The ruling on celebrating the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday.

The Shaykh : So, in conclusion, I say that the one who celebrates the birthday, for example, we say this is an error. Celebrating the birthday did not occur in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him), nor in the time of the Companions, nor in the time of the Tabi'un, nor the Imams. Rather, it occurred in the fourth or fifth century, and it is undoubtedly a religious innovation (bid'ah), and it is not permissible to draw near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) through it. However, I say something:
They have completely neglected the prescribed celebration from the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday. This may be new to you, but when you hear the evidence necessitating the truth of what I say, the strangeness will leave your hearts. These people neglected the prescribed celebration for the impermissible celebration, indeed the innovated celebration.
Imam Muslim narrated in his *Sahih* from the hadith of Abu Qatadah al-Ansari: This hadith clarifies that the prescribed celebration of the Messenger (peace be upon him) for his birth is by fasting the day of his birth, because he says in response toThe questioner : As if he is saying, does it need a question?! This is an excellent day in which our Lord created me and revealed the revelation to me. You should remember it through righteous action, which is fasting. This is the true celebration of the birth of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Now look at the difference between the prescribed celebration and the impermissible celebration.
He fasted it, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) fasted it. But most Muslims, if they fast it—and they are the fewest among all Muslims who fast it—do so merely for a virtue that is not related to what the Messenger (peace be upon him) indicated in the previous hadith of Abu Qatadah: They do not bring to mind this meaning. So, if a Muslim fasts on Monday, he should remember that this is in the category of remembering the favor of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) upon the Muslims, where He created the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on this day and sent him on this day. This is what we can call a celebration of the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) on this day. The difference I referred to earlier is that this prescribed celebration is repeated every week, whereas their celebration is repeated once a year. Then what is their celebration? Nothing, perhaps some hymns are recited in it, which they call Islamic hymns, and in many of them they exaggerate in praising the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in a way that the Messenger himself would not approve of if he heard it in his time or if he were in our time, he would deny it most strongly. Because some of it is equivalent to the saying of that slave girl, an Ansari slave girl, when the Messenger (peace be upon him) heard her saying: Meaning: without this exaggeration. So this celebration contains such words with exaggerations in describing and praising the Messenger (peace be upon him). And there may be a description that matches reality, but it is not considered in the category of glorifying and magnifying the Messenger (peace be upon him), because that description is shared by all people, as is said in some books written on birthdays, and I think this birthday book is attributed to Ibn al-Jawzi or someone else from the later scholars; I do not remember exactly now. It says: "His mother carried him for nine lunar months." This is the wording there. What is the merit or virtue in mentioning this about the Messenger (peace be upon him) as praise for him? His mother carried him for nine lunar months? And they also say: "He was born circumcised and rejoicing." As for the first description, most people are carried by their mothers for nine months. So is the Messenger praised with such a matter that is shared with the masses of people? No, but this is how they used to celebrate the Messenger (peace be upon him) before: either they elevate him and praise him with what he would not approve of, or they praise him with something that is shared with all people.
So the summary is: celebrating the birthday as people do today has no basis in the Sunnah, rather it is a religious innovation (bid'ah). And the one that has a basis is fasting on Monday with this intention, and few do it. And of those who fast, the very few are those who bring to mind in their hearts that this is a remembrance of the birth of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and the sending of the Messenger on Monday.