"Forsake not your gods Wadd, Suwa'a, Yaghuth, Ya'uq, Nasr" (71:23) Intentional Anachronism as Literary Device

 

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds

Peace and blessings upon you, Apostle of Allah

History records that around 110 BCE the great Hasmonean leader, John Hyrcanus, conquered the Samaritan center of Shechem and destroyed their false temple on Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans are a heretical sect who reject the Prophet Samuel, Kings David and Solomon, and the Prophets after them and therefore reject the sanctity of Jerusalem. Today there are less than a thousand Samaritans, and they continue to center their worship at Mount Gerizim. They are one of the seventy sects of the Jews that went astray, as the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:

افْتَرَقَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً فَوَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَسَبْعُونَ فِي النَّارِ

The Jews split into seventy-one sects; one sect is in Paradise and seventy are in the Fire (Sunan Ibn Maja)

Along with the Samaritans, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Karaites and Hellenists compose some of those seventy sects that are in the Fire. The saved sect of the Jews are those among them who believed in the Messiah Jesus and in John the Baptizer (Yahya). Like John Hyrcanus, the great Muslim king Ahmad Shah Abdali destroyed the Sikh temple in Amritsar, in fact doing so multiple times (in 1757, 1762 and 1764). The destruction of temples whose construction has not been authorized by God is something that is highly pleasing to Him. This is especially true of temples, altars and shrines that are dedicated to idols and false gods. After the liberation of Mecca, the Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم sent the Sword of God, Khalid bin Walid, and some of his other Companions رضى الله عنهم to demolish the temples and altars dedicated to the idols al-Uzza, Suwa’a, Manat, al-Lat, al-Fuls, Wadd, Dhul-Khalasa, etc. Incidentally, five of these idols that were worshipped by the pagan Arabs (Wadd, Suwa’a, Yaghuth, Ya’uq, and Nasr) are mentioned in the Holy Quran and associated with the people of Noah who drowned in the Flood:

وَقَالُوۡا لَا تَذَرُنَّ اٰلِہَتَکُمۡ وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَّلَا سُوَاعًا ۬ۙ وَّلَا یَغُوۡثَ وَیَعُوۡقَ وَنَسۡرًا

And they said, “Forsake not your gods, forsake not Wadd, Suwa’a, Yaghuth, Ya’uq and Nasr”

(Surah 71, Ayah 23)

Skeptics claims this is a historical anachronism, but an intentional anachronism is a type of literary device meant to draw attention to and comment on a current state of affairs. In other words, Allah gave the names of the idols worshipped by the pagan Arabs to the idols that were worshipped by the doomed people of Noah for the purpose of identifying the two peoples as one and the same in terms of their idolatry and opposing His Messenger.

After the Muslims defeated the Sassanians and conquered Iran during the Caliphate of Umar al-Faruq رضى الله عنه they destroyed many fire temples and converted others into Mosques. It is well-known that the great Muslim king Mahmud of Ghazni demolished the Hindu temple at Somnath.