Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa baraktahu. All praise belongs to ALLAH and may peace and blessings be upon his messenger salalaahu alayhi wasallam. This article covers the following topics:

1. Good deeds and their conditions to make them acceptable.
2. Definition of Biddah and it’s harm. Concept of good biddah And how do we identify it?
3. Details of the date,month and year of birth and death of the prophet peace be upon him
4. History of Milad un nabi
5. Statements of the knowledgeable scholars regarding Mawlid
6. The Evil side of the celebration
7. How one can truly show their love to the prophet peace be upon him.
8. Conclusion
9. References

– Good deeds and their conditions to make them acceptable.

Before diving into the main topic, let’s learn and understand, what is required for a Muslim, to have his/her deeds accepted by ALLAH.

Deeds that are considered, as an act of worship, are given 2 criteria, for them to be accepted.  Therefore, one must acknowledge the criteria and act accordingly.

1. Intention:
All the acts of worship, must be directed for the sake of ALLAH alone. Be it namaz, zakat, fasting, hajj, sadqa, dua, dhikar, hijab, umrah, voluntary acts etc. We learn the importance of intention in the following Hadith –

It was narrated from ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab that the Prophet said: “Actions are but by intentions, and each person will have but that which he intended. Thus, he whose emigration was for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, his emigration was for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, and he whose emigration was to achieve some worldly gain or to take some woman in marriage, his emigration was for that for which he emigrated.” Sunan an-Nasa’i 3794
Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)

2. Prescribed manner:
All the acts, that are forms of worship to ALLAH, must be done in the prescribed manner (i.e. how it is taught in the Qur’an and sunnah).

One day Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah’s call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it.
Sahih Muslim 2408a

Even if one criteria is not achieved, the act is nullified..

Example 1: if a person prays 5x a day, but with an intention to show off, then his deed is rendered.
Example 2 : if a person has an intention to worship ALLAH, but he says, he will pray 4 units of sunnah namaz instead of 2 units of sunnah, of fajar salah,  out of love for ALLAH and to be closer to him, then this act is rejected because we are prescribed to pray only 2 units of sunnah.

– Definition of Biddah and it’s harm. Concept of good biddah. How do we identify actions that are biddah?

As a Muslim, one must acknowledge the fact that, we are servants of ALLAH. And as a servant, we worship Allah and seek means of his mercy, blessings and forgiveness, in the manner, which prescribed to us in the Qur’an and Sunnah. If any practice is stated to achieve either mercy, blessings and forgiveness of Allah but it has no proof from the Qur’an and sunnah, then it falls under the sin of inventing new things to the religion (i.e Biddah).

`A’ishah reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: If any one introduces into this affair of ours anything which does not belong to it, it is rejected. Ibn `Isa said: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone practices any action in a way other than our practice, it is rejected. Sunan Abi Dawud 4606
Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani)

We do not need any additional practice, because alhamdulillah our religion, Islam, has been completed and chosen for us by ALLAH. ALLAH mentions in the Qur’an (sura maida, verse 3)

ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلْإِسْلَـٰمَ دِينًۭا ۚ فَمَنِ ٱضْطُرَّ فِى مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍۢ لِّإِثْمٍۢ ۙ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ

Today I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your way. But whoever is compelled by extreme hunger—not intending to sin—then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Therefore, this comes to us clear that, we do not need any additional practice. ALLAH is all knowing. He has given us guidelines, in every single aspect of our lives. Not a single aspect , is left to us in sixes and sevens. We do not need any modifications to fit in the modern times. What was conveyed to us via nabi salalaahu alayhi wasallam, the rules, the regulations, the conduct, the acts of worship etc, everything remains the same until the day of judgment.

When a person supports a biddah, he/she must know that this will indirectly refer to any of the four claims-

1. Allah missed out to convey us on a certain practice  (astagfirullah) which is beneficial to us in deen and dunya
2. Prophet peace be upon him failed to convey us (nauzubillah) a certain practice.
3. We know the religion better than the prophet peace be upon him and the sahabas and the four caliphates and the four imams, and we will act on what we perceive as beneficial to us.

4. The deen was falling short and therefore, these practices are important to make it complete

All of these are harsh claims. And this is why the sin of biddah is grave.

