Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 17930 — I was the custodian of an idol called

Sayyiduna Mazin bin Ghadubah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I was the custodian of an idol called Bahir at Sama'il, a village in Oman. One day we sacrificed an 'atirah - that is, a slaughtered animal - beside it, and I heard a voice from the idol saying: O Mazin! Listen and you will rejoice: good has appeared and evil has been hidden; a prophet has been sent from Mudar with the great religion of Allah; so leave the (idol) carved from stone, and you will be saved from Saqar (Hell). Mazin said: I was alarmed by this and said: This is indeed strange. Then, some days later, I sacrificed another 'atirah, and I heard a voice from the idol saying: Turn to me, turn; you will hear what you are not ignorant of: this is a prophet who has been sent, who has brought the revealed truth; so believe in him so that you may be saved from the heat of a blazing Fire whose fuel is stones. I said: This is indeed strange, and surely some good is intended for me. While we were in this state, a man came from the Hijaz. We said: What news do you bring from behind you? He said: A man has appeared who is called Ahmad; he says to whoever comes to him: "Respond to the caller of Allah." I said: This is the news of what I have heard. So I went to the idol and smashed it to pieces, then I mounted my riding camel and came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He explained Islam to me, so I became Muslim, and I composed these verses:

I smashed Bahir (the idol) to pieces, though he was a lord of ours around whom we used to circle, blind and astray. Through the Hashimi (the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)) we were guided out of his misguidance, though his religion had never even crossed my mind. O rider! Convey to Amr and his brothers that whoever says, 'My lord is Bahir,' I am free of him. - Meaning Amr bin al-Salt and his brothers, Banu Khitamah -
Mazin said: I said: O Messenger of Allah! I am a man addicted to music and singing, to drinking wine, and to loose women - Ibn al-Kalbi said: haluk means an immoral woman - and droughts have come upon us one after another, which have taken away our fear and made our children and families weak, and I have no child. So supplicate to Allah to remove these evil habits from me, to grant us modesty, and to grant me a child. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicated: "O Allah! In place of his music and singing, grant him the recitation of the Qur'an; in place of the unlawful, the lawful; in place of fornication, chastity; and in place of wine, something that is for show but has no sin in it. Grant him modesty, and grant him a child."
Mazin said: "So Allah removed those evil habits from me, granted us modesty, I learned half of the Qur'an, Oman became fertile, I performed Hajj several times, and Allah granted me Hayyan bin Mazin," and I composed these verses:

O Messenger of Allah! My riding camel hastened towards you, crossing the deserts from Oman to al-Arj, so that you would intercede for me, O best of those who have trodden the earth, so that my Lord would forgive me and I would return successful, to a people whose religion I opposed for the sake of Allah; neither is their opinion my opinion nor is their way my way. In my youth I was addicted to desires and wine, until my body gave notice of weakness. Then He gave me, in place of wine, fear and awe, and in place of fornication, chastity, so my private parts were guarded. Now my striving and my intention are devoted to jihad; for Allah alone is my fasting and for Allah alone is my Hajj.
Then, when I came to my people, they reproached me and abused me, and they had one of their poets compose satire against me. I said: If I reply to him, the satire will only fall back upon me. So I withdrew from them to the seashore and composed these verses:

In our view your enmity is buried in the dust, and in our view, O our people, your enmity is worthless. May time never show that your faults are firmly rooted, while all of you are clever at seeking out our faults. Our poet is silent against you, while your poet, in our war, is sharp-tongued in reviling us. Know that in our hearts there is rancour against you, and your breasts are filled with enmity and grudges.
Then a large group of them came to me and said: O cousin! We objected to this matter of yours and disliked it for you; if you refuse (to give it up), then your affair and your religion are your own; so come back and manage our affairs. So I became the one in charge of their affairs and went back with them, and later Allah guided them too to Islam.