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

The questioner : The birthdays of the Messenger (peace be upon him), which have become widespread in these lands, while they are even more widespread in other countries than in these lands. Moreover, those who deny these birthdays are the ones who are most often accused by others; most of them claim to be from the People of the House, or they claim descent from the People of the House, and some of them claim to be scholars or students of knowledge. So what is your opinion on this, may Allah bless you?

The Shaykh : We, praise be to Allah, call for following the Book and the Sunnah, and for staying away from every religious innovation (bid'ah). This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to begin his sermons and his admonitions with the "sermon of need" that you heard in the mosque, which contains . Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his great book, *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim* (The Straight Path Demanding Opposition to the People of the Hellfire), "It is not permissible to interpret the words of the Messenger (peace be upon him), which he repeats to the ears of the people and in the gatherings of the people, in the same tone, always and forever. He makes them hear this general statement ." So it is not permissible to interpret such words by saying, "No, this is a general statement with a specific exception," meaning that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: . Those who say, "No, not every religious innovation is misguidance"—how can it be conceivable that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), with his repetition and habit of saying this beautiful word in every sermon, whether a Friday sermon, a festival, or any other occasion, would repeat this phrase and then not draw the attention of the listeners to the fact that this generality is not in its full generality and comprehensiveness? This is not fitting to attribute to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): is like his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in terms of generality: . It is inconceivable that a rational Muslim would say, "No, not every intoxicant is khamr (intoxicants), and not every khamr is forbidden." The Messenger of Allah says, "Every intoxicant is khamr," and you say, "Not every intoxicant is khamr." This is opposition and defiance of Allah and the Messenger, as He the Exalted said: . Therefore, this hadith which the Messenger (peace be upon him) repeated and varied— if the expression is correct— in other phrases, all of which lead to this generality, such as the hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim, for example, from the lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ." These numerous and very numerous hadiths indicate, first, the condemnation of every religious innovation, and that nothing is excluded from the misguidance of religious innovation. Our righteous predecessors (Salaf) proceeded on this understanding. For example, it is authentically narrated from Abdullah ibn Umar that he clarified this generality, and it seems that he (may Allah have mercy on him) looked to the distant future, like our time, and refuted them by saying: , . This is the statement of a Companion that explains to us this comprehensive general phrase and clarifies that it is in its generality and comprehensiveness, and that there is no restriction in it. However, people afterwards may find things pleasing, so they must know that every religious innovation is misguidance without any exception. This is Ibn Umar, as it is said today, putting the dots on the letters; he applied this statement practically. So in a gathering, when a man sneezed, the sneezer said, "Praise be to Allah and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah." Ibn Umar said, and this is a style that we must actually alert our brothers to; we must follow his example. Look at what he did with him. He said to him: "And I say with you, Praise be to Allah and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah." What does one of us do today? He does not send blessings upon the Messenger, saying, "This is an innovation." Yes, it is an innovation, but the approach should be wise and gentle, like the approach of Ibn Umar. He joined him in the statement. I sometimes say to our brothers there in Syria and Jordan, he said to him: "And I say with you, Praise be to Allah and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah." So Satan turns back and says to him, "What are you, a Wahhabi, denying the sending of blessings upon the Messenger?" Even though there was no Wahhabism at that time. But this is what they do today; they say, out of their ignorance and misguidance, that Ibn Taymiyyah was a Wahhabi, whereas he was centuries before Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. This is due to their ignorance and misguidance. And by way of lightening the mood, something stranger happened to him. He was at the Syrian University in Damascus, and there was a professor at the university who was a Christian, you may have heard of him, his name is Faris al-Khouri. He taught history, and yet, unfortunately, he was teaching Islamic history, but in reality, he was a cultured Christian, and it seemed he was somewhat influenced by Islam. It was his turn to speak about the history of the Wahhabi movement in Najd, and he spoke at length about the true history of the movement of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, this history which many of the Muslim shaykhs unfortunately do not know today. What did one of the misguided students among the shaykhs there say? He said, "It appears that the professor is a Wahhabi, and he is a Christian..." Why? Because he is speaking historical facts about the movement, the movement of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. The point is that Ibn Umar said to that sneezer: "And I say with you, Praise be to Allah and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, but this is not how the Messenger of Allah taught us." So a person should not rush to say to him, "Do not send blessings upon the Messenger, and sending blessings upon the Messenger is an innovation." No, join him in the general principle, show him your faith and your love for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the sending of blessings upon him, but draw his attention to his error, to his correction of his Prophet, because if he had placed the sending of blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in this place, our Lord would have legislated it through the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as came from him in the authentic hadith: . So what did Ibn Umar say? "I say with you, Praise be to Allah, and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, but this is not how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us. Say, 'Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds,' and in another narration, 'Praise be to Allah in every circumstance.'" So Ibn Umar, who said, "Every religious innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good," applied it here, because this sneezer did not see anything wrong in adding the sending of blessings upon his Prophet to his love for his Lord. He found it pleasing, so Ibn Umar directed his attention to the fact that this is an addition you have made, as if you are correcting your Prophet who taught you the etiquettes of sneezing. So do not add, and say as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us.
