“(They will be told): ‘Verily you and the gods you worshipped beside Allah are the fuel of Hell. All of you are bound to arrive there. Had these indeed been gods, they would not have gone there. But (as it is), all of you shall ever abide in it.’ There they shall groan with anguish and the din and noise in Hell will not let them hear anything.”
(Al-Qur’ān – 21:98-100)
Those who taught people to worship the One God will certainly not be thrown into Hell. And this is regardless of whether some ignorant people took them to be gods, or whether others were totally unaware of them. The same, however, cannot be said of those who claim to be co-sharers in godhead, and who are a party to the polytheism of their followers; they will be hurled into Hell along with their votaries. Likewise, all those who, in pursuit of their selfish interests, cause other than God to become deities, will be hurled into Hell.
It is at Satan’s instigation that some human beings are taken as god. Moreover, objects of worship – whether stones, pieces of wood or whatever – will also be thrown into Hell along with their polytheist subscribers so that they may aggravate its fire. The sight of these deities burning in Hell will add to the polytheists’ sufferings, for they will now discover that those upon whose intercession they had pinned all their hopes will be of no avail to them. What is more, they will prove to be instrumental in causing them greater pain.