Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear brother Burhan, AssalaamOAlaikum

I WANT TO RECEIVE UR QUESTION & ANSWERS VIA EMAIL

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THAT WHEN PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAWS) CAME, HE REMOVED ALL THE IDOLS FROM HOLY KAABA & BANISHED TOTALLY FROM ISLAM BUT BEFORE THAT DURING PROPHET IBRAHIM (SAWS) THEY DID PRACTICED NON IDOL WORSHIPPING THEN WHAT HAPPENDED IN BETWEEN INFACT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT WAS THE STATUS OF IDOL WORSHIPPING, ONLY WHEN PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAWS) CAMEHE COMPULSORARILY BANISHED

PLSEASE COMMENT

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

What happened between Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Muhammad?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

The worship of anything or any being other than Allah Subhanah was forbidden to the believers since the beginning of time!

It was Prophet Ibrahim (a.s.) and his son Prophet Ismail (a.s.) who re-built the Kaabah, and prayed to Allah Subhanah to keep them pure from idol-worship.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 14 Surah Ibraheem verse 35: Remember Abraham said: "O my Lord! make this city (Makkah) one of peace and security: and preserve me and my sons from worshipping idols.”

The believers who followed the way of Prophet Ibraheem (a.s.) stayed away from idol-worship for a long time after his death. About 500-600 years after the deaths of Prophet Ibraheem (a.s.) and Prophet Ismail (a.s.), a person from the tribe of Khuzaa went to Shaam (Damascus) and saw the people there worshipping idols. He was the person who first brought an idol from there to Makkah, and in time, the people of Makkah started worshipping the idols.

As time passed, the Arabs of Makkah got more and more idols and placed them in the Kaabah and started invoking them with Allah Subhanah; although they claimed to follow the Way of Prophet Ibraheem (a.s.). They used to perform the ‘tawaaf’ around the Kaabah, and the pilgrimages of Umrah and Hajj of the Sacred House; but they also used to invoke the idols along with Allah Subhanah.

This worship of the idols carried on until the advent of Prophet Mohamed (saws). Prophet Mohamed (saws) strictly forbade the believers to worship anything besides Allah Subhanah, and when Prophet Mohamed (saws) conquered the city of Makkah in 8 Hijri, he himself destroyed all the idols in and around the Kaabah and strictly forbade the keeping of any idols inside the Sacred House of Allah Subhanah.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan