What does Islam say about Milad ? First and foremost, the tradition isnt Islamic, as it was performed by pagans, Christiams and other religions as a traditional form of worship. A birthday is an occasion when a person or institution celebrates the anniversary of their birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Many religions celebrate the birth of their founders with special holidays. A primary example of this is the Christmas ceremony itself. In the Bible, the following verse explains this : This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad it in. (Psalm 118 : 24) Thus birthdays are not part of the Sunnah of the Messenger (PBUH), or of the Caliphs who succeeded Him. Since this is the case, then Maulid is a forbidden innovation, because the Prophet (SAW) has 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 (bidah) and every innovation is a going-astray. (Narrated by Ahmad, 4/126, at - Tirmidhi no. 2676). The maulid ceremony is an innovation introduced after the golden era of Islan (i.e. After the first centuries of Islam) in order to corrupt the religion. If a person was to do something for the sake of drawing closer to Allaah, but this act of wordship was not ordained by the Messenger of Allaah and was not perform by the Caliphs who succeeded Him either, then this action implies that individual performing such is accusing the Messenger of failing to explain the religion to the people with clarity, and that he disbelieves in the words of Allaah, as Allaah has said in the Quran (before the final revelation was given to the Prophet SAW ) : This day, I have perfected your religion for you. (Al Maidah 5 : 3) Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet SAW is an imitation of the Christians, because they celebrate the birth of the Messiah, peace be upon him. Thus imitating the kuffar is haram. The Messenger of Allaah PBUH has said,Whoever imitates a people is one of them. (Narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawud 4/314). He also said,Be different from the mushrikin.(Narrated by Muslim 1/222; no. 259) In addition to being an act of bidah, celebrating the birthday of the Prophet SAW is also a means of unnecessary worship that leads to exaggeration and excess in venerating him. If observed carefully, some these deviated innovators even go as far as callinv upon the Prophet PBUH (making dua to him) and seeking help from him, instead of calling upon Allaah. They ask him for support, and sing qasidah (odes) of shirk as a means of praising him. The Prophet PBUH forbade going to extremes in praising Him, as He said,Do not extol as the Christians extolled the son of Maryam. For I am just His slave, so say, the slave of Allaah and His Messenger. (Narrated by Al- Bukhari 4/142 no.3445; al Fath 6/551) Hence you find that the innovators are very active when it comes to bidah and (as a result of this) are very lazy when it comes to adhering to the hadith, they show repulsion towards it and regard those who follow it as enemies. Among the reprehensible innovations that people have invented is the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the month of Rabee’ al-Awwal. Did the Sahaabah celebrate the Mawlid/Milad ? The Sahaabah were witnesses to the revelation of the Quraan. They had the Prophet right in front of their eyes. They ate, drank, sat, slept, talked, walked, lived with the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam). If they misunderstood anything or were mistaken, the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) immediately corrected them. And thus, their understanding and practice of Islaam was the best. Yet, when we look at the lives and practice of the Sahaabah, we find that none of them EVER celebrated the birth of their beloved Prophet, whether during his life or even after he passed away. Not Abubakr, not Umar, not Uthman, not Ali, nor Aaishah, Ibn Umar, Ibn Masud, Talha, Az-Zubair, not a single Sahaabi. Doesnt that prove anything? The Sahaabah absolutely loved the Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam). They gave up their homes, families, lives, everything they had... for his sake, in the blink of an eye. Yet this love did NOT promote them to celebrate his birth. This love translated into the practical application of his teachings and NOT picking the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal as a day of celebration. LETS ANALYZE 1-ABU BAKR RA ruled for more or less 2 years (never celebrated) 2-UMAR BIN KHATTAB RA ruled for more or less 10 years (never celebrated) 3-UTSMAN BIN AFFAN RA ruled for more or less 12 years(never celebrated) 4-ALI BIN ABI TALIB RA ruled for more or less 4 years (never celebrated) when all these great caliphs didnt celebrate then who are we to transgress ? What about the Four Imaams and other Ulama ? Did any of the Imaams – Abu Haneefah, Maalik, al-Shaafi’i, Ahmad, al-Hasan al-Basri, do this or command others to do it or say that it was good ? NO. In fact, it was not even mentioned during the first and best three centuries.The Prophet (Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam) said: “The best of mankind are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them.(Bukhaari, Muslim and al-Tirmidhi). And if the best of mankind didnt celebrate his birth, then we shouldnt either. Actually, the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday appeared many centuries later. By this time, many of the features of true religion had disappeared and bid’ah had become widespread Can it be possible that the Sahaabah, the Imaams and the people of the best three centuries were unaware of the importance of celebrating the birthday of the Prophet or that they were lacking in their love for him ? And it was only those who came later who were aware of it or loved him more ? Some of them simply make it an occasion to gather and read the story of the Mawlid, then they present speeches and qaseedahs (odes) for this occasion. Some of them make food and sweets etc., and offer them to the people present. Some of them hold these celebrations in the mosques, and some of them hold them in their houses. Some people do not limit themselves to the actions mentioned above; they include in these gatherings haraam and reprehensible things, such as free mixing of men and women, dancing and singing, or committing actions of shirk such as seeking the help of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), calling upon him, seeking his support against their enemies and so on. Whatever form it takes and whatever the intentions of those who do this are, there is no doubt what so ever that it is an invented, haraam innovation which was introduced by the Shi’a Faatimids after the three best centuries, in order to corrupt the religion of the Muslims. The first person to do this after them was the king al-Muzaffar Abu Sa’eed Kawkaboori, the king of Irbil, at the end of the sixth century or the beginning of the seventh century AH, as was mentioned by the historians such as Ibn Khalkaan and others # Ruling on celebrating the Prophet’s birthday # Why it is not allowed? 