Amr bin Jamooh had crafted a wooden idol for himself, and he would show great respect and honour to this idol. One night, his own son, Hazrat Mu’aaz bin Amr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), together with Hazrat Mu’aaz bin Jabal (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) and a few youngsters of the Banu Salimah tribe who had accepted Islam, secretly took this idol and left it upside-down in a dump.
The following morning, Amr bin Jamooh discovered that his own hand-crafted “god” had disappeared. He began to mutter to himself, “Alas! I wonder who took my god away!” He then began to run around from place to place in search of his idol until he found it lying upside down in a dump. He retrieved it from the pit, washed it thoroughly and applied some perfume to it.
The following night, these youngsters once again took the idol away and dumped it into another large pit. The next morning, Amr bin Jamooh again went out in search for it. He recovered it from the pit, washed it and applied fragrance to it.
After this had occurred for a few days consecutively, Amr bin Jamooh brought a sword, placed it around the idol’s neck and said, “By Allah! I do not know who is doing this to you! If you have any good in you, then here is a sword – use it to protect yourself.”
That night, when the youngsters came to the idol, they removed the sword from its neck. They then got hold of a dead dog and tied it to the idol, after which they suspended both of them over a well.
The next morning, when Amr bin Jamooh learnt that his idol had disappeared once again, he went out in search of it and found that it was tied to a dead dog with which it was hanging over a well. The moment he laid eyes on this spectacle, his eyes opened, and addressing the idol, he called out, “By Allah! If you were truly a god, you would not have been subject to such utter humiliation!”
Hazrat Amr bin Jamooh (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) then embraced Islam and expressed his gratitude to Allah Ta‘ala, as it was only through His mercy that Allah Ta‘ala had saved him from misguidance and allowed him to see the truth of Islam.
(Extracted from Seeratul Mustafa 1/348-349)