What is the ruling on attending mawlid celebrations to inform people of the correct religion?

Eid Abbasi : Please clarify the ruling on attending mawlid celebrations, especially when the person invited to the mawlid intends to respond to the invitation in order to alert the attendees to the correct understanding of Islam.

The Shaykh : ...in the end?

Eid Abbasi : Especially if the one who responds to the invitation attends the mawlid intending to alert people to the correct understanding of Islam?

The Shaykh : This specific intention, I believe, changes the ruling. I said in the previous lesson, and as the questioner stated: it is not permissible to join people in their whims and their errors if one is knowledgeable about them. However, if a new element is introduced here, as the questioner says, that he attends to clarify the truth and clarify the Sunnah, and in my opinion this is not an easy matter or something every person can do; because the one who wants to attend these places must possess many qualities. First is knowledge, second is eloquence and clarity of expression, and third is boldness and literary courage. If he attends with this intention, then he has done well; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), as you all know, used to attend the gatherings of the polytheists, and in that, without a doubt, occurred what the Lord of the Worlds (Mighty and Majestic) does not approve of, such as supplicating to other than Allah and worshipping idols and the like. But he used to forbid them from that and deter them from it; therefore they opposed him and fought him. So if the knowledgeable Muslim attends a place where there is evil to denounce it, that is a very important matter. Therefore, the scholars say that responding to the invitation of a Muslim is obligatory to respond to, but they stipulate that there be no evil in the invitation. Then they make an exception and say: except if he attends to denounce the evil. If he denounces the evil, then at that time he has fulfilled the obligation.
But here there is a detail that is necessary; and that is these celebrations that we discussed in detail in the previous lesson, and we clarified that they have no basis in Islam. They do not end in a few minutes, ten minutes, but they may last an hour or more. So the one who attends with this intention, for example, the intention of denunciation, attends the celebration from its beginning to its end to perhaps speak one word, or on one issue, to say, for example, that what you are gathering for is something that has no basis in the Shari'ah. This does not justify him attending the celebration from its beginning to its end; because this celebration, without a doubt, will gather many violations, if not religious evils. If he wants to fulfill the right of the attendees, or in other words, the right of the permissibility of his attending this place, then he should give several lectures in which he denounces several evils. And this is not an easy matter or one that one can manage. Therefore, the one who wants to attend must attend with planning. He attends, for example, only to clarify that the Salaf al-Salih did not do this thing, so it is a religious innovation. He can attend at the end of the celebration, for example.
In summary: this attendance for the purpose of denunciation is permissible, but the attendance must be within a very limited time so that he is not mixed in with the group of participants in this matter which we believe is a religious innovation. And as we mentioned in the previous lesson, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):