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Image posted, MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
From the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday in Cairo last year
Decorations and lights, sweets and popular foods, praise and remembrance sessions, flags and candlelight processions … In many Arab cities and towns, from Morocco to the Levant, people are used to celebrating the Prophet’s birthday every year, from many ways.
This year, like most religious events, the celebrations will be restricted by conditions to prevent the Coronavirus. However, given that the celebration has its roots in popular traditions as a pleasant occasion, the question about the opinion of jurisprudential schools of thought on the matter between analysis and prohibition is renewed as every year.
As on many Islamic issues, scholars of jurisprudence disagree in one direction on the approach to celebrating the birthday of the Prophet. Even the date of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth is a point of difference between Sunnis and Shiites.
It is true that most references tend to say that he was born in the month of Rabi ‘al-Awwal according to the Hijri calendar, but Sunnis celebrate the anniversary on the 12th of Rabi` al-Awwal (which corresponds to tomorrow), while Shiites celebrate it on the 17th (which corresponds to next November 3). So the entire month of Rabi` al-Awwal is considered a month of celebration.
It was this disagreement in history, the reason for inviting Ruhollah Khomeini to the so-called Islamic Unity Week, between the two dates of the celebration, starting in 1981, as a way to bring together Sunnis and Shiites.
Image posted, NurPhoto
Christmas balloon seller in India last year
The biographical literature refers to various details about the Prophet’s birth, one of which is proven that he was born on Monday, because when asked about the reason for his fast on Monday, he said that it was the day of his birth.
References also tend to say that he was born in the Year of the Elephant, that is, between 570 and 571 AD, the year named after the attack by the ruler of Yemen, Abraha al-Habashi, in Mecca, and his intent. of destroying the Kaaba with an elephant, according to the prevailing narrative.
He also knows that the Prophet lived a full childhood, as he was born after the death of his father, Abdullah bin Abdul-Muttalib, and then his mother, Amna Bint Wahab, died when he was young. He grew up in the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, who sponsored him, then in the custody of his uncle Abu Talib, after the death of his grandfather.
The prevailing narratives also say that Abd al-Muttalib was the one who called his grandson Muhammad, and it was not a common name among Arabs, and the grandfather wanted it to mean praise, and because he wanted his grandson to be praised in heaven and in the land.
Religious references say that celebrating the Prophet’s birthday was not common in the early years of Islam, and it did not become a tradition until the 4th century AD.
The commemoration of the Prophet’s birthday was attributed to the Fatimid Caliph Al-Muizz Li Din Allah after his entry into Egypt in 969 AD Historical references believe that the launch of celebrations organized for the birth of the Prophet and various members of his family was that caliph’s means of approaching the Egyptians, through public occasions dominated by pleasure.
With the change of government and the succession of Islamic disputes, the celebration of the birthday decreased and then returned, according to the priorities of the authority. The Ayubis prevented it, then the Mamluks allowed it, and so on, until it became a Sufi tradition during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha.
Sufi orders are considered the most important Islamic schools of thought for reliving the Prophet’s birthday and the births of righteous saints in general. These ceremonies are among the deep-rooted traditions in Egypt, where the wide tide of Sufi currents, with a variety of expressions, including chants, remembrance rings, and processions.
And unlike the various Sufi orders, they attach great importance to the remembrance of birth and death, as a way of worshiping the Prophet and the saints, seeking their intercession, and thanking them for their blessings. Expressing feelings of joy and sadness in prayer and remembrance is one way to achieve a state of spiritual serenity that path seekers seek.
Image posted, Anadolu Agency
Zina al-Mawlid al-Nabawi in Karachi, Pakistan, last week
On the opposite side of Sufism, there are Salafi scholars, led by Saudi scholar Abdul Aziz bin Baz (1912-1999), who believes that celebrating the birth of the Prophet is heresy.
Ibn Baz believes that the Sharia does not indicate what allows the celebration of the birthday, because neither the Prophet nor the Companions celebrated it, and therefore it is an innovation. In his opinion, God has compensated the Muslims on all occasions, which are far away i.e. Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, and both have enough celebrations.
The theme of the Prophet’s birthday is one of the common jurisprudential disputes between Salafis and Sufis, and is marked by takfir.
On the other hand, the Azharan authority takes a positive stance on the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday, in various fatwas issued over the years. It is true that the Qur’an and hadiths did not explicitly refer to the celebration of birth, and that the tradition was slow to appear until the 4th century Hijra, but it is a manifestation of glorifying the Messenger and showing his love, according to those fatwas.
This view is considered prevalent among most Sunni commentators, because the Mawlid celebrations are not mandatory, but they are not ruled out in their opinion, because the birth of the Noble Prophet is a manifestation of divine mercy on the people, and because it is an expression of joy and love, and a gathering on the recitation of the Qur’an, the biography of the Prophet and poems of praise.
Among the scholars and commentators are those who describe the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday as a “good innovation”, and this is the opinion of the scholar Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (1371-1449). This is also the opinion of the scholar Jalal al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Suyuti (1445-1505), who believes that it is “a good innovation for which its owner will be rewarded.”
Image posted, Anadolu Agency
Celebratory lights in the Sudanese town of Omdurman last year
For the Shiite authorities, celebrating the Prophet’s birthday is an expression of love, honor and promotion of the Prophet, so that what is not his does not enter the religion.
The jurisprudential dispute sometimes takes on political dimensions today, just as it did during Islamic history. With the rise of the Houthis in Yemen, the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday has become widespread. On the other hand, “ISIS” used to avoid celebrating the birthday in the areas it controlled in Syria and Iraq.
Far from the opinion of religious scholars, the celebration of Muhammad’s birth remains an ingrained part of Arab popular culture, given the social traditions associated with him, on the one hand, and the poetic and artistic works that accompanied it as a form honorary. Who among us does not know the poem of the Prince of poets Ahmed Shawki, “Born of Huda, the creatures Zia”, which Umm Kulthum interpreted to the tune of Riad Al-Sunbati?
