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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the ruling on Mawlid celebrations in Islam?

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Question:
What is the ruling on Mawlid celebrations in Islam?

Answer:
Celebrating Mawlid celebrations is entirely a religious innovation (bid'ah). All Mawlid celebrations: for the Prophets, or for the righteous, or for others, or for rulers, or for kings, or for leaders; celebrating Mawlid is an innovation with no basis. The Chosen One (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do it, nor did his Rightly Guided Caliphs, who are the best of people after the Prophets. So the Muslims did not celebrate his birth (peace and blessings be upon him), nor did he celebrate his own birth, nor did he order people to do so. Nor did al-Siddiq, nor 'Umar, nor 'Uthman, nor 'Ali, nor the Companions, nor the blessed centuries do it. All good lies in following them:
There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent patternلَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ
[Al-Ahzab: 21],
The best of my followers are those living in my generation (i.e. my contemporaries). and then those who will follow the latterخير أمتي قرني، ثم الذين يلونهم، ثم الذين يلونهم
Sahih al-Bukhari 3650
, and the people of these centuries did not do it. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
He who did any act for which there is no sanction from our behalf, that is to be rejected.مَن عمل عملًا ليس عليه أمرُنا فهو ردٌّ
Sahih Muslim 1718b
, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
'A'isha reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: He who innovates things in our affairs for which there is no valid (reason) (commits sin) and these are to be rejected.مَن أحدث في أمرنا هذا ما ليس منه فهو ردٌّ
Sahih Muslim 1718a
meaning: so it is rejected upon the one who innovated it, even if there is sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in it, and even if there is Qur'an in it, but it is not permissible to innovate anything of what Allah has legislated. Even if a person said: I am innovating for people a sixth prayer, I am a king, and I am a leader, I will make for them a prayer at nine o'clock in the day, they will pray a sixth prayer of two or three or four rak'ahs, or I will order them to perform Hajj twice a year, more for the reward, instead of one Hajj in a year they perform two, or we add a rak'ah, so instead of Fajr being two it becomes three, and Maghrib being three it becomes four, and Zuhr, 'Asr, and 'Isha' instead of four become six!
This is an innovator who is astray, even if he intended good, or if he said: I will legislate for them a specific fast along with Ramadan, they will fast in it thirty-two or thirty-three or forty days, instead of thirty it becomes forty, more for the reward; he will be an astray innovator even if he intended good, and it is not permissible to obey him in that.
Or if he said regarding zakah: instead of 2.5% make it 5%, people have a lot of wealth ... five percent ..
As for taking his hair, saliva, and sweat, the Companions did it with him (peace and blessings be upon him); it is a recommended practice (sunnah), and Allah placed blessing in it. As for following the earthly traces - the earthly places - this is an innovation, as 'Umar and the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) rejected it, such as following the place where he prayed so as to pray in it, or the place where ..... in it, or the place where he urinated so as to urinate in it. This was what Ibn 'Umar used to seek out, and his father rejected it, and the Companions rejected it, so this should not be done. And if Ibn 'Umar did it as an exercise of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), the correct view is what the senior Companions did, who are more knowledgeable about this than he was, may Allah be pleased with them all.
And for this reason, 'Umar cut down the tree under which he was pledged allegiance, when it reached him that people were heading to it to pray near it. And when it reached him that people were heading to the places where the Prophet prayed, he rejected it and said: "Only those who came before you perished because of this; they used to follow the traces of their Prophets. Whoever catches the prayer in this place, let him pray, and otherwise let him go on."
Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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