Hi everyone, I will be discussing one of the most controversial issues in Islam, the festival of celebrating Prophet Muhammad's birthday (Mawlid un-Nabi/Mawlid/Eid Milad un-Nabi). I thought I might as well focus on this topic seeing as it is the time of the year when the Prophet's birthday is celebrated by the majority of Muslims. Also, especially after I had attended a Mawlid gathering last week, proceeding the event I met up with family and friends and when I started discussing the festival it sparked up a big argument....... and I was like

It was too late when I realised that I should have just kept my mouth

                   

            SHUT 

However, I can say with 100% conviction (well maybe nearly 100%) that this is not the first time an argument over the practice of Mawlid had taken place. It has become more prominent that whenever it comes around to this period, arguments flare up surrounding the issue of whether the practice is permissible or not. It is sad to see that this debate has certainly created a great division amongst Muslims. On the one hand there are those who argue that the celebration is unacceptable. On the other hand, it is disputed by Muslims that Mawlid un-Nabi is a permissible practice in Islam.

The festival of Prophet Muhammad's birthday is often celebrated around the 12^th of Rabi al-Awwal (the third month in the Islamic calendar). Forty-seven Muslim countries around the world declare a public holiday on the day this festival is celebrated. During this celebration cities, mosques and homes are decorated.

The celebration is a joyous event in which people gather together and venerate the Prophet, by reciting the Prophet’s seerah (biography), the Qur'an, salatul al-nabi (invocation of blessings upon the Prophet) and sing naats (poetry).

 

Below is a beautiful poem in English which

illustrates the love for Prophet Muhammad.

“O my beloved, prophet of mercy ﷺ 

O my beloved, prophet of mercy ﷺ

Call me to visit your blessed city ﷺ
O my beloved, prophet of mercy ﷺ
Accept this plea of your sinful ummati ﷺ
O my beloved, prophet of mercy ﷺ

Indeed, you are the best of all of creation ﷺ
So amazing and wonderful is your perfection ﷺ
Allow us just one, glimpse of your beauty ﷺ
O my beloved, prophet of mercy ﷺ

You are the leader of all the Prophets ﷺ....”     

 



This is a photo of people gathering together
in Bangladesh for a Mawlid procession.



Above is a video of naat singing by Qibla Sahib Eidgah Sharif in a Mawlid un-Nabi gathering in Amsterdam, Holland.

Muslims celebrate this festival by fasting, giving money to charities, and langars (communal meals) are organised. Mawlid processions  also take place all over the world.