It is recorded in the books of Hadith and Seerat (Prophet’s Biography) that the Prophet gave orders for idols to be broken. Iman Ahmad relates this tradition in these words: Ali Ibn Talib recounts that on one occasion the Prophet was present at a funeral at which he asked, “Who among you will go to Madinah and leave an idol there without breaking it; a gravestone without leveling it to the ground; an image without destroying it?”

In keeping with these ideas, the prophet is known to have broken idols and statues in Taif, Makkah and other places. However, it must be noted that such measures were taken only in Arabia. It was the will of God that the Arab peninsula should be purified of every last trace of polytheism; that is why this course was followed in Arabia. Moreover, all such measures were undertaken only after the conquest of Makkah; not beforehand.

The principle of destroying idols and statues was not applied to other territories besides the Arab. In other countries Muslims resorted to preaching alone; instead of breaking idols, the Islamic government made arrangements for the conversion of non-Muslims of their own free will, which would automatically result in the eradication of idols.

During the reign of the second Caliph, Umar bin Khattab, many Christian countries were brought under Muslim rule; but no attempts were made to destroy Christian statues. Muslims refrained from entering Churches and houses in which statues were placed. They concentrated their efforts on communicating the message of Islam. In spite of the power that they wielded, they never made any attempts to destroy statues. On one occasion, Umar, the second Caliph, said to some Christians: “We do not enter your Churches because of the presence of images and statues there.”

In the fourteenth year of the Islamic era Madain was conquered by Sa’ad Ibn Waqqas. Madain had for long been the capital of the ancient Iranian empire. There was a famous White Palace situated in this city. When the last Iranian monarch, Yazdjurd, fled from the palace, on the lips of Sa’ad Ibn Waqqas was a passage from the Surah of the Quran, entitled “AI-Dukhan.”

How many gardens, how many fountains, they left behind them. Cornfields, and noble palaces, and good things in which they took delight. Thus it was. And we made other people inherit all that. (44:25-28)

It was a Friday. The throne of the emperor in the White Palace was replaced by a pulpit. Sa’ad Ibn Waqqas delivered the sermon from the pulpit and the Friday prayer was performed. This was the first Friday prayer to be performed in the ancient Iranian capital.

All the images and statues which were housed in Madain were left as they were. Sa’ad Ibn Waqqas did not break them, neither did he remove them.

History records that when Sa’ad Ibn Waqqas entered the royal palace, he offered prayer in thanks for the victory. He did not pray in congregation. He prayed eight raka’t (A section of daily prayer) without a break in between. The palace was converted into a mosque in spite of the presence of the images of people and horses there. Although in the superior position of conquerors, neither Sa’ad Ibn Waqqas nor other Muslims interfered with those images they were left intact. If is a different story today where Muslims even in the position of a minority cannot tolerate.

The companions of the prophet were motivated by a missionary spirit in everything that they did. This spirit made it their prime consideration to communicate the message of Islam to non-Muslims; all other considerations took on secondary importance. They knew that Islam was such a powerful intellectual force that non-Muslims would be unable to resist it. After their submission to Islam, all other aims would be achieved automatically. Thereafter, polytheism, together with all its traces and symbols, would vanish completely. □