1) - It is not part of the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or of the khaleefahs who succeeded him. Since this is the case, then it is a forbidden innovation, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I urge you to follow my Sunnah and the way of the rightly-guided khaleefahs 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; al-Tirmidhi no. 2676) 2) – Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah 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 haraam. Whoever imitates a people is one of them” (narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawood, 4/314). And he said, “Be different from the mushrikeen” (narrated by Muslim, 1/222, no. 259) – especially with regard to things that are the symbols or rituals of their religion. 3) – Besides being bid’ah and an imitation of the Christians, both of which are haraam, celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is also a means that leads to exaggeration and excess in venerating him, which even goes as far as calling upon him (making du’aa’ to him) and seeking his help, instead of calling upon Allaah, as happens now among many of those who observe the bid’ah of the Mawlid, when they call upon the Messenger instead of Allaah, and ask him for support, and sing qaseedahs (odes) of shirk praising him # Discussing the specious arguments of those who celebrate the Mawlid # 1 – Their claim that this is veneration of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): * The response to that is that the way to venerate him is to obey him, do as he commanded and avoid that which he forbade, and to love him; he is not to be venerated through innovations, myths and sins. 2 – Using as evidence the fact that many people in many countries do this. * The response to that is that evidence consists of that which is proven from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and what is proven from the Prophet is that innovations are forbidden in general, and this is an innovation. What people do, if it goes against the evidence (daleel), does not prove anything, even if many of them do it. “And if you obey most of those on the earth, they will mislead you far away from Allaah’s path” [al-An’aam 6:116 – interpretation of the meaning] 3 – They say that by celebrating the Mawlid they are keeping the memory of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) alive. * The answer to that is that the memory of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is constantly kept alive by the Muslim, such as when his name (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is mentioned in the adhaan and iqaamah and in khutbahs, and every time the Muslim recites the Shahaadatayn after doing wudoo’ and in the prayers, and every time he sends blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in his prayers The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has no need of this innovated celebration, because Allaah has already bestowed veneration and respect upon him, as He says: “and raised high your fame” [al-Sharh 94:4] 4 – They may say that the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday was introduced by a knowledgeable and just king who intended thereby to draw closer to Allaah. * The response to that is that bid’ah is not acceptable, no matter who does it. A good intention does not justify a bad deed and even if a person died as a knowledgeable and righteous person, this does not mean that he was infallible. 5) – They say that celebrating the mawlid comes under the heading of bid’ah hasanah (“good innovation”) because it is based on giving thanks to Allaah for the Prophet ! *The respond to that is : It is defined as : any invented way in religion that is aimed at worshipping or drawing closer to Allaah. This means anything that is not referred to specifically in Shareeah, and for which there is no evidence (daleel) in the Quraan or Sunnah, and which was not known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his Companions. At the same time, it is quite obvious that this definition of religious inventions or innovations, which are condemned, does not include worldly inventions [such as cars and washing machines, etc. ] Jareer ibn Abdullaah al-Bajali (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever starts a good thing and is followed by others, will have his own reward and a reward equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting from their reward in any way. Whoever starts a bad thing and is followed by others, will bear the burden of his own sin and a burden equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting from their burden in any way. (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2675. He said, This is a saheeh hasan hadeeth) It should be clear from the above, with no room for doubt, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was not allowing innovation in matters of deen (religion), nor was he opening the door to what some people call bidah hasanah, for the following reasons : The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated repeatedly that: Every newly-invented thing is a bidah (innovation), every bidah is a going astray, and every going astray will be in the Fire. (Reported by al-Nisaai in al-Sunan, Salaat al-Eedayn, Baab kayfa al-Khutbah). Reports with the same meaning were narrated via Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) by Ahmad, via al-Irbaad ibn Saariyah by Abu Dawud and via Ibn Masood (may Allaah be pleased with him) by Ibn Maajah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to say, when beginning a khutbah (sermon): … The best of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those which are newly-invented, and every innovation is a going astray… (reported by Muslim, no. 867) If every bidah is a going astray, how can some people then say that there is such a thing in Islam as bidah hasanah? By Allaah, this is an obvious contradiction of the statement and warning of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated that whoever innovates something new in the deen (religion) will have his deed rejected, and Allaah will not accept it, as is stated in the hadeeth narrated by Aaishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours that is not a part of it will have it rejected. (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Fath al-Baari, no. 2697). How can anybody then say that bidah is acceptable and it is permitted to follow it? When a person innovates something and adds to the deen something that does not belong to it, he is implying a number of bad things, each worse than the last, for example : That the religion is lacking, that Allaah did not complete and perfect it, and that there is room for improvement. This clearly contradicts the statement in the Quraan (interpretation of the meaning): … This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion… [al-Maaidah 5:3] We ask Allaah to help us adhere to His Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger until the Day when we will meet Him. May Allaah grant blessings and peace to our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions. Allaah knows the best.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 10:08:18 +0000
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