What is the ruling on celebrating the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday?

The questioner : What is the ruling on celebrating the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday...?

The Shaykh : This issue falls under a principle of jurisprudence: Is Islam complete in its acts of worship, or is it incomplete? There is no doubt that the answer is explicit in the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the verse we referred to earlier: . This noble verse—regrettably—was not appreciated by many of the later Muslims; they did not give it its due weight. Meanwhile, one of the Jewish rabbis realized its significance when he came to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "O Commander of the Faithful, there is a verse in the Book of Allah that, had it been revealed to us, the Jews, we would have made the day of its revelation a festival." 'Umar asked: "What is it?" He mentioned the verse: . 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It was indeed revealed on a Friday, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was at 'Arafah during the Farewell Pilgrimage."
Thus, this verse was revealed on a day of celebration, which indicates its importance. Its importance lies in the fact that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has spared the Muslims the burden of thinking about and legislating acts of worship; He has completed the matter for them, and all that remains for them is implementation. Therefore, Imam Malik, the Imam of the City of Migration, said: "Whoever innovates in Islam an innovation that he considers good has claimed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) betrayed the message. Whoever innovates in Islam an innovation that he considers good has claimed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) betrayed the message. Read the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): . He said—and what a good thing he said: "What was not a religion at that time will not be a religion today. What was not a religion at that time will not be a religion today—that is, it is not permissible for it to be a religion today—and the end of this community will not be set right except by what set right its beginning."
This is a statement that should be written in gold ink, as they used to say in the past. What was not a religion in the time of the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) should not be a religion today. And if we want to rectify our affairs, the end of us will not be set right except by what set right the beginning of us. Thus, the path is clear, but the Muslims do not follow it; rather, they move away from it as time passes, and the longer they go on, the further they stray from the straight path.
The Messenger (peace be upon him) pointed to these paths by which Muslims stray by introducing into the religion what did not exist when he was sitting with his Companions one day. He drew a straight line on the ground for them, then drew short lines around the straight line, then he recited the saying of the Exalted: , then he said (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him): .
. So today, does Islam have one path in the minds of Muslims, in their conduct, and in their starting point, or do the Muslims have many, many paths?
You all know the answer; they have paths and paths. In fact, some of the extremists among the Sufis have explicitly stated: "The paths leading to Allah are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures." And our Lord says: to the end of the verse. Among these paths are religious innovations, and the scholars of hadith and exegesis have interpreted "paths" as religious innovations; because innovations divert Muslims from the sunnahs that the Lord of the Worlds legislated through the tongue of His noble Prophet.
And I give you a simple example regarding what we are now answering in that question. Many people assume that celebrating the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday is a way of honoring, respecting, and venerating the Messenger. This is not the case at all. The rational Muslim realizes this if he remembers a self-evident truth in which all Muslims have no doubt. What is this truth? That the birthday celebration came into existence after it did not exist. The celebrated birthday came into existence centuries after the Messenger (peace be upon him). This is a self-evident truth. The second truth: Is it possible that a means of drawing people closer to Allah was hidden from all the righteous predecessors, including the four Imams, so that they did not notice it at all, and only those who came after them noticed it, without the Messenger (peace be upon him) testifying for them as he testified for the three generations? He said: . The best of people are these. They did not know what is called today the Mawlid and the celebration of the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus, it is said here, as the scholars say: "If it had been good, they would have preceded us to it." If celebrating the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had been good, the purest and brightest generation, the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who received the Shari'ah directly from his noble mouth, would have preceded us to it, then the Tabi'un, then those who followed them. Do these people ignore this truth while the later generations know it? This is impossible according to the scholars of religion.
Another thing I want to remind the attendees of—and it is a beneficial matter, if Allah wills: We have no doubt that the masses of those who celebrate intend by celebrating him (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) to honor and respect him. But have these people ever asked themselves whether every means intended to honor and venerate our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is a permissible means, even if it was originally impermissible?
There is no doubt that the answer according to the scholars is that the end does not justify the means. That is, if you want to honor and respect the Messenger (peace be upon him), that is a right, but not by an impermissible path, but by the permissible path. Thus, the disagreement between those who support celebrating the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and those who reject it should be resolved when they keep this clear, evident, and obvious truth before their eyes: honoring, venerating, and respecting the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) must be done by a permissible path. They all admit that the Mawlid came into existence and was legislated after it was not permissible, because they say it is a religious innovation. But they follow the description of the religious innovation that the Messenger (peace be upon him) condemned absolutely by saying: "It is a good innovation." So we say to them: Who made it good? If it is truly a good innovation, how was its goodness hidden from the people of goodness, and at their head, Muhammad himself (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him)? So prove, O Muslims, O celebrants of the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), prove that this style, this celebration of the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), is a means to honor and venerate him according to the Shari'ah. By Allah, everyone who does as he pleases, walks his own way, and respects the Messenger (peace be upon him) as he desires; this is not of Islam at all. Look at how these newly invented matters result in what some of the Salaf said: "No religious innovation is introduced except that a sunnah is killed." No religious innovation is introduced except that a sunnah is killed in its place.