In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Mawaddah Association presents:
Events in Ramadan.
By the grace of the Most Merciful, the compassion of the Pasha.
The demolition of the idols.
In Ramadan of the eighth year after the Hijrah.
And on the twenty-fifth of that momentous month, most likely.
The noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, ordered
The demolition of the greatest idol that was worshipped besides Allah in the Arabian Peninsula.
It was the idol known as al-‘Uzza.
The hand that demolished it was the hand of the Sword of Allah, Khalid ibn al-Walid.
For al-‘Uzza and its peers among the idols in the Arabian Peninsula,
There is a dark, black history.
The light of Islam erased its darkness.
And the radiance of faith removed its gloom.
This story begins in the era of Isma‘il ibn Ibrahim, peace be upon them both.
For Isma‘il settled in Makkah the Honored.
His descendants multiplied there.
And as days passed, his progeny expanded,
Until Makkah, despite its vastness, became crowded for them.
At that point, his descendants spread throughout the land.
They set out across the Arabian Peninsula in search of sustenance.
And no one would depart from Makkah
Without taking with them a stone from the stones of the Sacred Precinct,
Out of reverence for the House of Allah.
Whenever they settled in a place,
They would place the stone there,
And they would circumambulate it just as they circumambulated the Ka‘bah, out of affection for it,
And veneration for it, and longing for it.
Then a long time passed,
And generations followed one another,
Until those stones were worshipped besides Allah,
And the people took them as idols and lords.
This was the affair of the stones.
As for the carved idols,
They were brought into the Arabian Peninsula by ‘Amr ibn Rabi‘ah.
He was a custodian of the Ka‘bah and one of the leaders of the Arabs.
This ‘Amr fell severely ill.
It was said to him,
"In al-Balqa’ in the land of the Levant, there is a hot spring;
If you go to it, you will be healed."
So he went to it, bathed in it, and was healed.
He found its people worshipping idols.
He asked, "What is this?"
They replied, "We seek rain through them,
And we seek victory over the enemy through them."
He asked them to give him some, and they did.
He brought them to Makkah and set them up around the Ka‘bah.
The oldest of the Arab idols was Manat.
It was called so
Because blood was spilled (tumna) before it as an offering and out of reverence for it.
Manat was set up on the seashore
Between Makkah and Madinah.
The Arabs revered and feared it,
And named their children after it,
Such as ‘Abd Manat and Zayd Manat.
The people who revered it most intensely
Were the Aws and the Khazraj.
Then the Arabs adopted al-Lat after Manat.
The origin of al-Lat was a square rock in Ta’if.
A Jew used to sit upon it, kneading flour (sawiq) for the people so they could eat it fresh.
The people used to call him "al-Lat."
When the Jew died,
The tribe of Thaqif built a Ka‘bah and an idol for themselves over the rock.
Quraysh and the rest of the Arabs revered al-Lat,
And named their children after it,
Saying Zayd al-Lat and Taym al-Lat.
Then the Arabs adopted al-‘Uzza after that.
They built it in the land of Nakhlah, nine miles from Makkah.
Al-‘Uzza was the greatest idol among Quraysh.
They built a house over it to rival the Ka‘bah,
And protected a sanctuary for it to rival the Makkan sanctuary.
They established a slaughterhouse there to sacrifice offerings.
Quraysh singled out al-‘Uzza for special veneration.
When they circumambulated the Ka‘bah, they would say,
"By al-Lat, al-‘Uzza, and the third one, Manat,
For they are the exalted cranes (gharaniq),
And their intercession is indeed to be hoped for."
They used to say about these three idols
That they were the daughters of Allah.
Exalted is Allah far above what they associate with Him.
When Allah sent His Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
With guidance and the religion of monotheism, he condemned al-‘Uzza
Among the idols of Quraysh that he condemned.
This weighed heavily upon them, to the point that Sa‘id ibn al-‘As,
When he fell into the illness from which he died,
Abu Lahab came to visit him.
He said,
"Why are you weeping, O Abu Uhayhah?
Are you weeping because of death, which is inevitable?"
He said, "No,
But I fear that al-‘Uzza will not be worshipped after I am gone."
