In the Name of Allaah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Praise be to Allaah, and peace and blessings be unto his Apostle as well as unto the Apostle’s family, companions, and whomsoever was rightly guided by him. And now to our topic:
The question is, quite often, broached by a lot of people about the Islamic legal view-point on celebrating the anniversary birthday ( Mawlid ) of the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), keeping vigil in the meantime, and extending peace greeting to him, etc., such as what is quite often done on the feasts (Mawalid).
And the answer is that it is inadmissible to celebrate the anniversary birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) nor that of anyone else, since it is one of the heretic evils brought about in religion, as the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be unto him) never did so, and neither did his true Caliphs, nor others of his companions- may Allaah be pleased with all of them- nor those who followed them with good faith in the pre-eminent centuries; let alone the fact that they were more versed in Sunnah, and more perfect that their descendants in revealing their affection to the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as well as in observing his tradition. It is established as valid that the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: (If anyone introduces into this affair of ours anything which does not belong to it, it is rejected.) In another tradition he said: (You must observe my own precepts [Sunnah], and the precepts of the Rightly Guided True Caliphs after me. Let all of you abide by them, and cling stubbornly to them, and beware of novelties, since each novelty is a heresy, and each heresy is an error). Both traditions involve a strong admonition against bringing about and acting on the strength of heresies. Allaah – glory be to Him – says in His Glorious Quran: (And so take what the Apostle assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you). He-glory be to Him- also says: (then let those beware who withstand the Apostle’s order, lest some trial should befall them, or a grievous Penalty be inflicted on them). The Almighty – praise be to Him – also says: (Verily in the Apostle of Allaah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allaah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allaah much). He says too: (The vanguard [of Islam] the first of those who forsook [their homes] and of those who gave them aid, and [also] those who follow them in [all] good deeds, - well- pleased is Allaah with them, as are they with Him: for them hath He prepared Gardens under which rivers flow to dwell therein for ever: that is the supreme Felicity). Allaah also says: (This day I have perfected your religion for you Islam as your religion). The verses to that effect are numerous. To bring about such birthday celebrations (Mawalid) purports that Allaah-praise be to Him-has not yet completed the religion to this nation, and that the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not announce what should be observed by the nation, till those later people came up, and introduced into the Religion of Allaah what Allaah has not sanctioned, on the pretence that this matter enables them to get close to the consent of Allaah, despite the fact that it, sure enough, involves a serious menace, and an opposition to Allaah-praise be to Him-as well as to His Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) at a time when the Almighty Allaah-glory be to Him- had perfected the religion for His human beings, and completed His favour upon them. As also the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had fulfilled his plain true mission, and left no means leading to paradise, and keeping away from the Fire without being elucidated. It is established as valid in the authentic Hadith (traditions) that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr –may Allaah be pleased with both of them-passed on a report where in the Apostle of Allaah-peace be unto him-said : (Never was a Prophet sent out by Allaah without being assigned the task of guiding his people to the best of what he teaches them, and warning against the malice of what he teaches them)-Muslim transmitted it in his Sahih. Consider the fact that our Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is, no doubt, the most distinguished, and the Seal of the prophets; let alone the fact of his precedence with respect to information and guidance. If birthday celebrations (Mawalid) were considered religious, and sanctioned by Allaah –praise be to Him-the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would have expounded the matter to the people, or done it himself in his lifetime; or his companions-may Allaah be pleased with them- would have performed it themselves at least. Since celebrations such as these were never performed, it has become known that they have absolutely nothing to do with Islam. The matter of such celebrations is rather one of the evil innovations against which the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) admonished his people, as it was demonstrated in the aforesaid traditions. There are many other traditions to that effect, such as the saying of the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the course of a Friday sermon: (and now to our topic: the best speech is that of the Qur'an, and the best guidance is that of Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the most wicked matter is that of heretic innovations, and each heresy is an error). Imam Muslim transmitted it in his Sahih.
