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`AMR IBN AI-JAMUUH
I Want to Walk Proudly with My Lameness in Paradise!
He was related to Abd Allah Ibn `Amr lbn Hiraam by marriage, being the husband of his sister Hind
bint `Amr. Amr Ibn Al- Jamuuh was one of the leaders of Al-Madiinah and one of the chiefs of the
Salamah tribe. His son Mu'aadh lbn Amr, who was one of the seventy Ansaar of the pledge of `Aqabah
preceded him in Islam.
Mu`aadh Ibn `Amr and his friend Mu'aadh lbn Jabal 1 were calling the people of Al-Madiinah to
Islam with the enthusiasm of bold and believing youth.
It was a custom that the nobles kept symbolic idols in their houses other than the big idols set up in
places of public gathering. As a nobleman and chief, Amr lbn Al-Jamuuh made an idol to install in his
house and called it Manaaf. His son Mu'aadh lbn `Amr agreed with his comrade Mu'aadh Ibn Jabal to
make `Amr lbn Al-Jamuuh's idol an object of ridicule. They used to enter his house at night, take the idol
and throw it into a cess pit. And when Amr would wake up he would not find Manaaf in its place, and
would keep looking for it till he found it thrown into that pit. He used to rage and say, "Woe unto you,
who transgressed our gods this night!" Then he would wash and perfume it. When night came again, the
two Mu`aadh, would do to the idol as they had done the previous night.
When `Amr got weary he took his sword and put it on Manaaf's neck and said to it, "If you are a
beneficial god defend yourself." When he woke up he did not find it in its place, but rather found it
discarded in the same cess pit. But this time, it was not in the pit alone but was tied to a dead dog by a
strong rope.
While he was angry, sorry, and surprised, some of the nobles of Al-Madiinah who had preceded him
in Islam approached him. They pointed at the idol tied to the dead dog and addressed `Amr lbn Al
Jamuuh's mind, heart and good sense, talking to him about the Most True and Most High Allah Whom
there is nothing like. They talked to him about the trustworthy, faithful Muhammad who came to give,
not to take, to guide, not to misguide. They talked to him about Islam that came to liberate mankind from
all the shackles, revive the spirit of Allah in them, and spread His light in their hearts.
In a few moments, `Amr discovered himself and his destiny. He purified and perfumed his clothes
and body, then went, bearing his head high, to acknowledge the Seal of the Prophets (PBUH) and to take
his place among the believers.
One may wonder how those nobles and leaders of their people, like `Amr lbn Al-Jamuuh, could
believe in helpless idols to that extent. How did their reason not restrain them? How do we render them
today among the great men after their embracing Islam and sacrificing? It is easy to raise these questions
nowadays, as no child would accept to set up a piece of wood in his house and worship it. But in olden
days, people's hearts used to embrace such doings. Their intelligence and genius could do nothing against
tradition.
For example, Athens, in the days of Pericles, Pythagoras, and Socrates, attained a dazzling
intellectual progress. However, all its people, including philosophers and judges, used to believe in
sculptured idols in a ridiculous way. The reason is that religious sense in those remote ages was not as
developed as the intellectual progress.
Amr lbn Al-Jamuuh dedicated his heart and life to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Although he was
generous by nature, Islam made him more generous so that he put all his money in the service of his
religion and his brethren.