From ancient times, Muslims have gathered on the 12th of Rabi‘ al-Awwal to read the story of the blessed birth of the Prophet ﷺ, to hold gatherings of remembrance of Allah, to give charity, and to express joy at the birth of the Pride of Creation, the Light of Lights, our Master Muhammad ﷺ.
This practice remained widespread until a group emerged in recent history whose main preoccupation was issuing rulings that celebrating the Prophet’s birthday (al-Mawlid al-Nabawi) is an innovation (bid‘ah) that must be avoided. They argued that none of the Companions did it, nor did the Prophet ﷺ command it, claiming that if it were good, the early generations would have done so.
What concerns us here is not only the reasoning behind this prohibition, but the more dangerous reality: that the agenda, history, and actions of these people overlap with those of the Western colonial powers, who, when they occupied vast regions of the Arab and Islamic world, also banned such celebrations. This was before the rise of the Wahhabi movement, which spread the prohibition of the Mawlid under the pretext that it was a misguided innovation.
In this context, we cite what the Egyptian magazine al-Fath published in its issue no. 555 (1356 AH / about 80 years ago), under the title: “Banning the Celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday in Morocco”:
“The strangest and most astonishing incident people heard of under European colonial rule was when the authorities in Morocco banned Muslims from celebrating the Prophet’s birthday. They expelled worshippers from mosques and stationed guards at the doors of homes suspected of hosting such gatherings.”
A Revealing Contradiction
What is striking is the contradiction in Wahhabi rulings. While they prohibit celebrating the Mawlid of the Prophet ﷺ, they permit celebrating the birthday of their own founder, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab.
In the Majmū‘ Fatāwā wa-Rasā’il of Ibn ‘Uthaymīn (one of the prominent scholars of the Wahhabi school), volume 16 under the section “The Two Eid Prayers,” he allows people to celebrate the birth of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab for an entire week, rewarding those who express joy and happiness at his birth. Yet, in another lecture titled “The Innovation of Celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday,” he declared that the Mawlid is forbidden and a reprehensible innovation.
Thus, the agendas may differ in appearance but converge in substance. It is telling that throughout history, no recognised Sunni group ever issued a fatwa forbidding the Mawlid. If it were truly an unlawful innovation, the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘ah would have fought against it from its inception.
On the contrary, we find al-Azhar itself, more than 70 years ago, through the words of its Shaykh, the distinguished scholar Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn, answering a question about celebrating the Mawlid and the Wahhabi claim of disbelief against its practitioners:
“If the Mawlid is free of objectionable practices, then it is a good innovation (bid‘ah hasanah), even praiseworthy, as it manifests joy at the birth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. If, however, it includes objectionable things, then such things must be prevented. As for calling it shirk (polytheism), that is an exaggeration of this group which has become accustomed to extremism in its speech and guidance. They must be ignored, and one must follow the upright scholars.”
Sunni Endorsement of the Mawlid
To reinforce this, we also recall the statement of Shaykh Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Husayn al-Māliki al-Makki (d. 1367 AH), head of the teaching council at the Sacred Mosque in Makkah and director of Dār al-‘Ulūm School. He affirmed and transmitted the words of Imam Abū Shāmah (the teacher of Imam al-Nawawī), who said:
“Among the best of innovations is what is done every year on the day of his ﷺ birth—such as giving charity, acts of goodness, showing adornment and joy—for that includes kindness to the poor and demonstrates love for him ﷺ and reverence for him in the hearts of those who do so.”
And this is without even mentioning the numerous works authored by leading Sunni scholars who encouraged the Mawlid, including Imam al-Suyūṭī, Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ, and Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalānī.
As one of the wise sayings reminds us:
“Whoever rejoices in the Prophet, the Prophet will rejoice in him.”
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