Abu Lahab said,
"By Allah, it was not worshipped during your life because of you,
So that you should worry about it being abandoned after your death."
Abu Uhayhah said,
"Now I know that I have a successor who will protect it after me."
Quraysh had other idols inside the Ka‘bah.
The greatest of them was Hubal.
Hubal was made of red carnelian in the shape of a human.
Its right hand was broken,
So they made a hand of gold for it.
In front of Hubal were seven arrows.
Written on the first was "pure" (sarih),
And on the other was "attached" (mulsaq).
If someone doubted the lineage of a newborn,
They would offer a gift to it,
Then cast the arrows.
If "pure" came out, the newborn was attributed to his father.
If "attached" came out, they disowned him.
Every household in Makkah had an idol in their home,
Which they worshipped besides Allah.
If one of them wanted to travel,
The last thing he would do in his house was to touch it for blessing.
And if he returned from his journey,
The first thing he would do upon entering his house was to touch it.
When Allah sent Muhammad with the monotheism of Allah and singling Him out for worship,
They said, "Has he made the gods one God?"
“Maketh he the gods One Allah? Lo! that is an astounding thing.” (38:5)
When a man from the Arabs traveled,
And stopped in a place,
He would take four stones.
He would look at the best of them and take it as a lord,
And make the remaining three a hearth,
Placing his pot upon them to cook his food.
The worship of these idols by the Arabs was not without its ironies.
Among them is that one of them passed by one of these set-up idols,
And found a fox standing next to the idol and urinating on its head.
He said, "Is this a lord that a fox urinates on its head?
Humiliated is he upon whom the fox has urinated."
Another is that Imru’ al-Qays ibn Hujr
Went to an idol on the day his father was killed,
And cast the arrows before it to consult it regarding vengeance for his father.
The arrow came out forbidding him from seeking vengeance for his father.
So he kicked the idol with his foot, cursed it, and insulted it,
And said to it,
"If your father had been killed, you would not have said this!"
A man from the tribe of Mulkan brought his camels to an idol of his people called Sa‘d,
Intending to dedicate them to it, seeking its blessing.
When the camels saw the idol, they bolted from the blood that was spilled before it,
And scattered everywhere.
The Bedouin became angry, took a stone, threw it at the idol, and said,
"We came to Sa‘d to unite our scattered herd,
But Sa‘d scattered us; I am no longer a follower of Sa‘d.
Is Sa‘d anything but a rock in a desolate land, neither guiding to error nor to righteousness?"
Among these stories is that of ‘Amr ibn al-Jamuh, a leader of the tribe of Salamah.
He had taken an idol into his house.
When the young men of Salamah embraced Islam,
And witnessed the Pledge of ‘Aqabah with their fathers and returned to Yathrib,
Whenever night fell, they would enter ‘Amr’s house, take the idol,
And throw it into a pit where the filth of the Banu Salamah gathered.
When ‘Amr woke up, he would say,
"Woe to you! Who has attacked our gods tonight?"
Then he would go out searching for it,
And when he found it, he would wash it, perfume it, and say to it,
"By Allah, if I knew who did this to you, I would disgrace him."
When evening came and he slept,
They would go to it and do the same to his idol.
He would wake up searching for it,
And find it in the same state of filth.
He would wash it, clean it, and perfume it.
Then he brought his sword and hung it upon it,
And said to it,
"By Allah, I do not know who is doing this to you, as you see.
If there is any good in you, defend yourself,
For this sword is with you."
When evening came and he slept,
They went to it, took the sword from its neck,
Then took a dead dog,
And tied it to the idol with a rope,
Then threw it into one of the wells of the Banu Salamah.
‘Amr went out and did not find it in its place,
But found it in the well, upside down,
Tied to a dead dog.
Those who had embraced Islam from his people spoke to him,
And invited him to Islam.
He embraced Islam, and his Islam was sincere.
Then he said, thanking Allah for saving him
From the blindness and misguidance he was in:
"By Allah, if you were a god, you would not be
You and a dog in a well, tied together.
Praise be to Allah, the Most High, the Bestower,
The Giver, the Provider, the Judge of the Religion.
He is the One who saved me before
I was held hostage in the darkness of the grave."
