Polytheism of Meccan Polytheists from the Viewpoint of Imamiyya and Ahl al-Hadith up to Ibn Taymiyya

Ahl al-Hadith and Imamiyya disagree on how to determine the limits of the meaning of divinity [Rububiyyat], and consequently on the meaning of polytheism in divinity, but both share the belief that the polytheists of Mecca attributed partners to God in divinity and providence of the world, and thus worshiped idols. In fact, it was the belief in divinity of idols that led the Meccan polytheists to worship them. In this regard, the mission of the Prophet (s) was to dissuade the Meccan polytheists from polytheism in divinity and consequently from polytheism in worship, and guide them to monotheism in divinity and then to monotheism in worship. So unlike Wahhabism, Ahl al-Hadith and Imamiyya hold that the Meccan polytheists not only followed polytheism in worship, but also polytheism in divinity, and basically this false belief was the source of polytheism in worship. Accordingly, it should be said that Ahl al-Hadith, to whose works Wahhabis refer, consider the polytheism of the Meccan polytheists as polytheism in divinity and polytheism in worship as its concomitant.