Chapter Four
Examples of Contemporary Innovations

Among the most common contemporary innovations are:

1. The celebration of the Prophet’s birthday (al-mawlid).
2. Seeking blessing from certain places, relics, the dead, and similar practices.
3. Innovations in the realm of worship and forms of drawing near to Allah.

Such innovations have multiplied in our own times because knowledge has waned, advocates of innovation and wrongdoing have become numerous, and imitation of the disbelievers in their customs and rituals has spread—just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) warned: “You will surely follow the ways of those who came before you.” (1)

1. The yearly celebration of the Prophet’s birth in the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal: This practice imitates the Christians’ observance of what they call the birth of Christ. Every year, ignorant Muslims—or scholars who mislead others—mark the birth of the Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in Rabiʿ al-Awwal. Some of them hold this celebration in mosques,