Verses and traditions about this matter are a great many. A group of scholars has declared rejection of, and warning against such celebrations as these (Mawalid), in pursuance of the aforementioned evidences and their likes. Some later scholars, however, were at variance with the others, and approved of such celebrations, provided they are free from such reprehensible actions as being immoderate in their view about the characteristics of the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the company of men and women, and using musical instruments, and such other things as rejected by the immaculate Revelation, and still they held them to be good innovations. The Islamic legal standard is to refer the case at issue among people to the Scripture (Quran) of Allaah and the precepts (Sunnah) of His Apostle Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) Allaah-glory be to Him- also says: (O he who believe, obey Allaah, and obey the Apostle, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allaah and his Apostle, if ye do believe in Allaah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination). The Almighty also says: (Whatever it be wherein ye differ, the decision thereof is with Allaah). We have referred this matter, to wit, Mawalid celebrations, to the Scripture of Allaah-glory be to Him- and found out that it enjoins on us the duty of obeying the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in what he brought forth, admonishes us against what he prohibited us from doing, and informs us that Allaah-glory be to Him- has perfected the religion for this nation. Since this sort of celebration is not part of what the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did brought forth, it has nothing to do with the religion Allaah perfected for us, and enjoined us therein to obey the Apostle. We have, too, referred the matter to the precepts (Sunnah) of the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and found therein that he never performed such a thing, nor enjoined on us to do it, and neither did his companions – may Allaah be pleased with them. We have, thus, learned that such a matter has nothing whatsoever to do with religion, and that it is rather a kind of heretic innovations, and imitation of the people of the Scripture-Jews and Christians- in their festivals. Such being the case, it becomes quite clear for any person possessed of the least power of mental perception, the desire to know the truth as well as being fair in seeking it, that birthday celebrations (Mawalid) have nothing to do with Islam; yet they are rather some kinds of heretic innovations that Allaah-glory be to Him- and His Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) enjoined us to abandon and to be cautious of. Any sensible person should not be dazzled by the great number of people doing such a thing in all countries, since truth is not to be recognized through the numerousness of doers, but it is recognized through the Islamic legal evidences, as the Almighty Allaah says on Jews and Christians: (And they say: “None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or Christian.” …Those are their [vain] desires. Say: “Produce your proof if ye are truthful). The Almighty also says: (Wert thou to follow the common run of those on earth, they would lead thee away from the Way of Allaah).
Furthermore, most of these (Mawalid) –heretic as they are- are not quite free from other reprehensible actions, such as the company of men and women, use of songs and musical performances, drinking alcoholic beverages and narcotics as well as other evils. Besides, there may occur what is more tremendous; that is, gross polytheism through exaggeration and exceeding the proper characteristics of the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or those of others of holymen, as well as invoking him, appealing to him for aid, petitioning him, and believing that he is cognizant of the Unseen, and such other atheistic things as practiced by lots of people in the course of their celebrating the Mawlid of the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and of others of the so-called holymen. In the authentic hadith, the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: (Beware of exceeding the proper limits of religion; since people, earlier on, were perished with this matter). He (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also said: (Do not lavish praise on me, as did the Christians with the Son of Mariem. Only I am a human being. Say the Servant and the Apostle of Allaah). Al-Bukhari excerpt it in his Sahih from the account of ‘Omar-may Allaah be pleased with him. The remarkable and atonishing thing about the matter is that lots of people attend actively to these innovated celebrations and uphold them, while they fail to do what Allaah made incumbent upon them such as attending Friday and congregational prayers. In spite of it, they pay no attention to them. Neither do they think they had committed a gross vile deed. This is due, beyond doubt, to weakness of faith and lack of discernment as well as to copiousness of various trespasses and sins reigning over the hearts. May Allaah favour us and all Muslims with the grace of safety from these evils. Among other things, some of them think that the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) attends the mawlid. They, therefore, rise in honour of him with pin arms. This is a sort of patent falsehood and the vilest ignorance, as the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) shall not rise out of his grave before the Day of Judgement, neither does he contact any human beings nor does he attend their meetings. He is rather abiding in his grave until the Day of Judgement, with his soul quite settled with his Rub highly elevated in the Eternal Abode, as Allaah-glory be to Him- says in the Quranic Chapter “Al-Mu’minoun”: (After that, at length, ye will die. Again, on the Day of Judgement, will ye be raised up). The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: (I am the first, whose grave will split on the Day of Judgement, and then I shall be the first intercessor, and the first to be granted the right of interceding).
This glorious verse in addition to the holy tradition, and all other verses and traditions to the same effect, all indicate that the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his likes of the dead will only rise out of their graves on the Day of Judgement. This matter is incontrovertibly based on the consensus of Muslim scholars. Every Muslim should, therefore, beware of such things, and be on his guard against such innovations of the ignorants and their likes as heresies and superstitions, for which Allaah has revealed no legitimization. What a perfect helper and trustee Allaah is. And there is no power and no strength save in Him.
As to praying for Allaah to bless his Apostle and grant him peace, it is the best of approaches and deeds of righteousness as the Almighty Allaah says: (Allaah and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect). The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also said: (Whoever sends blessings once on me, Allaah shall bless him the tenfold of it). Such an act is licit at all times, and confirmed at the end of each prayer. It is even imperative, according to a group of learned men, in the last Tashahud of each prayer, and a confirmed Sunnah on several occasions such as following the call-to-prayer, upon speaking of the Apostle (Peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and on Friday and Friday-nights according to so many a tradition (Hadith)
May Allaah grant us, along with all Muslims, success in comprehending his religion and maintenance of it. May He, too, favour us all with sticking fast to the Sunnah and caution against the heresy. Allaah is All-kind and Magnanimous, and may peace and blessing of Allaah be unto our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
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