Most of these idols remained
Worshipped besides Allah in the Arabian Peninsula,
Until Allah granted His Prophet
The clear victory.
That was a sign of the end
Of the era of idols,
And the removal of the symbols of polytheism.
It was among the virtues of Ramadan
That in its glorious days,
All the idols were demolished.
For on the twentieth of Ramadan,
In the eighth year after the Hijrah,
The Messenger of Allah,
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, entered Makkah as a conqueror,
He turned his face toward the Sacred Mosque.
The idols were set up around the Kaaba.
He took the tip of his spear.
He began striking them in their eyes and faces.
They would collapse at his feet while he recited.
“And say: Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away. Lo! falsehood is ever bound to vanish.” (17:81)
“And say: Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away. Lo! falsehood is ever bound to vanish.” (17:81)
Then he gave orders regarding them.
They were overturned onto their faces.
They were removed from the Mosque.
And fire was set to them.
At the head of them was Hubal.
On the twenty-fourth of Ramadan,
in the eighth year after the Hijrah,
the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sent
Sa'd Ibn Zayd al-Ashhali to Manat.
He demolished it and found nothing in its treasury.
On the twenty-fifth of Ramadan,
the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sent
Khalid Ibn al-Walid
with thirty horsemen of his Companions.
He commanded them to demolish al-'Uzza.
Its custodians and caretakers were from the Banu Shayban.
When its custodian heard of Khalid’s approach toward it,
he hung a sword upon it.
And he recited to it, saying:
"O 'Uzza, show your might, do not be slow,
against Khalid; cast off your veil and gird yourself.
O 'Uzza, if you do not kill Khalid today,
then prepare for an immediate disgrace or become a Christian."
When Khalid reached it,
he demolished it while repeating:
"O 'Uzza, may you be denied, not glorified,
for I have seen that Allah has humiliated you."
Then Khalid returned to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and informed him of the demolition of al-'Uzza.
He said to him, "Praise be to Allah who has honored us through you
and saved us from destruction.
I used to see my father come to al-'Uzza,
bringing it the best of his wealth in camels and sheep.
He would slaughter them for al-'Uzza,
then stay by it for three days,
and then return to us joyful.
I reflected upon what my father died upon,
and how he was deceived,
until he ended up slaughtering for that which neither hears nor sees,
and neither harms nor benefits."
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said,
"This matter rests with Allah.
Whoever He guides to the truth, it is made easy for him,
and whoever He leaves to misguidance, he remains within it."
In Ramadan of the ninth year after the Hijrah,
the delegation of Thaqif, the owners of al-Lat, came to the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
offering their Islam to him.
They asked him to leave al-Lat for them for three years without demolishing it.
But the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, refused that.
They did not cease asking him, year by year,
and he refused them.
Until they asked for just one month,
but he refused to leave it for any specified time.
He insisted on its demolition.
They asked him that they not be the ones to demolish it with their own hands.
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said,
"As for breaking your idols with your own hands,
we will excuse you from that."
Then the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sent
with them Abu Sufyan Ibn Harb
and al-Mughirah Ibn Shu'bah
to demolish al-Lat.
When they reached Ta'if,
the women of Thaqif came out unveiled, weeping for their deities,
lamenting their loss,
and criticizing their men who had surrendered them.
When al-Mughirah intended to demolish it, he said to Abu Sufyan,
"Shall I make you laugh at Thaqif?"
He said, "Yes."
He took the axe and struck al-Lat one blow.
Then he shouted and fell on his face as if he had been struck down.
Ta'if erupted with cries of joy,
believing that al-Lat had struck down al-Mughirah.
They approached him saying,
"Woe to you! How did you see it?
It destroys those who show it enmity!
It destroys those who show it enmity!"
Then al-Mughirah stood up, laughing at the people,
and mocking their foolishness.
He then turned to al-Lat, striking it with his pickaxe,
while saying:
"Allah is the Greatest,
Allah is the Greatest.
There is no god but Allah alone, with no partner,
the One, the Eternal Refuge."
So congratulations to the Muslims for Ramadan,
congratulations to them for its glorious days.
For in it, the idols were disgraced,
and in it, the statues were uprooted.