Re: Prophet Muhammad SAW himself celebrated his Birthday/Milad (Urdu) by Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri
Mawlid An-Nabi, the Prophets birthday, may Allah have send His peace and blessings upon him.. Some clarification.. How do you go about celebrating, if this is something to be celebrated?
When the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) came to Madinah, he found the people of Madinah celebrating and playing in a state of joy on one particular day. He asked them, "What is this day?" They told him that this is a day that we used to celebrate long time ago, and we celebrate this annually. So the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) denied them from doing this and he told them, "We have only two feasts in Islam, the feast of Al-Fitr, and the feast of Al-Adha."
It is not permissible to have an innovated celebration or feast, whether its celebrating the national day, mothers day, labors day.. etc, it is not permissible in Islam.
Now going to Mawlid An-Nabi, the Prophets (Peace and blessings be upon him) birthday, if you want to analyze this to know if its a Sunnah or an innovation, first of all, people celebrate it on the 12th day of Rabi Al-Awwal, however, the authentic opinion of scholars is that the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) was born on the 9th of the third month of the Islamic calendar.
The consensus of all scholars that he died on the 12th of Rabi Al-Awwal or the third month of the Islamic calendar, which means when you claim to be celebrating the birth of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), you are actually celebrating his death.
Second of all, you have to always have a pattern to follow, to know if this is a Sunnah or if its an innovation. Anything that draws you closer to Allah has to have evidence; you have to follow something, (i.e. the Quran, the Sunnah, the companions), in order for you to be on the safe side.
So, if you come to the Mawlid, the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), did the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) celebrate his own Mawlid? The answer would be no. The only indication, to his birthday was that he used to fast on Mondays. He never celebrated anything to do with the third month of the year, on the 12th that is.
And they asked him, "Why do you fast Mondays?" He told them, "This is the day I was born in, and this is the day that was revealed to me in", Allah revealed the Quran on that day. So, if you wish to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), fast every Monday.
The Prophet himself did not celebrate his birthday, nor did his companions, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (May Allah be pleased with them all), and no one doubts that they loved the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) more than we do. The Prophet himself, did not celebrate the birthday of his grandfather Abraham, or Jesus, or Moses, or any of the Prophets of Allah, which indicates that it is a clear innovation.
So, whoever celebrates the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), he either knows more than the Prophet; and this is blasphemous, because no one knows more than the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him); or he is claiming that the Prophet knew that it is good to celebrate but he did not inform his Ummah, and again he is accusing the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) of betraying the message and not delivering it all, and this is also a type of blasphemy.
In short, celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) is an innovation, something that was fabricated, not in the first 100 years, or the second, or the third. It was fabricated on the fourth century of Islam. So, no one of the scholars ever approved of it or agreed to it.
This is a form of an escape, because people who celebrate the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) claim that there is a Hadith, which is fabricated, its not authentic, they claim that the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Whoever celebrates my birthday, then Allah will forgive his sins." So, its like the Christians, they celebrate on Christmas, and do wrong things, then they claim that by their belief in Jesus Christ, this erases all their sins. In Islam, likewise, those innovators claim that no matter what you do, if you come on the day of the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), you know.. cry a little bit, say some poetry and pretend that you are celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), this shows your great love and hence, this will make all your sins forgiven. And this is completely wrong!
If you love the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), you follow him in every single detail, otherwise, you are claiming something, and your actions are falsifying it.
Sheikh Assim Al-Hakim
