The End of al-ʿUzzā

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd to destroy al-ʿUzzā. Al-ʿUzzā was one of the great gods of the mushrikūn in those days. Al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā — these were among the famous ones; these are the famous idols that belonged to the mushrikūn. They held them — they considered them to be among their greatest deities. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had destroyed the false idols, the false gods, the idols surrounding the Kaʿbah; and now the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to destroy al-ʿUzzā, which was outside Makkah. Khālid ibn al-Walīd went there, and the custodians of al-ʿUzzā ran away; they did not fight; they did not stand to fight. In fact, the one responsible for al-ʿUzzā put a sword around the neck of al-ʿUzzā and told al-ʿUzzā: defend yourself against Khālid; and if you do not defend yourself, then you deserve what will happen to you. Khālid ibn al-Walīd came to al-ʿUzzā, and he destroyed it; he destroyed the idol.

When he came back — and this narration is in al-Bayhaqī — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to him: what did you do? He said: I destroyed al-ʿUzzā. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: you did nothing; go back. Khālid ibn al-Walīd went back, and now he found a naked woman, with her hair dishevelled, throwing dirt on herself and yelling. Khālid ibn al-Walīd put her to the sword and killed her. And then, when he went back to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to him: what did you do? He said: I found a naked woman and I executed her. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: that is al-ʿUzzā; you have killed her.

So al-ʿUzzā was some type of jinn or shayṭān. It was an idol from the outside, but there was a jinn living inside it, or a shayṭān living inside it, and that shayṭān came out in the form of this naked woman. So when Khālid ibn al-Walīd executed her, that was the end of al-ʿUzzā. Therefore there was some superstition attached to al-ʿUzzā, because there was this living spirit in it, this shayṭān or jinn; and that probably played a role in deceiving the people. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that there would be no more al-ʿUzzā after this day.