What is the ruling on celebrating the Prophet's birthday?

The Shaykh : This issue involves a degree of subtlety in how you presented the problem regarding that matter, and then the issue itself as a scholarly jurisprudential question: is it permissible or not? There is some difficulty in it... But there is absolutely no doubt that what is known today as the celebration of the Prophet's birthday has no basis in Islam; there is no doubt about this and no ambiguity whatsoever. To understand this issue well, a student of knowledge must know that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as He said in His statement, Blessed and Exalted is He, in the Noble Qur'an: ... The point is . Islam was completed with the passing of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the acts of worship by which a Muslim seeks to draw near to Allah have been finalized in their command and their number is fixed; it is not possible to add to them, not even a single letter. For this reason, reports from the righteous Salaf came down explaining the importance of this blessing, which is the completion and finalization of Islam. It was narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that a Jewish scholar came to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when he was the Commander of the Believers and said, "O Commander of the Believers, there is a verse in the Book of Allah that, had it been revealed to us, the Jews, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a festival. A verse in the Book of Allah, O Commander of the Believers, that, had it been revealed to us, the Jews, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a festival." He said, "What is it?" He said: . 'Umar said, "Allahu Akbar! This verse was revealed on a Friday and on the Day of 'Arafah," meaning a festival upon a festival. He is saying to the Jew what was in his mind, which is the reality, because this verse was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was standing at 'Arafah during the Farewell Pilgrimage. What do we understand from the words of this Jew and the insistence of the Commander of the Believers on what he said? We understand that this Jew appreciates this great blessing that Allah bestowed upon His servants by perfecting Islam, leaving no room for any person, no matter how high or exalted, to add anything to Islam, as happened with the Jews and the Christians. You certainly know that Christianity, as well as Judaism, has no stability and no fixed standing; every year or every few years, something is added to them or taken away. For example, we used to see the nuns, and this is known to you, wearing a hijab that looked exactly like the Islamic hijab, and then the Pope would issue a new ruling that it is permissible for a nun to roll up her garment and expose part of the front of her head, because he believes he is the agent of Allah on earth, as it came in their claimed Gospel that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said to one of His prophets on earth, "What you bind on earth is bound in heaven," "What you bind on earth is bound from heaven, and what you loose on earth is lawful in heaven." This means that what the Pope forbids becomes forbidden in heaven, meaning it becomes the ruling of Allah, and what becomes lawful in his opinion becomes lawful in heaven. From here, the religion of the Christians changed and the religion of the Jews changed. When Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed this verse, that Jew understood that this is a very great blessing, with no room for addition or subtraction . Then the hadiths came confirming the meaning of this verse, as well as reports from the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Among the famous hadiths, and you must have read something of them or at least heard them, is the hadith of al-'Abbas ibn Sari' who said: . The point here is . And in another hadith, the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he delivered the sermon on Friday or on a day other than Friday, would say: . Similarly, the hadith of the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, where she said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Whoever innovates in our matter, meaning in our religion, . Meaning it is rejected. As for the reports from the Companions, they are numerous and very numerous. The most prominent, clearest, and most authentic in chain is the statement of Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), "Follow and do not innovate, for you have been sufficed with the old matter," meaning the Islam that was completed by the previous verse. And from these reports is the statement of 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both), "Every innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good." Every innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good. If we keep these texts from the Book of Allah, the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, and the reports of the noble Companions in mind, we now move to a theoretical, intellectual aspect. We say: No matter how righteous the Muslims who came in the later centuries were, and how much they worshipped and sought nearness to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, they will never be like His Companions (peace be upon them) in their desire to increase in obedience and worship of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, never, especially with Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) at their head, who said in a well-known hadith also in the authentic collections: . This is a very important point for a student of knowledge to know what lies beneath it: "Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not of me." I want to draw attention here to the fact that when the word "Sunnah" is mentioned in a hadith like this, its meaning is not the technical jurisprudential meaning. In fiqh, there is the obligatory (fard), the recommended practice (sunnah), the recommended (mustahabb), and the encouraged (mandub); this meaning is not intended when the word "Sunnah" comes in a hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) like the previous hadith . So what is intended by "Sunnah" here? The intended meaning is the path and methodology that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) followed. So whoever turns away from it is not of his Ummah (community) . It does not mean, for example, if one does not pray the Sunnah of Dhuhr or the Sunnah of 'Asr, no, it is not that. And by the way, I mention that in the books of fiqh of the later Turks, there are many hadiths that have no basis in the books of the Sunnah. For example, the hadith: . This hadith has absolutely no basis, and even if it were authentic, the intended meaning is not the Sunnah of Dhuhr and 'Asr, or the pre- and post-prayer Sunnahs, but rather the path that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) followed. So whoever turns away from this path has strayed far astray. And it came in a hadith narrated by 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that "the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting one day with his Companions when he drew a straight line on the ground and then recited the statement of Allah, the Exalted: ... Then he (peace be upon him) said: " Meaning this straight line is the Islamic Shari'ah. But there are around this line short branches of lines around this straight line. This is the straight line, and at the head of each of these lines is a devil who says to those walking on the straight path, "Where are you going? This is a long line that does not end. Come here, look at this line; this one will get you there." Similarly, Satan misleads the children of Adam by deluding them that the path that leads to Allah is these paths, not this straight path. