Middle East: The destruction of the idols at the Kaaba in Mecca by the Prophet Muhammad, as envisaged in 'L'Histoire Merveilleuse en Vers de Mahomet', 16th or 17th-century)

In 630, the Prophet Muhammad marched on Mecca with a large force, said to number more than ten thousand men.

With minimal casualties, the Muslims took control of the city. The Prophet Muhammad declared an amnesty for past offences, except for ten men and women who had mocked and ridiculed him in songs and verses. Some of these were later pardoned.

Most Meccans converted to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad subsequently destroyed all the statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba.

Representations of the Prophet Muhammad are controversial, and generally forbidden in Sunni Islam (especially Hanafiyya, Wahabi, Salafiyya). Shia Islam and some other branches of Sunni Islam (Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi'i) are generally more tolerant of such representational images, but even so the Prophet's features are generally veiled or concealed by flames as a mark of deep respect.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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