Similarly, there is another report in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. The previous report from Ibn 'Umar is in Sunan al-Tirmidhi and al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim. There is another report in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, through Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, that he heard a man performing the talbiyah in Hajj, saying: "For You is the response, O You of the bounties." He said: "It is indeed for You, O You of the bounties, but this is not how we used to perform the talbiyah with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We used to say: Labbaik Allahumma labbaik (At Your service, O Allah, at Your service)." Also, this agrees with the fact that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is the One of the bounties, but the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not teach us anything other than to say: Labbaik Allahumma labbaik. There are many, many reports, all of which correspond to the generality of his statement (peace be upon him): . If we were to devote time to researching this, it would actually take us hours, but this amount is sufficient for us to get to the core of the matter. We say that what you call the celebration of the birth of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), we say this celebration is either good, and I do not say it is either bad, it is enough for me to say it is either good, or in other words, it is either an act of worship or it is not an act of worship. If it is an act of worship, would the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) conceal it from his Ummah, while he is commanded by his Lord to say: ? And the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said, as in the two Sahihs, in a long story which is not our concern here: "Three things: whoever tells you them has committed a great lie against Allah. Whoever tells you that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saw his Lord has committed a great lie against Allah, then she recited His statement (Blessed and Exalted is He): . And whoever tells you that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) knew what was in tomorrow has committed a great lie against Allah, then she recited His statement (Glorified and Exalted is He): . She said: And whoever tells you that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) concealed something he was ordered to convey has committed a great lie against Allah, then she recited the previous verse ... to its end. And she said: "And this is a benefit," لو كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كاتما شيئا أمر بتبليغه لكتم قول ربه وإذ تقول للذي أنعم الله عليه وأنعمت عليه أمسك عليك زوجك واتق الله ، وتخفي في نفسك ما الله مبديه وتخشى الناس والله أحق أن تخشاه .. If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had concealed anything he was commanded to convey, he would have concealed the words of his Lord. And [recall] when you said to the one upon whom Allah had bestowed favor and upon whom you had bestowed favor, “Hold onto your wife and fear Allah,” while you concealed in your heart what Allah was going to make manifest, and you feared the people, but Allah is more worthy of your fear…. In it is a rebuke from Allah to His Messenger. If he had been concealing something, he would have concealed this verse. But far be it from him; he conveyed the message and fulfilled the trust, so may Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) reward him with the best reward for this Ummah. If this celebration of the Prophet's birth, as they say, is good, then the Messenger (peace be upon him) must have conveyed this good to the Ummah. And if he conveyed this good to the Ummah, who would be the first to act upon it? Without a doubt, the most obedient to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are his Companions, who ransomed him with their lives and wealth, and those after them, the Tabi'un and the generations following them, about whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) spoke in the authentic, mass-transmitted hadith when he said: . It is agreed upon by all Muslims, both the people of the Sunnah and the people of innovation, that the three generations did not know of this celebration. Oh, Glory be to Allah! How could this good be hidden from these three generations, starting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) at their head, and ending with the last scholar in the third century of the Hijra, which is one of the blessed generations, attested to by the tongue of the best of creation? It is impossible for this to be good that we precede them to it. Rather, the matter is as the scholars of the people of the Sunnah say: if it were good, they would have preceded us to it. I want to mention something to confirm a well-known report from some of the Salaf, and some of them narrate it as a hadith traced to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but its chain is not authentic: . This is traced to the Prophet but is not authentic, however, it was reported from some of the Salaf. But we feel this meaning with our hands; the meaning is correct: "No innovation is introduced except that a Sunnah is extinguished." We give many, many examples of this. One example in our land is sufficient for us. One of us enters the mosque, goes to the ablution area, and finds his companion performing wudu. What do you say to him? "Zamzam is good." While the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The right of a Muslim over another Muslim, if you meet him, is to greet him." The greeting is gone, and the innovation has taken its place. He greets his companion after prayer, saying: "May Allah accept it." My brother, say to him: "As-salamu alaykum (Peace be upon you)." No innovation is introduced except that a Sunnah is extinguished. And this is what happened to these people who celebrate this innovated birth. I say we have two celebrations of the birth of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): one is a Sunnah and the other is an innovation. People held onto the innovation and neglected the Sunnah. What is the celebration of the birth of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and what is the evidence for it? It came in Sahih Muslim that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: . On Monday, you know that it is the day of the birth of the Messenger (peace be upon him). in the answer, in the style of the Wise.