Fellow Muslims, I advise myself and all of you to fear Allah and obey Him. Thereafter, Allah said in the Qur’an:
{ومن يشاقق الرسول من بعد ما تبيّن له الهدى ويتبع غير سبيل المؤمنين نولِّه ما تولّى ونُصلِه جهنم وساءت مصيرا}
In this verse it is stated that the one who follows a path other than the path of what the Muslim scholars agreed on then such a person will be subject to the severe torture in hell fire. Also it is stated that the great companion ^Abdullah ibn Mas^ud said that what all Muslim scholars judged to be good means that it is judged to be good by Allah, and what all Muslim scholars judged to be bad means that it is judged to be bad by Allah.
Among the matters deemed good by the Muslim nation and upon which they agreed that it is rewardable is celebrating the birth of the honorable Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It is among the great acts of obedience for which one gets rewarded because one is expressing happiness and joy for his birth عليه الصلاة والسلام . Despite the fact that such a celebration was not done during the time of the Prophet, it is considered among the good innovations which all the scholars approved of and deemed permissible. This celebration was first started in the 7th hijriyy century by the knowledgeable, pious, mujtahid, ruler of Irbil, al-Mudhaffar. He gathered many scholars of his time and they all deemed doing it as something good and praiseworthy, and did not object on holding it. Scholars that came after them held the same opinion and no one rejected doing it, rather they judged it as something good. In fact al-Hafidh Ibn Dihyah and others authored about holding Mawlid celebrations. The Hafidhs Ibn Hajar, al-^Iraqiyy, and as-Suyutiyy among others were of the opinion that it was a good act. This was the case until this past century, when a group attributing bodily attributes to Allah and denying the validity of tawassul appeared. They objected on what all Muslims from past centuries had deemed a good and rewardable act. They dared to say that it is a bad innovation and cited a hadith which they misinterpreted trying to confuse and mislead the Muslims. The hadith “كلّ محدَثَة بدعة” this is an authentic confirmed hadith but its meaning is different than what the misguided people claim. It means that what was innovated after the Prophet is a bad innovation unless it was is in agreement with the Islamic rules. The Arabic word “kull” in this verse means most and does not mean every single matter without any exception.
In a strong hadith narrated by Imam Muslim and others the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said what means that the one who innovates a good innovation in this religion receives reward for it and rewards similar to the rewards of those who follow him in doing it, without lessening any of their rewards.
This is why Imam ash-Shafi^iyy said that innovations are of two types: good or bad. What is in accordance to the rules of the religion is a good innovation and what is against them is a bad innovation. Furthermore, how could these deprived people who object to celebrating the Prophet’s birth dare to do so when it is a gathering of Muslims, where they recite Qur’an, make dhikr, and praise the Prophet, the best of creation. Such a gathering was accepted by the whole Muslim nation. Have not such people heard that it is explicitly mentioned in the religion that reciting Qur’an and praising the honorable Prophet are matters we are encouraged to do. In fact, Allah praised the Prophet in al-Qur’an in His saying:
وإنك لعلى خلق عظيم
It is stated in the honorable sunnah the acceptability of praising the Prophet whether individually or in a group, with or without playing a hand drum, inside or outside the mosque. It was confirmed in the strong hadith that people from Abyssinia were swaying in the Prophet’s mosque and praising him in their language; when the Prophet asked about what they were saying, he was told that they were saying Muhammad is a pious slave of Allah. He did not object to them. The Prophet’s uncle, al-^Abbas the son of ^Abdil-Muttalib, told the Prophet that he wanted to pay tribute to him with some verses of poetry; so the Prophet told him to go ahead. Al-^Abbas said a poem Which means that when you were born, the earth illuminated and by your light the horizon was lit.
The Prophet did not prevent his uncle from praising him nor did he tell him it is unlawful to do so. Rather he considered that a good act, and made du^a’ for al-^Abbas’ teeth to remain intact. Allah preserved them by the blessing of the Prophet’s du^a’; al-^Abbas died during ^Uthman ibn ^Affan’s caliphate at the age of 88 years, and he had not lost any teeth.
Dear brothers, listen closely to what al-Imam As-Suyutiyy said when asked about celebrating the mawlid. In a book he authored called Husnul-Maqsid fi ^Amalil-Mawlid, he said that the basis of holding the mawlid is for people to get together, recite Qur’an, mention the story of the prophet’s conception and birth, and then they are served food, so they eat and leave without doing anything else, this is a good innovation which one gets reward for doing, because of what it contains of glorifying the Prophet and expressing joy about his birth.
Fellow Muslims, do not be misled by those who deny tawassul, who are deprived of loving our great Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم. They falsely claim that our Muslim ancestors from over one thousand years ago including scholars from all over the world were misguided and wrong in celebrating the Prophet’s honorable birth, until their group came along and figured out the truth.
So continue to celebrate the birth of the honorable Prophet, recite Qur’an during this occasion, read the story about how he was born and the wondrous things that took place; praise him with a good intention and pay no attention to those who denounce that.
May Allah benefit us by the Prophet and grant us his companionship in the hereafter.