The Prophet (pbuh) did not go easy on them in matters related to Oneness of Allah

A delegation of the Thaqeef came to the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu‘alayhi wa sallam, in Madinah, and amongst them was Kinaanah ibn ‘AbdYaalayl, who was their leader, and ‘Uthmaan ibn Abu Al-’Aas, who was the youngest of them. They wanted conciliation when they saw Makkah was conquered and that the majority of the Arabs had become Muslim. The delegation kept coming back to the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, while he was trying to call them to Islam. Ibn ‘Abd Yaalayl said: “Will you make an agreement for us, so we can return to our families and people?” The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Yes, if you accept Islam I will do so, and if not then there is no conciliation between us.” Ibn ‘Abd Yaalayl said: “How about fornication? For we are constantly traveling and we are not patient with being alone.” The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, replied: “It is forbidden upon the Muslims, Allah has

He then asked: “How about interest (and usury)?” The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “It is forbidden.” He said “But all of our wealth is interest (and usury).” The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “You may keep the principal amount.

He then asked: “How about intoxicants? For it is the juice of our grapes and we cannot go without it.” The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam,

The people then left and spoke amongst themselves. Ibn ‘Abd Yaalayl said: “Woe to you! Will we return to our people with the forbiddance of these three things? By Allah, Thaqeef will never be patient without alcohol or fornication.” Sufyaan ibn ‘Abdullaah (one of the delegates) said: “If Allah wants good for them they will be patient, as those who are with him (the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to be the same way, but they were patient and left what they used to do. At the same time, we are afraid of this man who has conquered the world. We are in a fortress in part of the land, but Islam is surrounding us and spreading. By Allah, if he surrounded our fort for one month we would die of hunger! My only opinion is that we should become Muslims and I am afraid of a day like that of (the conquest of) Makkah.” The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to send food to them and they would not eat from it until the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ate with them. They asked the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “What about Ar-Rabbah (an idol), what will you do to it?” He, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Destroy it.” They said: “Impossible! If Ar-Rabbah knows that we will destroy it, it will kill our people!” ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab said: “Woe to you, Ibn ‘Abd Yaalayl! Ar-Rabbah is only a rock, it does not know who worships it and who does not.” Ibn ‘Abd Yaalayl said to him, “We did not come to you, O ‘Umar.” Then they became Muslims and completed the treaty. After that, they asked the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to wait for three years before destroying the idol Ar-Rabbah, but he refused. They asked for respite for two years, but he

refused again. Then they said one year, and he refused. Finally, they said one month, but he still refused to wait for a specific time.
They wanted to leave the idol Ar-Rabbah because they feared the reaction of their foolish people, women and children and they did not want to scare them by its destruction. They asked the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to exempt them from destroying it. The Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “I will send someone to take care of its destruction.” They agreed and sought permission to precede them back (i.e. the people who were sent to destroy the idol) to their people. When they reached
Thaqeef, the people asked who was behind them. They acted sad and said that they had just come from a harsh man who rules by the sword with whatever he wishes, and he has forbidden interest, fornication, and alcohol and ordered the destruction of Ar-Rabbah. The people of Thaqeef said: “We will never obey him!” They prepared for battle, readied their weapons and stayed like that for two or three days. Then Allah placed fear in their hearts, and they repented and said: “Go back to him and agree with what he wants.” The delegation said: “We have already done so, and we have found him to be the most pure, true, merciful and honest of all people. We have been blessed in our travel to him and in our agreement with him.” The people said: “Why did you hide this at first?” They replied: “We wanted Allah to remove the pride of Satan from your hearts.” Thus, the people all became Muslim. After a few days, the messengers of the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, came to them. Their leader was Khaalid ibn Al-Waleed and amongst them was Al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’bah. All of Thaqeef came out to see them, the men, women and children. Most of them thought
that the idol could not be destroyed and that it would defend itself. Al-Mugheerah ibn Shu’bah took his axe and said to his companions, “By Allah, I will make you laugh at Thaqeef.” He took the axe and hit it, and then he fell down and started kicking his legs. All the people screamed in one voice and were very happy. They said: “May Allah keep Al-Mugheerah away, he has been killed by Ar-Rabbah!” They said to his companions, “Whoever dares amongst you, come close to it!” Al-Mugheerah stood up at this point and said: “O Thaqeef, the Arabs used to say that there is no Arab tribe more intelligent than Thaqeef. But (I say) there is no tribe from the Arabs more foolish  than you! Woe to you, what are (the idols) Al-Laat, Al-Uzza, and Ar-Rabbah? They are rocks just like this rock, ignorant of who worships it and who does not.” He struck the door and broke it, and then he climbed the wall with his

companions. They continued to strike it, rock by rock, until it was completely leveled with the ground. The caretakers of the idol said: “When you reach its foundation, it will become angry and swallow you into the Earth.” When Al-Mugheerah heard that, he asked Khaalid, “Allow me to dig its foundation.” So they dug until they took out all the dirt. When Thaqeef saw that, they were shocked. Then they returned to the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and he distributed its wealth on the same day, and they praised Allah for making His religion and Messenger victorious