Celebrating Prophet's birthday Q- Is it lawful for Muslims to celebrate like Eid, the remembrance of the Prophets life story on the 12th night of Rabi Al-Awwal in the Masjid, on the occasion of the Prophet's birthday without interrupting the work of that day? We have differed over the topic. It was said it is a good innovation, and others said it is a bad innovation. A – It is not permissible for the Muslims to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet (peace be upon him) on the 12th night of Rabi Al-Awwal or any other time. Because the celebration of the Milad is an innovation in the religion. The Prophet (peace be upon him) never celebrated his birthday in his lifetime, and he was the one who brought us this religion, and the one who conveyed the laws to us. He never ordered anyone to do that, neither did the Rightly-Guided Caliphs after him nor his Companions nor those who faithfully followed them during the period of the pious generations. So it is known that it is an innovation about which the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever innovates into this matter of ours, that which is not from it, shall have it rejected.” (Sahih Muslim, no. 1718) Its authenticity is agreed upon, and in one of the versions recorded by Muslim, as well as the one by Al-Bukhari mentioned: “He who does a deed which is not from this matter of ours (religion), it shall be rejected.” Milad is not something that the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered, rather it was introduced into the religion by people of the later generations, thus it is rejected. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to say in the Friday Khutbah: “The best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and newly invented matters are misguidance. (Sahih Muslim, no. 867) An-Nasa'i included in his narration: And every misguidance is in the Fire. (An-Nasa'i, no. 1579) There is no need to celebrate his birthday, which is not legislated by Allah, nor by His Prophet, and has no legal proof. – Sheikh Bin Baz; Fatawa Islamiyah, vol. 1, pg. 71 __
