Is celebrating the “Mawlid day” Halal or Haram?

Question

In my community, we used to celebrate the birth day of Mohammed (PBUH). In the past 30 or so years a lot of people start saying this is haram. Many people stopped doing it for many reasons but mainly not because they said it is haram but because the people who prohibit it are really bothering the people who do it. Like calling us "Mushrikin" or "Bid'ah".

I can see why they prohibit it, because some people do something considered odd by most Muslims, Like dancing or singing.. But the Celebrations I am talking about are simple, No dancing or any stuff like that. We gather, we read Quran, say some stories about Mohammed (PBUH) and remind each other about his ethics (Akhlaq). One more thing to mention, this kind of Mawlids are celebrated in many random days in a year not only in the real birthday of the prophet. But the name is Mawlid still. I think we do it this way to avoid making that day so special. Many times we call it 'Jalsat Zekr' جلسة ذكر and not Mawlid.

My question: Is celebrating Mawlid the way I describe it Halal or Haram and why?

Answer 1

Adding new ibadats to Islam is called bid'at, and it is haram. Then the question turns into Is there an ibadat in Islam for celebrating the birth day of the nabi?. The answer is no. There is no birthday celebration for the nabi in Islam. Nabi's followers had never done any kind of celebration or birthday party for him when he was alive.

Birthday celebration for the nabi is definitely bid'at. Even those who intensely claim that it is not haram accept that it is a bid'at. But they say that it is a good kind of bid'at (bid'at-i hasene). Every bid'at is haram, there is no kind of "good bid'at".

The nabi Muhammad was born in year 571. But, the first mawlid was celebrated in 1232 in Egypt. These celebrations are done mostly by mushriks of the type that are defined in Quran as the ones who are obedient to the pat which they find their fathers on. They defend themselves by saying "These celebrations are being done for centuries. Did all those people do wrong all those years? There were many scholars and omniscient among them. How do you know better than them?".

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْاْ إِلَى مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ قَالُواْ حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَلاَ يَهْتَدُونَ
And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger," they say, "Sufficient for us is that upon which we found our fathers." Even though their fathers knew nothing, nor were they guided?
Maide 104 (5/104)

The number of people doing something can not be used to prove that that thing is rightful. There is no such celebrations in Islam. They are injected inside Islam many years after the death of the nabi. Christians celebrate birthday of a certain nabi, we Muslims don't have such a sunnah (convention).

Answer 2

Despite being considered an innovation, in that there is insufficient evidence that it was either practiced or recommended by the prophet himself, many scholars consider celebrating mawlid acceptable so long as it is done with good intentions.

According to Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, those who celebrate may still be rewarded for their love of the prophet and for whatever good they do, even if they are not rewarded for the act of innovation itself. And Al-Suyuti, a prominent Shafi'i scholar, describes his own opinion thus:

If one takes care to include in such a commemoration only things that are praiseworthy and avoids those that are otherwise, it is a praiseworthy innovation, while if ones does not, it is not.

For further detail, Sheikh G F Haddad explains the legality of this issue with references, including those previously mentioned, in the following fatwa:

• Some Sayings Of The Rightly Guided Imams On Mawlid

Answer 3

The first thing is, scholars are not certain about 12th Rabiul Awaal being the birthday of our prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Most are of the opinion that 9th Rabiul Awaal is the day of his birth. The shia scholars held the opinion of 17th. But it is certain that he passed away on this day. So, how can we celebrate this day?

Then again, if people would celebrate this day-

• Without performing any haram act like singing, dancing etc,
• Without considering it an integral part of Islam

Then probably it could be considered permissible. But people consider this as a part of Islam. Even they act like denying celebration of mawlid is like denying a part of Islam. So, it has become Bidah.

The islamic culture normally do not celebrate any historical event. The only exception is the Eid-ul-Adha which commemorates the sacrifice of Ibrahim alaihis salam.

Answer 4

please note all following Fatwa are only about celebrating (without any other Haram act like dancing and etc. and with Halal acts like giving free foods to people and children and reciting happy poems about prophet, giving gifts to children who answer questions about life of prophet correctly,..)

According to Jafari Fiqh, it is Halal. (ref)

According to sunni scholars, there is a difference of opinion. Some, like Al-Azhar University of Egypt consider it Halal. (Arabic ref, English ref) Others, like Ibn Taymiyah and Muhammad Inn Abdul-Wahhab), consider it Haram. (ref)

Answer 5

It is Haram celebrating the Mawlid. For it is an innovation. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself, and the first three generations which includes his house hold (ahlul Bait) never celebrated birthday as is commonly done today. What is done today (every year) is as I mentioned is an innovation, for while it is claimed that celebrating it is good and has good, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon Him) said:

ما تركتُ شيئاً يقربكم إلى الله إلا وأمرتكم به

I have not left you with anything that will get you closer to Allah except I have already ordered it/given it

The Hadith is Authentic, Abdurazzaq narrated it in his Musannaf/مصنف as well as others.

I am not saying not to be thankful to Allah for creating Muhammad and bringing down revelation to him. Furthermore we can Fast Mondays out of thanks to Allah for creating the Prophet and bringing down revelation to/through him. This is based on the Hadith in regards to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon Him) being asked about Fasting Mondays, he answered:

‏ذلك يوم ولدت فيه، ويوم بعثت أو أنزل علي فيه

That is the day on which I was born and the day on which I received Revelation

Saheeh Muslim/Riyaddussaliheen

Now as it is obvious, one won't find many fasting Monday, and would find many celebrating the Mawlid every year, what is happening is something got flipped around. And Allah's saying to the Jews came true on Most of us:

أَتَسْتَبْدِلُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ أَدْنَى بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ

Would you exchange what is better for what is less?

Surat Al Baqarah Ayah 61

So Fasting Monday out of thankfulness to Allah for creating/sending and bringing revelation to/through Muhammad is in accordance with the Shariah, while celebrating the Mawlid is not and is an innovation and is haram.

Sources: AlAlbany.net