all of it newly invented. On top of that, men and women sometimes mix at these functions, a situation that provokes temptation and can lead to outright immorality. Even supposing the celebration were free of such dangers and were confined—as its defenders claim—to nothing more than gathering, sharing food, and displaying joy, it would still be a newly contrived practice, and “every newly-invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.” In addition, once the door is opened, the occasion easily develops until the same offenses found in other festivities make their way into it.

We therefore state categorically that it is a bidʿah, for it has no foundation in the Book of Allah, the Sunnah, or the practice of the righteous predecessors from the favored generations. Rather, it surfaced only after the fourth century AH, introduced by the Shiʿite Fāṭimid rulers. Imām Abū Ḥafṣ Tāj al-Dīn al-Fākihānī said: “Henceforth: A number of esteemed brethren have repeatedly asked me about the gathering some people hold in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, which they call the Mawlid—whether it possesses any basis in the religion. They sought a clear, detailed answer, so I replied, relying upon Allah…"