Evidence Cited by Those Who Celebrate Mawlid from the Book and the Sunnah, and the Response to It

Question:
Celebrating the birth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is a religious innovation (bid'ah). So what do you say about the evidence cited by those who hold mawlid celebrations from the Book, the Sunnah, the reports of the predecessors, and logical deductions?

Answer:
Everything mentioned is unnecessary; rather, it is an argument against them. Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki, who is well known, wrote a small book in which he collected more than twenty items, claiming they are evidence. They all indicate the opposite of what he said; they are all obfuscation and failure to clarify the truth. However, desire blinds and deafens, so it is an argument against its author. According to the implication of his evidence, any gathering that involves honoring the Prophet or the prophets would be permissible. On this basis, according to his listing of evidence, if all days and nights were made festivals for the prophets and for Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and their births were read about and mentioned in them, that would be a remembrance of them, an honoring of them, and a sending of blessings upon them. This would mean that all days and nights are festivals. This is all good, present, and not lacking in kind, neither at its beginning nor its end. So his entire book that he mentioned, yes, is an argument against him. Those who responded to him have clarified that and explained the invalidity of what he said. We ask Allah for that for him. He said: "It is engraved on me." Yes. And it is spread among his like, such as al-Nu'man. Complete. Yes. Upon him.
And that he be guided to the truth. If it had been good, the best of the people (may Allah be pleased with them) would have preceded us to it. That means we are more knowledgeable than Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, and 'Ali, and we are more knowledgeable than the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and we are guided to something better than what they were guided to. This would mean that their time was deprived of this good, and we were guided to it. This is impossible. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A group from my Ummah will not cease to be upon the truth, having its image." They were people of the truth in the first, second, and third [generations]. They were people of the truth without doubt, and they did not have a mawlid. So they were deprived of this good and this virtue, and it was obtained by those after them who were more ignorant and had less virtue than them. The first ones, the predecessors, and the righteous were deprived of its virtue, and the later ones succeeded in it. Or the first ones were ignorant of it and the later ones became more knowledgeable than them. This is also impossible. So whoever claims that the later ones know what the earlier ones did not, has held a false belief. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.