Celebrating the Mawlid[1]
As for the Mawlid, they mean by this the ‘Eid of the prophet’s birthday, sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in which they establish sittings and decorate places – considering those who establish them to be from the saved and those who disapprove as Wahaabbies who fall short with regards to the rights of the messenger sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, while at the same time admitting that this practice had no foundation at the time of the generations that were witnessed to have goodness, as has been said by as-Sayyid Deedaar ‘Ali bin Najaf ‘Ali, the Muhaddith of them [the Brelvees]:
‘Indeed, the root of the noble mawlid cannot be traced to the salaf-as-saalih, in the virtuous generations, but was introduced thereafter.’[2]
And despite this, they maintain that
‘celebrating the mawlid of the prophet sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is [celebrating] the day of his birth and to spread merriment, establish sittings and distribute sweets is recommended and a cause for the descent of lordly blessings and His mercy…and, indeed, the Christians celebrate Sunday, the day in which the table was sent down to them from the heavens, so why should we not celebrate the day that is much better than it.’[3]
And [they say] more than this,
‘the celebrating of the mawlid is established through the Qur’aan and Sunnah (?) and the sayings of the scholars, angels and prophets.’[4]
‘And it is from the sunnan of the angels that the Shaytaan gets upset about and is hurt by. So, whosoever is from the Shaytaan is hurt by it and sorrowful for it and whosoever is from the angels is happy and is energised through it.’[5]
As-Sayyid Deedaar ‘Ali says similar to this and adds standing [out of respect] as well, where he says, after quoting one of his followers, ‘and that which is done on the day that commemorates the day of his birth sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, from giving alms, adornment and happiness, in such actions, together with the goodness that it contains, gives the feeling of loving and revering [the prophet sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] in the heart of the one who does it…’ he then says, ‘Celebrating the mawlid, its virtue and its recommended status have been established in the Book of Allaah and the narrations of the companions of the messenger of Allaah sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam…rather, it is sunnah and obligatory and necessitates the reaping of great rewards.’[6] ‘and, indeed standing [out of respect] with the mention of the Mawlid of the messenger sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has been ordered in the Qur’aan.’[7]
And this is the individual who said that the root of the noble Mawlid was not traceable to the best of generation – we do not know; did he forget, or is he pretending to?
And he said another time, ‘The scholars have said that our standing has been prescribed and an obligation for the one who loves him deeply is not rebutted.’[8]
Al-Brelwee said, ‘Mention of saddening events and the stories of the martyrs is not permissible in the forums of celebrating the Mawlid, as these are forums of happiness and merriment and are not to be muddied by mentioning sad events.’[9]
This is what al-Brelwee says, to gain food, drink and subsistence, going against the teaching of the messenger of Allaah sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, the one who said, ‘The hand that gives is better than the hand that receives’ – the one who ordered obedience to the Book of Allaah and his sunnah; the caller to pure Tawheed; the censurer of the rites of the period of ignorance and its illusions, from worshipping graves and its people and eating up people’s wealth in falsehood; the one who promoted action, effort and hard work.
{ So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it.} [az-Zalzalah: 7-8].
{ And that man can have nothing but what he does (good or bad) ,and that his deeds will be seen, then he will be recompensed with a full and the best recompense} [an-Najm: 39-41]
{ Verily, those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, their Lord will guide them through their Faith; under them will flow rivers in the Gardens of delight} [Yunus: 9]
And the one who taught his ummah, with his saying to his paternal aunt, ‘O Safiyyah, aunt of the messenger of Allaah! I cannot benefit you anything from Allaah.’[10] And the one who said to his daughter Faatimah, ‘O Faatimah! Save yourself from the fire’ and in a narration, ‘O Faatimah bint Muhammad – ask me that which you will of my wealth, for I cannot benefit you anything from Allaah.’[11]
However, the people [Brelvees] have made the religion rituals and illusions; innovations and atrocities. They have confined forgiveness into weddings; birthdays; [recitations of] al-Faatiha; making oaths by other than Allaah; eating the food from the wealth of the deceased and making it a means for their forgiveness and entering the paradise, in spite of the saying of the truthful one who is believed, ‘Whosoever innovates in this affair of ours that which is not from it will have it rejected.’[12] And he said sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘To proceed: Indeed the best of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best guidance the guidance of Muhammad. And the worst affairs are the newly invented ones, and every innovation is a misguidance’ and in a narration of an-Nasaa’ee, ‘…and every misguidance is in the fire.’[13]
And he said sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘Be aware of newly-invented matters, for every newly-invented matter is an innovation and every innovation is misguidance.’[14]
And it has been established that all of these affairs are from the newly-invented matters, that were not practised by the messenger of Allaah. And he did not order any of his companions, may Allaah be pleased with them [with anything of the like] even though there may have been reason to – as many of his respected companions, relatives and those close to him died during his lifetime – from the leader of the martyrs Hamza; his daughters Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthoom and Zaynab; his 3 or 4 sons, as there is a differing of opinion with regards to how many; his wife, the first of the believers and mother of the belivers Khajeeja and the martyrs of Badr and other than them from other battles, may Allaah be pleased with them all.
And, on top of this, if these actions were from the religion, or had some kind of connection to the Shariyyah, his rightly-guided khulafaa would not have left it during their lives and reigns – especially relating to their prophet, the leader of mankind and imam of the prophets and messengers. The would be the most likely people [to do these actions] and the grave of the prophet would be the most worthy grave where these festivals and rituals should take place.
And in this way, it would have been upon them [the rightly-guided khulafaa] to establish that which is dubbed the Mawlid and celebrate it, as there were none who loved the messenger of Allaah sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as much as they did, nor any people the messenger of Allaah sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam loved as he did them.
They are those about whom the professor of the revelation said, ‘and upon you is my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly-guided khulafaa – bite upon it with your molars.’[15]
Rather, instead, he said the opposite and prohibited it, where he said, ‘Do not take my grave as a festival.’[16]
Ash-Shaah Wali Allaah ad-Dehlawi said, explaining this hadith, ‘And in this is an indication to preventing the possibility of distortion, as the Jews and Christians did with the graves of their messengers, taking them as festivals and rituals with the status of Hajj.’[17 ]
[1] Taken from Al-Brelwiyyah – Aqaa’id wa taarikh by the Allaamah and shaheed, in sha Allaah, Ihsaan Ilaihi Zaheer, may Allaah have mercy upon him, pp. 124-128
[2] Rasool al-Kalaam fi bayaan al-Mawlid wa’l Qiyaam, p. 15
[3] Jaa al-haqq vol. 1, p. 231
[4] ibid
[5] Ibid, p233
[6] Rasool al-Kalaam fi bayaan al-Mawlid wa’l Qiyaam, p. 58
[7] Iid, p. 60
[8] Ibid, p. 71
[9] Ahkaam Shariyat, p. 144
[10] Agreed upon.
[11] Muslim and the second narration Muslim and Bukhaaree.
[12] Bukhaaree and Muslim
[13] Muslim and an-Nasaa’ee
[14] Ahmad, Abu Dawood at-Tirmithi and Ibn Maajah
[15] Ahmad, Abu Dawood at-Tirmithi and Ibn Maajah and its chain is authentic
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