“BUT WHAT IS THE HARM? WE ARE NOT RECITING OTHER THAN THE QUR’AN. WE ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING HARAM (E.G LISTENING TO MUSIC ETC. WE ARE RECITING THE QUR’AN AND OTHER DUAS”

This is the statement, most people make, when they are told that a certain act is biddah. The only harm that they commit, is the sin of adding a new thing to the religion, which has no proof from the Qur’an and sunnah, thinking it is beneficial (i.e.to gain reward and love from ALLAH)

Shaykh Ahmed Rumi (rahimuallah) writes-
“Biddat is an action, started by Shaitan. Shaitaan says, when I broke the back of children of Adam , due to weight of sins. They broke my back, due to their excessive repentance and seeking forgiveness from Allah azzawajjal. I then created such a sin for them, due to which they would not repent. This is that innovations in religion, Which is regarded as worship. For this very reason, people of knowledge stated that, biddat is regarded as being worse than haram acts. This is because when a person who performs a biddat, perceives he is doing something good. In reality, he is going against the Ways of Allah azzawajjal and his nabi salalaahu alayhi wasallam and regards an evil act as good (Source: Majaalisul Abrar pg 183)

We are also warned of the serious consequence in the aqira, due to the sin of practicing biddah

Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “I am your predecessor at the Lake-Fount (Kauthar) and some men amongst you will be brought to me, and when I will try to hand them some water, they will be pulled away from me by force whereupon I will say, ‘O Lord, my companions!’ Then the Almighty will say, ‘You do not know what they did after you left, they introduced new things into the religion after you.'” (Sahih al-Bukhari 7049)

Think of it, if this was any beneficial to us, it would have been told to us by ALLAH azzawajjal through the prophet peace be upon him. The sahabas, who learnt islam from the prophet peace be upon him, being next to him, living with him, would have practiced such acts, much better than us.

If ALLAH azzawajjal did not command us such and the best of the humans (i.e prophet peace be upon him) did not practice it. Then, how come we, claim biddat to be beneficial?

Concept of good biddah:

People who are in favour of newly invented practices, claim that Mawlid and events similar to it, are a good biddah and good biddah is a part of Islam and state the below hadith, to support their view:

‘Abdur Rahman bin ‘Abdul Qari said, “I went out in the company of ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab one night in Ramadan to the mosque and found the people praying in different groups. A man praying alone or a man praying with a little group behind him. So, ‘Umar said, ‘In my opinion I would better collect these (people) under the leadership of one Qari (Reciter) (i.e. let them pray in congregation!)’. So, he made up his mind to congregate them behind Ubai bin Ka’b. Then on another night I went again in his company and the people were praying behind their reciter. On that, ‘Umar remarked, ‘What an excellent Bid’a (i.e. innovation in religion) this is; but the prayer which they do not perform, but sleep at its time is better than the one they are offering.’ He meant the prayer in the last part of the night. (In those days) people used to pray in the early part of the night.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2010)

Every hadith, has a context and a meaning, that needs to be understood in the correct way. The word (good biddah) mentioned in this ahadith, is in the linguistic sense, not in the shar’i sense.
In addition to this, The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) led his companions in praying Taraweeh for a while, then he stopped doing that, lest that become obligatory on them. The Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them) continued to pray it separately during the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and after his death, until ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with them) gathered them behind one imaam as they used to pray behind the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This was not an innovation introduced into the religion.

Another matter that people talk about, to support the concept of GOOD BIDDAH, is the compilation of the Qur’an. Compiling the Quran into one book has a basis in Islam, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had commanded that the Quran be written down, but it was scattered, so the Sahaabah compiled it in one volume so as to protect and preserve it.

How do we identify that a certain act or a practice is a biddah?

When we are conveyed that a specific act is a form of worship to ALLAH, check if it aligns with Qur’an and Sunnah. Ask the scholars, who teach Islam holding onto the Qur’an and sunnah. Alhamdulillah we have internet access. We can go through lectures, fatwas and saying of scholars like shaykh ul Islam ibn tahmiyyah, shaikh al albani etc to gain the information.

If the act aligns with the Qur’an and Sunnah, go ahead. If it doesn’t align, then stay away from it.

– Details of the date,month and year of birth and death of the prophet peace be upon him

a) Year: It was the Year of the Elephant.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “There is no difference of opinion concerning the fact that he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was born in Makkah, and that his birth was in the Year of the Elephant.” (Zad al-Ma’ad fi Hadiy Khayr al-‘Ibad, 1/76)

b) Day: Prophet peace be upon him was born of Monday.

Abu Qatadah al-Ansari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was asked about fasting on Mondays and he said: “That is a day on which I was born and on it my mission began – or Revelation came to me.” (Narrated by Muslim, 1162)

c) Date: The date of birth and month, however, has different of opinions. What appears to us to be the case is that the strongest opinion concerning the birth of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is that he was born between the eighth and the twelfth of Rabee‘ al-Awwal.

