The Prophet(sa) made straight for the Ka’ba and performed the circuit of the holy precincts seven times, mounted on his camel. Staff in hand, he went round the house which had been built by the Patriarch Abraham(as) and his son Ishmael(as) for the worship of the One and Only God, but which by their misguided children had been allowed to degenerate into a sanctuary for idols. The Prophet(sa) smote one by one the three hundred and sixty idols in the house. As an idol fell, the Prophet(sa) would recite the verse, "Truth has come and falsehood has vanished away. Falsehood does indeed vanish away fast." This verse was revealed before the Prophet(sa) left Mecca for Medina and is part of the Chapter, Bani Isra’il. In this Chapter was foretold the flight of the Prophet(sa) and the conquest of Mecca. The Chapter is a Meccan Chapter, a fact admitted even by European writers. The verses which contain the prophecy of the Prophet's(sa) flight from Mecca, and the subsequent conquest of Mecca are as follows:
And say 'O my Lord, make my entry a good entry, and make my going out a good outgoing. And grant me from Thyself a power that may help me.' And, 'Truth has come and falsehood has vanished away. Falsehood does indeed vanish away fast!' (17: 81-82).
The conquest of Mecca is foretold here in the form of a prayer taught to the Prophet(sa). The Prophet(sa) is taught to pray for entering Mecca and for departing from it under good auspices; and for the help of God in assuring an ultimate victory of truth over falsehood. The prophecy had literally come true. The recitation of these verses by Abu Bakr(ra) was appropriate. It braced up the Muslims, and reminded the Meccans of the futility of their fight against God and of the truth of the promises made by God to the Prophet(sa).
With the conquest of Mecca, the Ka’ba was restored to the functions for which it had been consecrated many thousands of years before by the Patriarch Abraham(as). The Ka’ba was again devoted to the worship of the One and Only God. The idols were broken. One of these was Hubal. When the Prophet(sa) smote it with his staff, and it fell down in fragments, Zubair(ra) looked at Abu Sufyan(ra) and with a half-suppressed smile reminded him of Uhud. "Do you remember the day when Muslims wounded and exhausted stood by and you wounded them further by shouting, 'Glory to Hubal, Glory to Hubal'? Was it Hubal who gave you victory on that day? If it was Hubal, you can see the end it has come to today."
Abu Sufyan(ra) was impressed, and admitted it was quite true that if there had been a God other than the God of Muhammad(sa), they might have been spared the disgrace and defeat they had met with that day.
The Prophet(sa) then ordered the wiping out of the pictures which had been drawn on the walls of the Ka’ba. Having ordered this the Prophet(sa) said two rak’ats of prayer as thanks-giving to God. He then withdrew to the open court and said another two rak’ats of prayer. The duty of wiping out the pictures had been entrusted to Umar(ra). He had all the pictures obliterated except that of Abraham(as). When the Prophet(sa) returned to inspect and found this picture intact, he asked Umar(ra) why he had spared this one. Did he not remember the testimony of the Qur’an that Abraham(as) was neither Jew nor Christian, but a single-minded and obedient Muslim? (3:68).
It was an insult to the memory of Abraham(as), a great exponent of the Oneness of God to have his picture on the walls of the Ka’ba. It was as though Abraham(as) could be worshipped equally with God.
It was a memorable day, a day full of the Signs of God.
Promises made by God to the Prophet(sa), at a time when their fulfilment seemed impossible, had been fulfilled at last. The Prophet(sa) was the centre of devotion and faith. In and through his person, God had manifested Himself, and shown His face, as it were, again. The Prophet(sa) sent for water of the Zamzam. He drank some of it and with the rest performed ablutions. So devoted were Muslims to the Prophet's(sa) person, that they would not let a drop of this water fall on the ground. They received the water in the hollows of their hands to wet their bodies with it; in such reverence did they hold it. The pagans who witnessed these scenes of devotion said again and again that they had never seen an earthly king to whom his people were so devoted (Halbiyya, Vol. 3, p. 99).