How people turned Polytheistic in the past

History after 

Prophet Nuh and Prophet Ibrahim

Most of the time in the history, there were people who used to worship idols and many other gods besides the true God, Allah. They used to make numerous of them. The idols created in the history were for different purpose and even now paganism exists in the form of Shinto or Hinduism. The Egyptians used to make their gods as well as European states such Baltic and Finnish. Even in the ancient Arabia, polytheism prevailed. The two best stories of how people turned pagans are told below. 

Prophet Nuh

When the Prophet Nuh died, the word of Allah was carried by his followers. Soon the polytheism began to take root after his death. According to Abdullah ibn Abbas, there were five righteous men from the people of Nuh. These were popular in their people and so were beloved to all people. The Qur'an mentions their names in Surah Nuh verse 23:"“They said to each other: ‘Do not leave your gods! Do not give up Wadd and Suwaa, nor Yaghooth, Ya’ooq and Nasr!” When they died, Satan deceived people to make idols in the memory of them. When that generation died, the purpose of the idols was forgotten. So the next generation began to worship them. In accordance to Wadd, Ibn Kathir says:"Ibn Abi Hatim related this story, “Waddan was a righteous man, who was loved by his people. When he died, they withdrew to his grave in the land of Babylonia and were overwhelmed by sadness. When Iblees (name of Shaytaan) saw their sorrow caused by his death, he disguised himself in the form of a man saying, ‘I have seen your sorrow because of this man’s death; can I make a statue like him which could be put in your meeting place to make you remember him?’They said: ‘Yes.’ So, he made a statue like him. They put it in their meeting place in order to be reminded of him. When Iblees saw their interest in remembering him, he said: ‘Can I build a statue of him in the home of each one of you so that he would be in everyone’s house and you could remember him?’ They agreed. Their children learned about and saw what they were doing. They also learned about their remembrance of him, until they took him to be a deity and worshiped him instead of Allah. So, the first to be worshiped instead of Allah was Waddan, the idol which they named thus.”

Prophet Ibrahim

First narration (Muhammad Arabi by Anayatullah Subhani)

When the Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail died, the people were saddened. Because these Prophets had built the kabah, they began to collect stones around it and began to keep it with them, believing it would benefit them. Soon they began to take these stones with them in their journeys and trades and so a false concept originated which said that having these stones would benefit them. Soon the people began to carve these stones into idols and each household began to have idols. These were worshipped and so paganism originated in Arabia. 

Second narration (Mukhtasar Seerat-ar-Rasool p.12)

It is believed that a person existed in pre-Islamic times namely Amr bin Luhayy al Khuzai. He was the chieftain of Banu Khuzaa and was known for his generousity, kindness, and humility. So all of his tribesmen were loyal to him. Once he led a trade caravan to Syria and say people there worshiping idols. He bought one idol namely Hubal and approved of idol worshipping. The idol was placed in Kabah and upon Amr's order, the idol was worshipped as people believed of him to be truthful. From Mecca, the paganism spread all over Arabia. 

Ibn Jarir at-Tabaree (the author of the famous Tafseer at-Tabaree) mentions the explanation of Mujahid about the verse, “Have you then considered al-Lat and al-Uzza. “He (al-Laat) used to serve the pilgrims by preparing Seewaq (fine flour of barley or wheat mixed with water and ghee) for them. After his death, the people began to stay and confine at his grave for the purpose of reward.”