Lessons from the Destruction of Idols

Breaking the idols took place during the Conquest of Mecca. The Prophet, peace be upon him, broke

three hundred and sixty idols around the House, and he was breaking these

idols and saying,

Greater than the presence of these idols and their worship.

This is fundamentally what the Prophet, peace be upon him, was sent to destroy, as he said in the authentic hadith.

The question is, why did he not break these idols during

the compensatory Umrah? Isn't

this among the most important matters? Aren't these idols the symbol of polytheism, the symbol

of disbelief, the symbol of deviation, and the symbol of misguidance? Weren't they within

the Prophet's reach, peace be upon him? Why did the Prophet not break them when

he performed Tawaf during the compensatory Umrah? Of course, the answer is known, it was not the appropriate stage,

but we want to reflect on the lesson. Calling to God

and reform, and resisting falsehood, require understanding and follow

certain patterns, and there is particular wisdom in them. The reformer is not required, is not

required at every time to do everything, so that one may say, what is the benefit of some actions

Proselytizing, falsehood, and so on? Fine, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, went and circumambulated

the House during the Compensatory Umrah and did not smash the idols.

If he had smashed the idols, for example, then Quraysh would have come down and it would have become jihad in the cause of God.

Someone might think this way, but

the day will come when the idols will be demolished

at its proper time,

in its era, at its stage, and in its context. But today, the matter is not

in our hands. This is all the more reason that the Prophet, peace be upon him,

did not smash them. When?

Before the Hijrah. When he was in Mecca, he was more vulnerable, because

now he had three thousand men with him during

the Compensatory Umrah, whereas in Mecca, he had only a very small number with him.

This contains a very important benefit, a benefit regarding the jurisprudence of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong:

a person is not required to do everything at once,

rather, he strives. At the same time, when the Prophet, peace be upon him,

conquered

Mecca, he did not say, “By God, let us win over the polytheists and keep their idols.”

He smashed all 360 of them at once, so that it would not happen.

There is also evasion from the other side. They are just stones.

What is the problem? The main thing is to proclaim the religion and leave

them their symbols and statues. We have not reached such a debased stage where someone says,

in other words,

“We preserve the antiquities and the Qurayshi heritage,” when

the Prophet, peace be upon him, smashed them all at once, and there was one year

between this and that. This is an important issue with profound jurisprudence in

calling

to Islam, reform, changing falsehood, and changing wrongdoing.