What is the ruling on celebrating the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday, and what is your response to those who say that the Companions celebrated it?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you. A questioner asks: O honorable Shaykh, how do you respond to those who say that the mawlid celebrations were practiced by the Companions?
The Shaykh : The mawlid is the plural of mawlid.
The questioner : That they were practiced by the Companions and that they are not a religious innovation?
The Shaykh : It is easy for us to say: prove this. If such a thing had been done, it would have been among the matters for which the motivations to transmit it were abundant, and the Muslims would not have neglected it for four centuries—the first, second, and third centuries. The best of the generations had passed when this religious innovation occurred.
Then we say: hold on. You now want to draw near to Allah through this? If he says: yes, we say: draw near to Allah by what is known. And so you find some of those who attend these mawlid celebrations—and the correct term is mawlid, because a mawlid is singular, not mawlid—finding them neglecting the more important sunnahs, if it is correct to call them sunnahs. They neglect the prayer in congregation; some are shaven, some let their garments hang below the ankles, some engage in usury, and some delay the prayer until it is past its time. So, is it possible for a person to be in this state and then hold a mawlid in honor of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), for which there is no evidence from the Book, nor from the Sunnah, nor from the practice of the Companions? We say: O my brother, hold on. Leave what is in doubt for what is free from doubt.
The Shaykh : The mawlid is the plural of mawlid.
The questioner : That they were practiced by the Companions and that they are not a religious innovation?
The Shaykh : It is easy for us to say: prove this. If such a thing had been done, it would have been among the matters for which the motivations to transmit it were abundant, and the Muslims would not have neglected it for four centuries—the first, second, and third centuries. The best of the generations had passed when this religious innovation occurred.
Then we say: hold on. You now want to draw near to Allah through this? If he says: yes, we say: draw near to Allah by what is known. And so you find some of those who attend these mawlid celebrations—and the correct term is mawlid, because a mawlid is singular, not mawlid—finding them neglecting the more important sunnahs, if it is correct to call them sunnahs. They neglect the prayer in congregation; some are shaven, some let their garments hang below the ankles, some engage in usury, and some delay the prayer until it is past its time. So, is it possible for a person to be in this state and then hold a mawlid in honor of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), for which there is no evidence from the Book, nor from the Sunnah, nor from the practice of the Companions? We say: O my brother, hold on. Leave what is in doubt for what is free from doubt.