“The Egyptian astronomer Mahmoud Basha (d. 1885 CE) who was well-versed in astronomy, geography and mathematics, and wrote several books based on his research stated that it was on the morning of Monday 9th Rabee‘ al-Awwal, which corresponds to 20th April 571 CE. That corresponds to the first year following the elephant incident. He was born in the house of Abu Talib in Shi‘ab Banu Hashim.” (Nur al-Yaqeen fi Seerat Sayyid al-Mursaleen (p. 9). See also ar-Raheeq al-Makhtum, p. 41)

Dr. Muhammad at-Tayyib an-Najjar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“Perhaps the reason for this difference of opinion is that when he was born, no one expected that he would attend such a status. For that reason, he did not live in the spotlight from the beginning of his life. When Allah decreed that the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) should begin to convey His message forty years after he was born, people began to seek out whatever memories they had about this Prophet, and they asked one another about every detail of his life. They were helped in that by what the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) himself narrated about incidents that he had experienced from his birth, as well as the reports narrated by his Companions and those who had also gone through those events with him.

At that time the Muslims began to collect everything that they had heard about the life story of their Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in order to transmit it to the people down throughout the ages.” (Al-Qawl al-Mubeen fi Seerat Sayyid al-Mursaleen, p. 78)

Note: The most well-known view for the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) occurred on 12th Rabee‘ al-Awwal 11 AH.

– History of Milad un nabi

For every single matter, there has to be the origin. As to when it was started, who initiated its celebration. If celebrating Mawlid/Milad Un Nabi, was not done by the prophet peace be upon him, neither did he command his beloved companions and wives to do it. And it was not proven from the early generations, then where and when did this practice begin?

The bidah practice of celebrating milad un Nabi was not established amongst the ummah after the time of prophet peace be upon him until 6 centuries were passed (i.e 600 years). This practice was established and was performed by a ruling king- MUZAFARUDEEN IBN ARBAL (died 630H) and his friend, who was worldly oriented scholar, by the name IBN WAHIYA ABUL KHATTAB (died 633H) in the Muslim area Mosul, Iraq in 604H (DOWLUL ISLAM PG 104)

Imam Ahmed bin Muhammad Misri Maliki (rahimuallah) writes- “ That the king (MUZAFARUDEEN IBN ARBAL) used to tell the scholars in his time that, whatever ijtihad he would dictate, should be adopted and nothing else was to be followed. He managed to select a group of scholars who were inclined to Duniya, to support his view. In this way he started to celebrate milad un Nabi and he was the first amongst Muslim kings, to create this innovation (Al Qawlul Mu’tamit)

To propagate and spread this biddah further, the king would utilise hundreds and thousands of Dinars from the Muslim treasury. Allamah Dhabi (rahimuallah) stated- “Every year he would spend 30,000 dinar on this event. To try to establish proof of this celebration, he commisioned a book written by IBN WAHIYA and for this effort, he paid IBN WAHIYA, 1000 dinar in modern day times (DOWLUL ISLAM PG 103-104)

This celebration is nothing but a way to dupe people, who have little knowledge of deen.

– Statements of the knowledgeable scholars regarding Mawlid

1. Imam Jalauddin Suyuti (rahimuallah) had to state: ” The permissibility of Mawlud is not established anywhere from the Qur’an and Sunnah. It is only Qiyas (Fe Amalil Mawlood)
2. Alahmah Abdur Rahman Maghribi rahimuallah writes in his Fatawa- “Verily, performing of the milad (as celebration) is a biddah. There is no evidence that the prophet peace be upon him, the rightly guided companions, or A’ima Mujtahideen practiced upon this themselves or ordered others to practice upon it” (Fe Shiratil Ilahiyah)
3. Imam Ahmed bin Muhammad Misri Maliki rahimuallah writes- “The scholars of the four schools of Fiqh are all unanimous upon the evil of this action of Milad” (Al Qawlul Mu’tamit)

– The Evil side of the celebration

In addition to being a grave sin (i.e. A biddah), celebrating Mawlid and any biddah, has always lead muslims away from the sunnah.

