Mawlid An-Nabi: Origin of Celebration

The Muslim across the globe celebrate the birthday of the prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) every year on Rabi’a I. The people celebrate this occasion of the Mawlid in different forms. While some of Muslim simply make it an occasion to gather and read the Seerah, then they present speeches and Qaseedahs (odes) for this occasion either at home or at the Masjid. Others, they make food and sweets etc., and offer them to the people present. Some people do not limit themselves to the actions mentioned above; they include in these gatherings Haram and reprehensible things, such as free mixing between men and women, dancing and singing, or committing actions of Shirk such as seeking the help of the Prophet calling upon him, seeking his support against their enemies and so on.

The question is: how this celebration started? Did the Prophet or his followers celebrate this occasion after his death?

When studying the hadeeth or the Seerah, There is no narration in the famous ‘Six Books’ of ḥadīth that specifies when the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) was born. Rather, the only narration that exists specifies the day he was born, and not the date. It was narrated that a Bedouin came to the Prophet and asked him about fasting on Monday, to which the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) replied, “That is the day I was born on, and the day that the revelation began”. The prophet made the day of his birth day of fasting but, he never commended his followers to celebrate it.

The practice of celebration of Mawlid was not known for the first centuries of Islam. The companions (may Allah be pleased with them) never celebrated this occasion after his death, though they were the people who loved the prophet most. The Prophet (Peace be upon Him) said: however among you lives (for a long time) will see many differences. I urge you to follow my Sunnah and the way of the rightly-guided khaleefahs who come after me. Hold on to it firmly. Beware of newly-invented matters, for every innovation is a going astray.” 

The historians reported that the first time the Mawlid celebrated was in sixth century by the Shi’it Fatimids (descendants of Ali radiya Allah A’nh through his wife Fatima) who ruled Egypt. Later on, the festival spread to other Muslim land Mosul and Irbil (Iraq) that was ruled by king Abu Sa’eed Kazkaboori. The person who initiated it, Umar al-Mulla, was a venerated Sufi ascetic, and not a scholar of the religion.  The practice of celebrating the mawlid spread to other Muslim lands, and as the decades turned to centuries, more and more layers of celebrations were added.

It is reported that before the Mawlid day, it was preceded by an entire month of celebration.  Musicians, jugglers, and assorted entertainers attracted people from as far away as Baghdad and Niṣībīn (modern Nusaybin, Turkey). Muslim scholars, jurists, mystics, and poets began arriving as much as two months in advance. Two days before the formal mawlid, a large number of camels, sheep, and oxen were sacrificed. On the eve of mawlid, a torchlight procession passed through the town. On the morning of the mawlid, the faithful and the soldiery assembled in front of a specially erected pulpit to hear the sermon. The religious dignitaries were then honored with special robes, and all those attending were invited to feast at the prince’s expense.

In North Africa, the Muslim  “Al-Azafi”  who legitimize the celebration of the mawlid  so that the Muslims desist in the evil and reprehensible act of celebrating Christmas, Nawruz and other holy days of the Christians and pagans that some Muslims of Andalus had begun to adopt. He wrotes, “I have searched intensively and racked my brain to find something that would distract the attention of the people away from these bidʻahs to something that is permissible, which does not cause the one observing it to sin…Therefore, I drew their attention to the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad…” in his work, he refutes those who have criticized this act as being a reprehensible innovation by claiming that the mawlid is a praiseworthy innovation, not a reprehensible one. This in itself shows that there were scholars in Andalus who were opposed to this practice and dissaproved of it, hence al-Azafi was forced to defend the practice.

The scholar Ibn Taymiyya (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his work Iqtiḍā Sirāt al-mustaqīm: that the general ruling is that such a celebration is not a part of the religion, but was added by later generations, and hence should be avoided; but it is possible that some groups of people who practice it out of ignorance will be rewarded due to their good intentions. The mawlid of the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) should be celebrated every day, by following his Sunnah and doing in our daily lives what He wanted us to do.

 Allah Almighty told us in the Quran that the love of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) is demonstrated by following the guidance he brought. Allah says: “Say (O Muhammad): ‘If you (really) love Allaah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (3:31) and Allah say: “And [moreover], this is My path, which is straight, so follow it; and do not follow [other] ways, for you will be separated from His way." (6:153).