بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu Alaikum.

Every year, many Muslims celebrate or commemorate the Prophet’s (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) birthday (Mawlid), which supposedly falls on the 12th of Rabee Al-Awwal.

Supposedly, you ask? Yes, because whilst the majority of scholars believe that he was born on this day, there are some very prominent scholars who do not agree. Also, the majority of scholars believe that the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) died on that day.

This begs the question: if his date of birth hasn’t even been agreed upon, how can it be a day of celebration? Nobody can be sure that he was actually born on the 12th or not.

Also, what if the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) was not born on the 12th of Rabee Al-Awwal but did die on it? That would mean that many Muslims are celebrating the day on which he died – and that’s not good at all.

What if he really was born on 12th Rabee Al-Awwal, you ask? Is it fine to celebrate it then? Well, that’s an excellent question.

Did the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) give any importance to this day?

Well, we have no evidence he celebrated or magnified this day which begs the question: Why magnify a day that the Prophet (sallallahi alaihi wasallam) himself did not magnify?

To be honest, this point itself should be enough to bury all those Mawlid celebrations but many people point to a famous hadeeth where the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) mentions the day he was born i.e. Monday.

So, one of the reasons that he fasted on Monday was because he was born on that day, but that was not the only reason as this hadeeth and other ahadeeth clearly show.

عَنْ أُسَامَة بْن زَيْد، قَالَ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّكَ تَصُومُ حَتَّى لاَ تَكَادَ تُفْطِرُ وَتُفْطِرُ حَتَّى لاَ تَكَادَ أَنْ تَصُومَ إِلاَّ يَوْمَيْنِ إِنْ دَخَلاَ فِي صِيَامِكَ وَإِلاَّ صُمْتَهُمَا ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏:‏ أَىُّ يَوْمَيْنِ ‏‏ ‏.‏ قُلْتُ يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَيَوْمَ الْخَمِيسِ ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏:ذَانِكَ يَوْمَانِ تُعْرَضُ فِيهِمَا الأَعْمَالُ عَلَى رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ فَأُحِبُّ أَنْ يُعْرَضَ عَمَلِي وَأَنَا صَائِمٌ

Usamah bin Zaid (radiallahu anhuma) said: “I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, sometimes you fast, and you hardly ever break your hardly ever fast, except two days which, if you are fasting, you include them in your fast, and if you are not fasting, then you fast them on your own.’ He (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: ‘Which two days?’ I said: ‘Monday and Thursday.’ He said: ‘Those are two days in which deeds are shown to the Lord of the worlds, and I like my deeds to be shown (to Him) when I am fasting.”’ [Sunan An-Nasai, Hadeeth No. 2360. Graded “hasan sahih” (good authentic) by Al-Albani.]

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ كَانَ يَصُومُ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَالْخَمِيسَ ‏.‏ فَقِيلَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّكَ تَصُومُ يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَالْخَمِيسِ فَقَالَ ‏ : إِنَّ يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَالْخَمِيسِ يَغْفِرُ اللَّهُ فِيهِمَا لِكُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ إِلاَّ مُهْتَجِرَيْنِ يَقُولُ دَعْهُمَا حَتَّى يَصْطَلِحَا ‏

It was narrated from Abu Hurairah (radiallahu anhu) that the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) used to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. It was said: “O Messenger of Allah, why do you fast on Mondays and Thursdays?” He said: “On Mondays and Thursdays Allah forgives every Muslim except two who have forsaken one another. He says: ‘Leave these two until they reconcile.’” [Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadeeth No. 1740. Graded “sahih” (authentic) by Al-Albani.]

Does the first hadeeth prove that it is okay celebrate Mawlid? No, it does not, because it refers to Mondays and not the 12th of Rabee Al-Awwal which is when Mawlid is celebrated (regardless of whether it is a Monday or not). Also, the hadeeth talks about fasting and well, fasting isn’t quite on the agenda for most Muslims on the 12th of Rabee Al-Awwal.

Many Muslims are happy to celebrate his birthday (sadly) but they do not seem to have the same motivation to fast on Mondays. Why is that?

Many people might still believe that it is okay to celebrate his birthday. At this point, let’s ask ourselves why someone would want to celebrate the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam)’s birthday to begin with. I’m assuming that the person loves the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) and wants to show that love. On the surface, that seems like a very nice intention but we have to take a deeper look at this.

Who are the people that loved the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) the most?

Obviously, it was his Companions (radiallahu anhum) – which obviously includes his family members. They loved and honoured him the most. They also followed his Sunnah completely.

Now, did they ever celebrate his birthday or give it any importance?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No. No. No. And No.

What’s the proof, you ask? Actually, my proof is the lack of proof showing them celebrating this day.

In fact, the people of Madinah (the city of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) still do not celebrate Mawlid.

So where did this celebration come from?