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says, "This is the path that leads the Muslim to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He." So the innovation that occurred after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is from these paths. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, warned the Muslims about them and said: ... Therefore, regarding the issue of the celebration of the Prophet's birthday, when did this celebration occur? It occurred after the three centuries that are attested to as being the best in the authentic, mass-transmitted hadith: . So if this celebration of the Prophet's birthday, if this celebration of the Prophet's birthday, if this celebration had been good, they would have preceded us to it, meaning these centuries of the Companions, the Tabi'un, and those who followed them were more devoted and had a stronger desire for obedience to Allah and seeking nearness to Allah and love for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). But these people did not know anything called the celebration of the Prophet's birthday. So it is impossible, rationally and religiously, for such a celebration to be a means by which a Muslim draws near to Allah, while the people of the three centuries attested to as the best did not know anything of it. This is an impossible matter. And as the scholars say, "If it had been good, they would have preceded us to it." But I want to say something that you may not have the opportunity to hear, which is that while we say there is no celebration of the Prophet's birthday, and I mean this specific celebration, we say there is a prescribed celebration and there is an unprescribed celebration, and there is a great difference between this prescribed celebration and that unprescribed one. The unprescribed one is once a year, while the prescribed one is every week, every week. Where did we get this from? From a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Qatadah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: . That is the day I was born and the day the revelation was sent down to me. This answer, as the scholars say, is in the style of the wise. He could have said to the questioner, "It is recommended to fast on this day." But he gave him the ruling and its cause. He gave him the ruling and the cause. The cause is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "On Monday, my Lord created me and sent down the Qur'an and revelation to me, so you should fast on this day," as came in another hadith: . The Jews fasted on the Day of 'Ashura because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, saved Musa and his people from Pharaoh and his army. He (peace be upon him) said, and here is the point: . So he fasted it and ordered its fasting as thanks to Allah for saving Musa from Pharaoh and his army. So we Muslims, in thanks to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for bestowing upon us Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and giving birth to him on a Monday and sending down upon him prophethood and revelation on a Monday, should celebrate this day. Not once a year, but every week, four times a month. We know that many Muslims today fast, praise be to Allah, on Monday and Thursday, but most of them do not know the wisdom behind fasting on Monday. So look now how far the Muslims are from the guidance of their Prophet, celebrating a celebration that has no basis once a year, and forgetting the prescribed celebration once a week. So we do not say there is absolutely no celebration of the birth of the Prophet, but rather we say there are two celebrations: a prescribed one, which is fasting on Monday, and an unprescribed one, which is this celebration that is often exploited politically and for propaganda, and so on. The celebration on Monday keeps the memory of the one being celebrated in the heart of the celebrant, meaning he always remembers the Messenger. As for the one who celebrates once a year and distributes sweets, sugar, and the like, this is, as they say, like the foam of soap or like the froth on the face of the sea . Once you know this reality, we enter into the core of the answer to your question. We do not believe in the permissibility of exploiting the innovated events that did not exist... If a person has a goal toward something he wants to reach, he does not look at the means, whether it is prescribed or unprescribed, as long as this means achieves that goal, then this means is permissible and lawful. So your seeking of the goal justifies for you committing the means, even if it is forbidden. But this is not of Islam at all. There is a verse in Arabic poetry that I seem unable to recall except for the witnessed phrase, which is, "I wish she had not committed fornication and had not given charity." You may have heard some female singers in Egypt and elsewhere singing in one night, taking so many thousands of dinars or something like that, and then giving charity. So here the Arab said, "I wish she had not committed fornication and had not given charity." Her fornication was in order to reap the fruits of this fornication and gather much wealth, and then she gives charity with it to build a hospital or a mosque. All of this benefits her absolutely nothing. Because the end does not justify the means; this is a known Islamic rule. The end does not justify the means, unlike the disbelievers. The disbelievers, for example, as you see today, kill the innocent and women in order to make the land lawful. This is the meaning of their saying, "The end justifies the means." But this is not of Islam at all, absolutely. So if we are aware that this celebration known today among Muslims is unprescribed, then it is not permissible, in my opinion, to take that as a means to catch and attract the youth who are straying from the religion, who do not come to the mosques and do not attend the lessons of religion and the circles of religion. So perhaps I have answered your question, and if something remains, remind me of it, if Allah wills.