After the Conquest of Makkah Mukarramah, Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) requested permission from Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) to go and burn the idol of ‘Amr bin Hameemah, which was known as Zul-Kaffain. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) granted him permission, and he thus set out to destroy the idol.

On coming to the idol, Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) commenced burning it while reciting the following couplets:

يا ذا الكفين لست من عبادكا

ميلادنا أقدم من ميلادكا

إني حشوت النار في فؤادكا

O Zul Kaffaain! I am not from those who worship you

Our birth took place before your birth

I have now filled you with fire from within

Prior to this, half the clan of Dows had already accepted Islam. After Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) burnt the idol, the remaining half repented from idol worship and also embraced Islam.

According to one narration, after embracing Islam, Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) returned to his people on a dark, rainy night. On account of the dark and the rain, he was unable to see the road. It was at that time that Allah Ta‘ala blessed him with the special light in his whip. When the people saw the light being emitted from his whip, they were astonished. They surrounded Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) and held onto his whip, and as they did so, the light began to shine from their fingers.

Whenever a dark night fell, the whip of Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) would begin to emit this light. It is for this reason that Hazrat Tufail (radhiyallahu anhu) became known by the title “Zun-Noor” (the possessor of the light).

(Extracted from Seeratul Mustafa 1/284-285)