The ruling on celebrating the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) birthday or others

Question:
The presenter (M. M. S) says: We know that in some countries, celebrations are held on the occasion of one of the birthdays, such as the Prophet’s birthday or the birthday of Ali (may Allah honor his face). The employees of the Ministry of Justice participate in keeping this commemoration alive. Is keeping it alive considered a religious innovation? And if it is an innovation, how can these people be prevented from it?
May Allah guide you.

Answer:
Celebrating birthdays is not prescribed; rather, it is among the religious innovations. It is not established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or his Companions that they celebrated the Prophet’s birthday. Likewise, in the blessed centuries—the first, second, and third centuries—there was no one in these blessed centuries who celebrated the Prophet’s birthday. So it is among the religious innovations that people introduced.
And some of the scholars of knowledge said: The first to introduce it were the rulers of Maghreb and Egypt, who are the Banu 'Ubayd al-Qadah, known as the Fatimids, and they are from the Shi'ah. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said about them: Their outward appearance is Rafidah, and their inward reality is pure disbelief.
Some people said: They have innovated the celebration of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birth, and the birth of 'Ali and al-Husayn and Fatimah and the ruler who rules them. These people are not a model to be followed, so one should not follow their example. Then, after that, the king of Irbil innovated this. All of this does not make this matter a recommended practice (sunnah); rather, it is a newly invented matter and a religious innovation (bid'ah), even if these people did it, and these people are not a model. The only model is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and those He was pleased with, and this did not occur from them. It is obligatory that the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) be honored, and that one imitates him constantly, constantly, in all days and nights, not only in Rabi' al-Awwal. Rather, it is obligatory to care about his Sunnah, that it be studied in every time, that the Muslims learn it, and that they study his commands and prohibitions, and what he was upon, so that they act accordingly.
As for celebrating the birthday in Rabi' al-Awwal, on the twelfth of Rabi' al-Awwal, or before that, or after that, in the known manner: gathering people, holding feasts, and reciting the mawlid, this is a religious innovation with no basis, and it is what must be abandoned.
As for teaching his recommended practice and his birthday, the known lesson in the mosques and in the schools, this is good, a recommended practice, and required, so that people know his birthday, what came regarding it, his recommended practice, and his biography (peace and blessings be upon him). This is what the meticulous scholars of knowledge have established, and Abu al-'Abbas Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) drew attention to it in his book *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim*, and Imam al-Shatibi (may Allah have mercy on him) also drew attention to it in his book *Al-I'tisam*, and others drew attention to it as well.
Then, this birthday, and this celebration, sometimes includes, from some people, matters of associating partners with Allah, and matters that are wrong, in addition to the fact that it is a religious innovation in which wrongs occur, and exaggeration in some cases, and perhaps matters of associating partners with Allah occur in it, and supplication to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and calling for aid through him, as in the Burdah that many people recite at the mawlid, which is a poem containing types of associating partners with Allah by al-Busiri. So all of this is among the defects of this mawlid, and among the defects of this religious innovation. Muslims should abandon it, and it is obligatory for them not to engage in this celebration. And so it is with the rest of the birthdays: such as the birthday of Ali (peace be upon him) , or al-Husayn, or Fatimah, or others, or the birthday of al-Badawi, or Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, or others. All these birthdays are not permissible to introduce, nor to celebrate. And so it is with other birthdays: such as the one who celebrates his mother’s or father’s birthday, imitating the Christians and others. All of this is a religious innovation with no justification and is not permissible, and it also involves imitating the Christians and others. And Allah is the One to be sought for help. Yes.