserving their real faith for their deities. This was evident from the inequitable way in which they apportioned their sacrificial offerings of grain and livestock to their deities on the one hand, and to God on the other. It was always the deities who were given preference in terms of the quantity and quality of the offerings, and never God. Moreover, when those who in reality are idolaters are ‘worshipping’ God, they devote a part of their prayers to that person, living or dead, whom they idolize. But when they worship the latter, they do not even mention the name of God. They will readily lavish upon a partner that ecstatic devotion which they should reserve for God. In any meeting held to extoll God’s greatness, the majesty and glory of the partner will somehow find a place; but in any meeting held to describe the greatness of the partner, there will be absolutely no mention of the majesty and glory of God. The importance of the ‘partner’ sometimes dominates minds to such an extent that a man will with pleasure sacrifice even his children for it—something which he will not do for the sake of God. All such acts are carried out in the name of God’s religion, but falsely so, because this amounts to attributing to God such precepts as had never been laid down by Him.