Question:

My family has a habit of holding a gathering at home every so often and on various occasions to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet (peace be upon him). This includes inviting a believing person who has a book titled “Ashraf al-Anam”, which contains accounts of the Prophet’s birth, his life before and after prophethood, and lines of poetry praising him (peace be upon him).

We also slaughter an animal, prepare a meal, and invite our neighbors and relatives. Our intention in all of this is for the invitees to listen to the Seerah (biographical accounts) of the Prophet, his noble traits, virtues, and miracles, so that their faith in the One and Only God may increase. We also hope for reward and recompense from Allah by feeding these people, among whom are the poor, orphans, and others. Is this action correct or not?

Answer:

First, holding celebrations for the Prophet’s birthday (Mawlid) is an innovation (bid’ah). It was neither reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him), nor from the Rightly Guided Caliphs, his noble companions, nor from the generations of preferred eras, even though they loved the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) the most and were the keenest among the Ummah in doing good. They did not perform any acts of worship except what Allah and His Messenger legislated, acting upon the statement of the Almighty: “And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) gives you, take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it),…“ [Al-Hashr: 7].

Since they did not celebrate this birthday, it is known that doing so is an innovation.

The celebration of the Mawlid only emerged after the passing of the preferred generations—after the sixth century of Hijrah—and it is a practice imitated from the Christians, who celebrate the birth of Christ (peace be upon him), which was copied by ignorant Muslims. It is also said that the first to introduce this were the Fatimids, who intended thereby to corrupt the religion of Muslims and replace it with innovations and superstitions.

In short, holding the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday is among the prohibited innovations for which there is no evidence from the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him).

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The worst of matters are those newly invented, and every innovation is a misguidance” [Narrated by An-Nasa’i in his Sunan from the Hadith of Jabir ibn Abdullah].

The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: “Whoever introduces an action that is not from our matter, it will be rejected” [Narrated by Imam Al-Bukhari in his Sahih], and in another narration: “Whoever introduces into this matter of ours that which is not from it, it will be rejected” [Narrated by Imam Al-Bukhari in his Sahih from the narration of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her].

Therefore, this is an introduction into the religion of that which is not part of it, making it an innovation and a misguidance.

As for reading the prophetic Seerah to benefit from it, this can be done throughout all days of the year. There is no harm in reading the Seerah of the Prophet, establishing it in our schools, studying it together, and memorizing it, based on the statement of the Almighty: “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad ﷺ) you have a good example to follow” [Al-Ahzab: 21].

However, this should not be restricted specifically to the day of the Mawlid; rather, we read it on any day of the year as it becomes easy for us, without tying it to a specific day.

Similarly, regarding feeding the poor and orphans: feeding people is fundamentally legislated, but restricting it to this specific day is an innovation. We feed the poor and give charity to those in need on any day and whenever an opportunity arises.

As for the person who reads the Mawlid and takes a monetary wage for it, taking this wage is prohibited because the action he performed is prohibited, making the wage earned from it likewise prohibited. Added to this is the fact that these poems and panegyrics are rarely free from ‘polytheism’ (shirk) and prohibited matters, such as the words of the author of Al-Burdah: “O most generous of creation, I have no one to take refuge in Except you when the overwhelming calamities befall. If you do not, on the Day of Resurrection, take me by the hand, Then surely my foot will slip! Indeed, from your generosity is this world and its sister, And from your knowledge is the knowledge of the Preserved Tablet and the Pen.”

And similar expressions from this polytheistic poem which are read during the Mawlid celebrations.