Some people have exaggerated this celebration to an extent that, many sins take place,in addition to leaving the sunnah. People rally out on streets (julus), there is free mixing of men and women, some people calling this day as an “EID”, praying an Eid salah on Mawlid etc

One must consider the below points before validating this sin as a means of gaining reward, closeness from Allah and a means to show love to the prophet peace be upon him.
1. Celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is an imitation of the Christians, because they celebrate the birth of the Messiah (peace be upon him). Imitating them is extremely haram. The hadeeth tells us that it is forbidden to imitate the kuffaar, and we are commanded to differ from them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them” (narrated by Ahmad, 2/50; Abu Dawood, 4/314). And he said, “Be different from the mushrikeen” (narrated by Muslim, 1/222, no. 259) – especially with regard to things that are the symbols or rituals of their religion.
2. Besides being bid’ah and an imitation of the Christians, both of which are haram, celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is also a means that leads to exaggeration and excess in venerating him, which even goes as far as calling upon him (making du`a to him) and seeking his help, instead of calling upon Allah, as happens now among many of those who observe the bid`ah of the Mawlid, when they call upon the Messenger instead of Allah, and ask him for support, and sing qaseedahs (odes) of shirk praising him, like Qaseedat al-Burdah etc. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade going to extremes in praising him, as he said: “Do not extol as the Christians extolled the son of Maryam. For I am just His slave, so say, the slave of Allah and His Messenger” (narrated by al-Bukhari, 4/142, no. 3445; al-Fath, 6/551)
3. Observing the innovation of the Prophet’s birthday opens the door to other kinds of bid’ah and being distracted by them from the Sunnah. Hence you find that the innovators are very active when it comes to bid’ah and very lazy when it comes to the Sunnah. They have split into various groups, each of which commemorates the anniversary of its imaam’s birth, such as the births of al-Badawi, Ibn ‘Arabi, al-Dasooqi and al-Shaadhili. No sooner do they end the celebration of one birthday but they start the celebration of another. This results in exaggeration concerning these dead people and others, and in calling upon them instead of Allah, believing that they can bring benefit and cause harm, until they deviate from the religion of Allah and go back to the religion of the people of the Jaahiliyyah

– How one can truly show their love to the prophet peace be upon him.

The only way a lover can prove his love, is by obeying his beloved. By not going against the command of the beloved. By ensuring that he doesn’t act or say anything that can disrespect or hurt the beloved.

Similarly, the only way we can show our love and affection to the prophet peace be upon him, is by following his commands and not going against it.

How many of us know so much about a favourite sports star, actor/ actress, a comic or a novel. Ask yourself, if you truly love the prophet peace be upon, do you know about his seerah? He (peace be upon him) commanded us to hold onto the Qur’an and sunnah. How well are we practicing?

As  they say, Actions speak louder than words. Our actions must speak our love for the prophet peace be upon. Learning and implementing the Qur’an and sunnah, should be our aim.

– Conclusion:

From where I am (i.e. India) I have observed that many people have followed these practices blindly, since ages. Only because the elders of their time, told them to do so. I don’t say that elders are always wrong. But, I do say, they can be wrong too. Nobody corrected them then, and this has passed down to generations. Learning the Qur’an and sunnah from the righteous scholars, who stick to the teachings of the 3 best generations, is very important.. No words of our elders, or even any ustaadah, or peer or wali is above the words of Allah and nabi salalaahu alayhi wasallam. When the nabi salalaahu alayhi wasallam has conveyed us what ALLAH has commanded, then no statement of others, hold weight

Nobody amongst us, can love the prophet peace be upon like the sahabas and the wives of the prophet peace be upon him. We cannot claim that this celebration is out of love and respect or Out of showing our gratitude to ALLAH, that he sent prophet peace be upon him as our leader. The wives of the prophet peace be upon him and the sahabas (may allah have mercy on them) gave up everything they had for the love of Allah and for the love of prophet peace be upon him. When they did not celebrate the birth of the prophet peace be upon him, to show their love and gratitude then, how can we, who barely leave our sins, can celebrate such a practice and claim our love for him (peace be upon him).

If you and I, truly love the prophet peace be upon him, the. we must ensure we learn and follow the Qur’an and Sunnah as much as one can. Avoid sin, shirk and biddah and seek Allah’s forgiveness and guidance. Complete our obligations as a Muslim and towards one another. Refrain from harming others with words or actions.

May ALLAH guide us to the straight path and protect us and our families and generations to come from deviations and going astray aameen.

– Refrences:

1. IslamQA (Ques no: 249, Article: is celebrating the prophet’s birthday allowed in Islam? )
2.https://www.scribd.com/document/218887366/The-Reality-of-Celebrating-Eid-Milad-Un-Nabi-Pbuh
3. Sunnah.com for hadith