Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) explained this noble verse; he said that the idols which Allah, the Exalted, mentioned – which the people of Nūh worshiped generations after generations after Nūh (peace be upon him) had prohibited them from polytheism – are originally names of pious men. They, however, extolled them extremely. So Satan deceived them until they made statues, which eventually led to those statues being worshiped.