15/11/2018
Ruling on Celebrating the Prophet's Birthday
Celebrating the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , is forbidden and is to be rejected for a number of reasons:
1. It is not part of the sunnah of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , or of the Caliphs who succeeded him. Since this is the case, then it is a forbidden innovation, because the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , said, "I urge you to follow my sunnah and the way of the rightly-guided Caliphs after me; adhere to it and cling to it firmly. Beware of newly-invented things, for every newly-invented thing is an innovation (bid'ah) and every innovation is a going-astray." [Narrated by Ahmad, 4/126; at-Tirmidhi no. 2676]
Celebrating the mawlid is an innovation introduced after the three best centuries in order to corrupt the religion of the Muslims. If a person does anything in order to draw closer to Allah which was not done by the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , or enjoined by him, and was not done by the Caliphs who succeeded him, this action implies that he is accusing the Messenger of not explaining the religion to the people, and that he disbelieves in the words of Allah (interpretation of the meaning), "This day, I have perfected your religion for you." [ Al-Qur'an 5:3] Because he is adding something extra and claiming that it is a part of the religion, but the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , did not bring this.
2. Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , is an imitation of the Christians, because they celebrate the birth of the Messiah, peace be upon him . Imitating them is extremely
haram . The hadith tells us that it is forbidden to imitate the kuffar , and we are commanded to differ from them. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him , said, "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." [Narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawud, 4/