Explanation of the first person to introduce the innovation of the Mawlid
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Who were the first to introduce this innovation (the innovation of the Mawlid) and what were their justifications? How did it come about?
The first to introduce it were the Fatimids in Egypt in the fourth century of the Hijri calendar. In the seventh century, the king of Arbil in Iraq introduced it. Then it spread among the Muslims. Its cause, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah says in *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim*: Its cause is either love for the Messenger, (peace and blessings be upon him), where they thought this was a requirement of that love, or it is imitating the Christians, because the Christians celebrate a festival for the birth of Jesus, (peace be upon him). Whatever the cause, every religious innovation is misguidance.
The first to introduce it were the Fatimids in Egypt in the fourth century of the Hijri calendar. In the seventh century, the king of Arbil in Iraq introduced it. Then it spread among the Muslims. Its cause, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah says in *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim*: Its cause is either love for the Messenger, (peace and blessings be upon him), where they thought this was a requirement of that love, or it is imitating the Christians, because the Christians celebrate a festival for the birth of Jesus, (peace be upon him). Whatever the cause, every religious innovation is misguidance.