idol worship

In the Quran there are at least fifty four references to idol worship. Why does God repeatedly highlight idol worship?

Does idol worship refer to statues, stone carvings, pictures of animals and pagan temples as in the Hadith?

Read the episode of Solomon who was a truly guided prophet and is among those promised paradise. In Chapter Saba 34: 12-13 God tells us that He made the wind, rain and even the jinns obedient to Solomon. The jinns made for Solomon anything he wanted. But what were the things that Solomon -one of God's esteemed prophets, asked the jinns to make for him?

Look at Chapter Saba again: 34:13 "They made anything he wanted, including niches, STATUES, deep pools and heavy pots. . . "

From this verse in the Quran it becomes clear that God guided the jinns to work for His own prophet, to make for him among other things STATUES. It now becomes apparent that mere statues are not IDOLS. They are inanimate objects which can neither help us nor harm us. Therefore when God talks about rejecting idols, He does not mean that we should go out and destroy all statues, carvings and pictures as statues themselves are certainly NOT idols.

Idols are in fact OBJECTS OF worship and that constitutes anything including children, money, fame, leaders, ancestors, saints, prophets, and yes, even statues. An object or person becomes an idol ONLY IF WE WORSHIP IT, whether deliberately or unknowingly. Obviously this is why God repeatedly prohibits taking his servants as lords, with special references to the
prophets and religious leaders.

"If you ask them, "Who created the heavens and the earth, "they would say, "The almighty, the omniscient. "
Chapter AI Zukhruf 43:9

"Yet they set up idols from among His servants. Indeed the human is unappreciative. "
Chapter AI Zukhruf 43:15

'Mushriq' is an arabic word used in the Quran to describe pagans and idolaters. Even people who profess belief in the One God -Allah can be Mushriqs.

"And most of them believe nor in Allah without associating partners with Him". (Arabic transliteration: Wa maa yu'minu aksaruhum-billaahi illaa wa hum-mushri-kuun!)
Chapter Yusuf 12.106

This may come as a surprise to `devout muslims' but as the verse from the Quran says, the majority of people who believe in Allah, also associate partners or intermediates with Him and are therefor `mushriqs'. They believe in Allah, the One God, but they also believe it is neccessary to have other legislators in the form of their leaders, priests, saints and prophets.

Even if the whole world became submitters to the will of God, and all the statues were destroyed, these verses in the Quran will still be applicable because evidently there is still a danger that people may idolize some other things or persons alongside worshipping God.