The Celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday in the Month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal

One of the practices that has crept into the Muslim community in our times—and in periods just before—through imitation of the unbelievers, specifically the Christians, is what they call the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday. Every year in Rabiʿ al-Awwal the ignorant among the Muslims, or misleading scholars, mark the birth of the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ. Some hold the ceremony in mosques, others in private homes or halls prepared for the purpose, and it is attended by large crowds of common people who do so in conscious imitation of the Christians, who innovated the celebration of the birth of Christ (peace be upon him).

For the most part this celebration, besides being an innovation and an imitation of the Christians, is not free of acts of polytheism and other violations. Typical examples include composing poems that go to extremes in praising the Messenger ﷺ, to the point of calling upon him instead of Allah and seeking his help. Yet the Prophet ﷺ himself forbade such excess, saying: “Do not over-extol me as the Christians over-extolled the son of Mary. I am only a servant, so say: the servant of Allah and His Messenger.” 1

The term iṭrāʾ (exaggeration) means going to extremes in praise, and some participants even believe that the Prophet ﷺ is physically present at their gatherings.

Among the other reprehensible features that accompany these celebrations are melodious group chants, the beating of drums, and various invented Sufi litanies. At times there is also mixing between men and women, which leads to temptation and opens the door to immoral behavior.

Even if the gathering were free of all these dangers and restricted itself—as the proponents claim—to merely assembling, eating food, and expressing joy, it would still be a newly-devised innovation, and “every innovation is misguidance.” Moreover, it serves as a gateway for the celebration to develop further until the aforementioned abuses inevitably occur.