Dhul-Khalasa Prophecy
In the heart of ancient Arabia, where the desert sands whispered the tales of a thousand caravans, there stood the infamous shrine of Dhul-Khalasa. Known as the Kaaba of Yemen, this idol was not just a structure of stone and mortar, but a symbol of the deep-rooted idolatry that pervaded the land. Yet, in a defining moment of transformation, the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) eradicated idolatry from the land, reducing Dhul-Khalasa to ruins and a faded memory. Despite the chains of idolatry being dissolved in Arabia, the Prophet (ﷺ) prophesied the revival of the cult of Dhul-Khalasa. Over one thousand years later, this prophecy came true.
As the Muslims rose from being tortured in the streets of Mecca to becoming the rulers of Arabia,they were driven by a united vision: to extinguish the flames of idolatry that had long blazed across their lands.
Many cults existed in Arabia at the time, worshiping their share of idols and deities. One of the larger cults was the prostitution cult of Dhul-Khalasa, which was prominent in Yemen.
After the Muslims took back Mecca and destroyed the idols surrounding the Kaaba, they moved outwards. One of the first targets was the idol of Yemen, Dhul-Khalasa. Thus, the Muslims wiped out its cult of prostitution first, then continued to remove idolatry from the rest of Arabia.
Eventually, the mission was complete and idolatry was almost completely erased from Arabia. The Muslims were told to never allow pre-Islamic idolatry to come back. Even though these cults disappeared and the Muslims were told to never let them return, the Prophet (ﷺ) prophesied their unlikely return. Specifically, the revival of Dhul-Khalasa with its prostitution cult.
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The Hour will not be established till the buttocks of the women of the tribe of Daus move while going round Dhi-al-Khalasa." [1]
The Fulfillment of the Prophecy
In the 1800s, the ugly head of idol worship reared itself once more. Slowly, the Arabs started to worship idols, trees, and even rocks once more.
The 1900s brought military campaigns to destroy any idolatry that came back in Arabia. The Muslims started to remove the stains that came up in those years, uprooting worshiped trees, destroying worshiped rocks, and smashing idols. One of those stains was Dhul-Khalasa, which came back exactly as the Prophet (ﷺ) said.
The discarded stones that made up the building of Dhul-Khalasa. Notice how small the man is in comparison to the rocks.
In October of 1925, authorities dispatched a military campaign to the mountains of Daus. There, a massive building dedicated to the false idol Dhul-Khalasa stood. Nearby was also a tree that the idolaters worshiped. The prostitution cult of Dhul-Khalasa was back, and it was being run by the tribe of Daus.
One of the members of the campaign commented that the building dedicated to the idol was massive. So massive, in fact, that it would take 40 men to move a single rock that made up this building. However, the building and idol were destroyed, the tree was burnt to the ground, and the cult disappeared once again. [2][3]
Why would the Prophet (ﷺ) make such a prophecy?
Why, after idolatry was nearly completely wiped out from Arabia, an unbelievable task itself, and the Muslims were ordered to never allow these cults to rise again?
Some might say he was just guessing and that, eventually, he could be right by chance.
But the Prophet (ﷺ) wasn't just making a wild guess. He was very specific. He didn't just say any idol worship would return; he said it would be the Dhul-Khalasa cult, and the Daus tribe would be its leaders. That's not a common guess, it's as if he knew exactly what was going to happen.
Credit goes to @_Halaby on Twitter for some of the info used in this article.
References:
خرجت الى جبال دوس و ذلك في شهر ربيع الثاني من عام 1344 ه، و كان في دسكرة (ثروق) جدرات بنيان ذي الخلصة لا تزال قائمة، و بجانبها شجرة العبلاء فأحرقت الحملة الشجرة، و هدمت البيت، و رمت بأنقاضه الى الوادي فعفى بعد ذلك رسمها و انقطع اثرها. و يقول احد الذين رافقوا الحملة: ان بنيان ذي الخلصة كان ضخما بخيث لا يقوى على زحزحة الحجر الواحد منه اقل من اربعين شخصا و ان متانته تدل على مهارة و حذق في البناء.
"I went to the Daws Mountains in the month of Rabi’ al-Thani of the year 1344 AH [Around October 1925]. In a village ([named] Thuruq), the walls of the building of Dhu al-Khalasa were still standing, and next to it was the Al-Abala tree. The campaign[ers] burned the tree, demolished the building, and threw its remains into the valley… One of those who accompanied the expedition says: Dhu al-Khalisa’s building was so huge that no less than forty people could move a single stone from it, and its sturdiness indicated proficiency and skill in construction…"
Tarikh Najd, p. 372-373.
