Is celebrating the Prophet's birthday a good innovation?

Question:
Your Eminence, Shaykh Abdulaziz, in a previous session we reviewed a letter we received from the listener Falaah al-Suwayd, from the village of al-Kouz, in the Hasakah Governorate, in the Malikiyah region. He has some remaining inquiries and questions that could fill an entire episode.
He says: O Shaykh Abdulaziz, in the first inquiry: We ask you about the birthday of the noblest of Prophets (peace and blessings be upon him). Is it an innovation? And I have heard in some countries, and from some scholars, that they say: It is a good innovation, and Allah knows best.
May Allah guide you.

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may the prayers and peace be upon His servant, messenger, intimate friend, and trustee of His revelation, our Prophet and our Imam Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows his guidance. As for what follows:
The celebration of birthdays only occurred in the later centuries, after the blessed centuries, after the first, second, and third centuries. It is among the innovations that some people introduced out of their own approval, thinking that it is a good thing. The correct and true position, which is held by the meticulous scholars of knowledge, is that it is an innovation. All celebrations of birthdays are innovations, and among them is the celebration of the Prophet's birthday. And why? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do it, nor did his Companions, nor did his Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor did the blessed centuries. None of them did this thing. The good lies in following them, not in what people innovated after them. It is established from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , meaning: it is rejected.
So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified the matter and explained that new matters in the religion are reprehensible, and that no one has the right to introduce into the religion what Allah has not permitted. And Allah has condemned those who do this in His saying, Exalted is He: [Al-Shura: 21]. The celebration is an invented matter that Allah has not permitted, nor has His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Companions are the best of people after the Prophets, the most loving of people to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the quickest of people to every good, and they did not do this. Not Abu Bakr, not Umar, not Uthman, not Ali, nor the rest of the Ten Promised Paradise, nor the rest of the Companions. And so it was with the Successors, and the Successors of the Successors; they did not do this. It only occurred among some of the Fatimid Shi'ah in Egypt in the fourth century, as some historians have mentioned. Then it occurred in the sixth century, at its end or at the beginning of the seventh, under the rule of Irbil, thinking that this was good, so he did it. The truth is that it is an innovation; because it is an act of worship that Allah has not prescribed . The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) conveyed the clear message, and he did not withhold anything of what Allah prescribed. Rather, he conveyed everything that Allah prescribed and commanded. And Allah, Exalted is He, said: [Al-Ma'idah: 3].
Allah has perfected the religion and completed it, and there is no celebration of birthdays in that religion which Allah has perfected. From this, it is known that it is a blameworthy religious innovation, not a good one, for there is no good religious innovation in the religion; rather, all innovations are misguidance, and all of them are blameworthy. The Prophet ﷺ said: Therefore, it is not permissible for any Muslim to say that there is something good in innovations. The Messenger ﷺ says: because this is a contradiction and opposition to the Messenger ﷺ. It is established from him that he said: Therefore, it is not permissible for us to say anything contrary to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him).
And what some people think is an innovation, but is actually what the Shari'ah has brought, is not an innovation, such as writing the Mushafs, such as the Tarawih prayers. All of these are prescribed, so calling them innovations has no basis. As for what is narrated from Umar that he said regarding the Tarawih: "What a good innovation," the intended meaning of this is from the linguistic side, not from the side of the religion. And then, Umar's saying does not contradict what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, nor does it oppose it. The saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is given precedence, because he said: He said: And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the Friday sermon: This is his ruling (peace and blessings be upon him), narrated by Muslim in the Sahih.
So it is not permissible for a Muslim to contradict what Allah has prescribed, nor to oppose what the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) brought. Rather, it is obligatory for him to submit to the Shari'ah of Allah, and to refrain from what Allah has forbidden of innovations and sins. May Allah grant all of you guidance. Yes.