Mahmud and the Idol

Sultan Mahmud vowed to destroy the great idol of the goddess in the Temple of Somnath on the western coast of India.
The priests of the temple offered him ten times the weight of the idol in gold if he would spare the statue of goddess.
Some of Mahmud's officers urged him to accepted the offer of gold, but Mahmud refused. "God would then say that Azar fashioned idols, while Mahmud sold them!"
Then, when Mahmud smashed the idol, heaps of precious stones came pouring out.
"The idol got what it deserved," said Mahmud, "and God also has rewarded me."

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Inspired by: The Conference of the Birds by Farid Ud-Din Attar, translated by S. C. Nott
Notes: This is in section 36: Sultan Mahmud and the Idol of Somnat. You can read more about Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni at Wikipedia, and you can also read about his raid on the Temple of Somnath in Gujarat, India, and also more about the goddess Lat which is the name Attar gives to the goddess in this story. Azar was the name of Abraham's father who is supposed to have been a maker of idols; other Islamic sources give his name as Tarah.