It seems to have been introduced to the Muslim world via the Fatimids, who were Shias (they had a caliphate at that time). Where did they get this idea from? From what I read a long time ago, they were trying to imitate the Christians who celebrate Isa (alaihissalaam)’s birthday on Christmas. And well, it seems that Isa (alaihissalaam) might not even have been born on that date. Rather it seems to have been a day linked to the Roman pagan religion. [The Christian lands got conquered by the Roman Empire leading to the Romanisation of Christianity.]

So, mawlid was introduced a few centuries after the Prophet’s (alaihissalaam) time, by a group of creedally-deficient people who copied the idea off the Christians, who themselves used a pagan holiday as their blueprint.

Let’s do that one more time. The pagan Romans had a special day dedicated to one of their gods. The Christians then celebrated the birthday of Isa (alaihisalaam) – who they worship – on that day. This in turn was copied by a group of Ismaili Shias to celebrate a day that was never celebrated prior to their advent.

What is even worse is the types of activities that end up taking place on Mawlid. Many of them are forbidden activities and some of them even involve shirk (polytheism), like  reading Qasidah Al-Burdah (the poem of the cloak).

This poem is very dangerous and it raises the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) above his level as a servant of Allah – something that he himself forbid. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) was sent to call the people to worship Allah alone so how can anyone turn his birthday into a celebration which involves attributing partners to Allah???

If that was not enough, the history of birthdays in general is nauseating. The Ancient Egyptians seem to have started it by celebrating their Pharoahs’ birthdays (their coronation days apparently), and then the Greeks did it for their gods.

Is that not enough reason to dump birthdays??

Wait, what about just commemorating the day, without celebrating it?

Some people claim to just honour the day, not celebrate it. Well, to be honest, if you magnify a day, you are in essence celebrating it, is that not so?

Also, the only two days that we can magnify (and celebrate) on a yearly basis are the two Eids.

عَنْ أَنَسٍ، قَالَ قَدِمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الْمَدِينَةَ وَلَهُمْ يَوْمَانِ يَلْعَبُونَ فِيهِمَا فَقَالَ ‏:‏ مَا هَذَانِ الْيَوْمَانِ ‏.‏ قَالُوا كُنَّا نَلْعَبُ فِيهِمَا فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ ‏.‏ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏: إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَبْدَلَكُمْ بِهِمَا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمَا يَوْمَ الأَضْحَى وَيَوْمَ الْفِطْرِ ‏

Narrated Anas ibn Malik (radiallahu anhu): When the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) came to Madinah, the people had two days on which they engaged in games. He asked: What are these two days (what is the significance)? They said: We used to engage ourselves on them in the pre-Islamic period. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: Allah has substituted for them something better than them, the Day of Al-Adha and the Day of Al-Fitr. [Sunan Abee Dawood, Hadeeth No. 1134. Graded “sahih” (authentic) by Al-Albani.]

[You can read some of my thoughts on this hadeeth in this post.]

Based on this, we cannot “honour” the 12th of Rabee Al-Awwal yearly, because that is going against the above hadeeth, which means that it is an innovation. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) forbade bidah (religious innovations) in Islam.

عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ فِي خُطْبَتِهِ يَحْمَدُ اللَّهَ وَيُثْنِي عَلَيْهِ بِمَا هُوَ أَهْلُهُ ثُمَّ يَقُولُ : مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْهُ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ إِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْىِ هَدْىُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَشَرَّ الأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلاَلَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

It was narrated that Jabir bin Abdullah (radiallahu anhu) said: “In his Khutbah (Sermon), the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) used to praise Allah as He deserves to be praised, then he would say: ‘Whomsoever Allah guides, none can lead him astray, and whomsoever Allah sends astray, none can guide. The truest of word is the Book of Allah and best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire.’ [Sunan An-Nasai, Hadeeth No. 1579. Graded “sahih” (authentic) by Al-Albani.]

Some people read the Seerah (biography) of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) only on this day or on the same week. Why is that? The Seerah is meant to be read throughout the year, not just at this time. It seems they want to celebrate without making it apparent that they are celebrating. They need to remember that they cannot magnify a day that the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) himself did not magnify.

Parting Advice

I think a lot of people celebrate Mawlid simply because they were born into that kind of atmosphere. This post is just an encouragement for them to research further (which is why it summarises the points rather than fleshing them out) so that they can realise that celebrating this day is not from the religion of Islam, rather it opposes it. One should also remember to ask Allah to guide them to the truth.

Loving the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) is an act of worship and needs to be done correctly. So we love him by following what he came with i.e. the Quran and the Sunnah. When we follow him properly, we earn the love of Allah.

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّـهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّـهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Say (O Muhammad to mankind): “If you (really) love Allah then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Surah Aal-Imran (3) : 31]

That’s what we want, isn’t it? To earn the love and pleasure of Allah and enter Paradise for Eternity.

So, let’s make sure we do exactly what the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) did and let’s stay away from what he did not do. So, if he did not magnify nor celebrate the 12th of Rabee Al-Awwal, neither should we.

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