Destruction of the Idols Around the Ka'bah

Upon entering Mecca victoriously, the Prophet rode to the Ka'bah, performed tawaf on his camel, and then ordered the destruction of the 360 idols that surrounded and filled the sacred house. He pointed at each idol with his staff, reciting: 'Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed, falsehood is ever bound to depart' (al-Isra 17:81). The idols fell face-down as he pointed. He then entered the Ka'bah, found its walls covered with paintings of Ibrahim and Isma'il divining with arrows as well as images of angels and prophets, and ordered them all washed away. He found a pigeon made of aloe wood inside and broke it with his hands. He prayed two rak'ahs inside the Ka'bah. Bilal then ascended to the roof of the Ka'bah and called the adhan for the first time in Mecca. The sight of the formerly enslaved Bilal calling the prayer from atop the holiest site in Arabia was a profound symbol of Islam's revolutionary message of equality.