106 No god but God
behind him, only to find the city’s inhabitants welcoming him with
open arms.
After accepting Mecca’s surrender, Muhammad declared a general
amnesty for most of his enemies, including those he had fought in bat-
tle. Despite the fact that tribal law now made the Quraysh his slaves,
Muhammad declared all of Mecca’s inhabitants (including its slaves)
to be free. Only six men and four women were put to death for various
crimes, and no one was forced to convert to Islam, though everyone
had to take an oath of allegiance never again to wage war against the
Prophet. Among the last of the Quraysh to take that oath were Abu
Sufyan and his wife, Hind, who, even as she formally converted to
Islam, remained proudly defiant, barely masking her disgust with
Muhammad and his “provincial” faith.
When this business was complete, the Prophet made his way to
the Ka‘ba. With the help of his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, he lifted
the heavy veil covering the sanctuary door and entered the sacred
interior. One by one, he carried the idols out before the assembled
crowd and, raising them over his head, smashed them to the ground.
The various depictions of gods and prophets, such as that of Abraham
holding divining rods, were all washed away with Zamzam water; all,
that is, except for the one of Jesus and his mother, Mary. This image
the Prophet put his hands over reverently, saying, “Wash out all
except what is beneath my hands.”
Finally, Muhammad brought out the idol representing the great
Syrian god, Hubal. As Abu Sufyan watched, the Prophet unsheathed
his sword and hacked the idol into pieces, forever ending the worship
of pagan deities at Mecca. The remains of Hubal’s statue Muhammad
used as a doorstep leading up to the new, sanctified Ka‘ba, the sanctu-
ary that would henceforth be known as “the House of God,” the seat
of a wholly new and universal faith: Islam.