Another Word on Milad un

un-Nabi
Nabi

Question:

I came across a Bareilwi website that mentioned tthe Saudi

audi government opposing celebrating the
birth of the Prophet while it has no problem celebrating the birth of their kingdom. Isn’t this
hypocrisy?

Answer:

Bismillah wa-Salaatu wa-Salaam

Salaam ala
ala-Rasoolillah.

My dear brother in Islam, do

o any (Muslim) countries who celebrate their national days treat them as
religious events? Do they celebrate them seeking a reward from Allaah? You will not find this to be
the case; therefore the analogy they made is incorrect.

Nabi on the other hand is treated as an act of worship for which its participants seek a
Mawlid un-Nabi
reward from Allaah. And I have yet to find anyone who celebrates it and does not expect/seek a
reward for it or does not intend it to be an ibadah or a form of worship. This alone should suffice
against the practise of celebrating the Prophet’s birthday.

For any country to celebrate its national day, this is considered a non-religious and/or a cultural
event – There are a number of evidence that suggest the Sahabah themselves partook in cultural
events of some non-Muslims - thereby NOT intending worship but merely creating a neighbourly
environment where it would be easy for them to attract people to Islam.

Ibadah
dah or regulated acts of worship in Islam are tawqeefi (i.e. based purely on revelation - they are
NOT subject to reasoning or ijtihad). Mawlid also cannot be considered a valid ikhtilaf because the
matter is related to worship,, which must be clearly expressed in the Shari’ah. 'Eid of mawlid was
something unheard of during the time of the Sahabah and in the best 3 centuries of Islam. It was an
occasion popular within the Roman Byzantine and Persian empires. None of our pious Salaf (inc. the
four Imams) celebrated or acknowledged mawlid for themselves nor allowed it for the best of
creation - If it was something good or recommended, they would have preceded us in doing it
because their love and 'itibah of the Prophet was greater than ours.

Is celebrating
ng the birthday of Prophet MMuhammad a sign of love and respect, or is it a divertion
from actions of true love and respect? There is no concept of annual mawlood or death
anniversaries in Islamic affairs or even in a Muslims' worldly affairs. Arab custom during the time
(and even now) is that people were identified by the date of their deaths and not birth; in most
cases, they did not even know their exact dates o of birth.
I have come across the most absurd and far far-fetched
fetched conjecture that proponents of Eid Milad- un-
Nabi use to justify it. By bringing these non
non-issues
issues up, what they are actually saying is that they are
not satisfied with the Islam that the Sahabah practised and passed down to us.

Innovations are a major

or evil in Islam; it contradicts tthe Saying of Allaah: “This
This day I have perfected
your religion for you.” (Al-Maa’idah
Maa’idah: 3)

This is because when somebody comes with an innovation and considers it as a form of religion; its
implication is that the religion is not perfect. It indicates a defamation of the Shari’ah and (implies)
that it is imperfect, so this innovator is the one w who
ho (thinks he) makes it perfect with his act of
innovation. Among the implications of this innovation is that what prevails is that whoever is
occupied with an innovation, he would be distracted from aan established Sunnah, as some of the
Salaf said: “Peoplee will not innovate an innovation, except that they will demolish its equivalent from
the Sunnah.”

These innovations lead to separations in the Umma

Ummah,
h, because these innovators believe that they are
the upholders of the truth, and that the others are misgui
misguided!
ded! And people of the truth say: “You are
the ones upon misguidance.” So, their hearts separate. All of these evils result from an innovation in
addition to the fact that this innovation is accompanied by foolishness in one’s reason, and an
imbalance in religion.

So what has been reported about the Prophet's birth that necessitates action as an act of
worship?

Abu Qatadah (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allaah was asked
about fasting on Mondays. He said, "That is the day on which I was born and the day on which I
received Revelation.''' [Saheeh Muslim, 1255; Nasaa'i and Abu Dawud]

Abu Hurairah (may Allaah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allaah said,
"Deeds of people are presented (to Allah) on Mondays and Thursdays, so I like that my actions be
presented while I am fasting.'' [Sunan at
at-Tirmidhi]

`Aishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allaah used to
observe fast on Mondays and Thursdays. [Sunan at-Tirmidhi]

lly want to show your reverence and respect to the Messenger

If you really , then you would be
strict in observing his explicit recommendations instead of inventing your own bankrupt ways.

Islam is complete and there is no need for Muslims to invent their own nonsense and then try to
justify it with the speech of men who came centuries after the Salaf - If a person does anything in
order to draw closer to Allaah which was NOT enjoined by the Messenger or by his Khulafah
Raashidah, then this is major deviancy. Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
“Every innovation is misguidance even if people regard it to be something good.” [Sunan Daarimi]
The Messenger of Allah said: "Know that there is nothing that will bring you closer to Paradise
except that which I have enjoined upon you, and there is nothing that will take you closer to the
fire except that which I have forbidden you from." [Musnad Imam Shafi'ee]
Hell-fire

Abu Dharr (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “When Allaah’s Messenger had left us, there
was not even a bird flapping its wings in the air except that he had already imparted to us some
knowledge about it. Then he said: ‘Nothing remains that brings you closer to Paradise or takes
.” [Al-Mu`jam
you further away from the Hell--fire except that it has been explained to you’.” [Al al-
Kabeer (2/155-156)]

The Prophet told us about the birds in the air and yet you claim he left out issues of worship
that bring about reward? Subhaan Allaah! Why don't you people jump up and down shouting "Allaah
Allaah"
h" and class this as worship?

I would also like to suggest that you grasp the guidelines and basic definition of what bid'ah is in the
Deeni Shari’ sense and bid'ah
'ah in the linguistic sense; this in actuality is the basis to understand this
matter fully so that people do not fall prey to misguidance and whims of othersothers.

And Allaah is the source of guidance.