Is the innovation of celebrating the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday a minor innovation that permits us to sit with those who do it, or not?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Is the innovation of celebrating the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday a minor innovation that permits us to sit with those who do it, or not?

Answer:
Celebrating the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday is an innovation without a doubt, because it is an act that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do, nor did his Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor the best of the generations. It did not occur until after the fourth century, at the hands of the Fatimid Shi'ah. The Fatimid Shi'ah who came from the Maghreb and took control of Egypt, and the innovation of the Mawlid came with them. So it is an innovation without a doubt, but it also contains elements of shirk (associating partners with Allah), namely calling for aid from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), asking him for needs, and complaining to him about what befalls the Muslims. They complain to the Messenger and do not complain to Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
They do not call for aid from Allah, but rather they call for aid from the Messenger on this occasion. And they admit that things of this kind occur in it. So it combines innovation with shirk. Yes.