—acts of associationism (shirk) and excessive veneration of the Prophet ﷺ, together with the chanting of idolatrous poetry that beseeches and supplicates the Messenger, such as the poem al-Burda and the like, which contain abundant instances of major shirk—may Allah protect us. One line reads:

Yā akram al-khalq, mā lī man alūdhu bihi • siwāka ‘inda ḥulūli al-ḥādithi al-‘amami
“O noblest of creation, I have no one to whom I may flee for refuge but you when overwhelming calamities descend.”

And another:

Fa-inna min jūdika ad-dunyā wa ḍirratuhā • wa min ‘ulūmika ‘ilmu al-lawḥi wa-l-qalami
“For it is from your generosity that this world and the next exist, and from your knowledge is the knowledge of the Preserved Tablet and the Pen.”

These verses portray the Prophet ﷺ as the sole refuge and sanctuary in times of hardship, claim that both this life and the Hereafter are from his bounty, and ascribe to him the knowledge of the Preserved Tablet and the Pen with which Allah wrote the decrees. How grave and extreme this exaggeration is—may Allah protect us! The world and the Hereafter belong to Allah alone, and refuge is sought only with Allah, not with any created being, especially in times of distress and calamity.

Thus, celebrating the Prophet’s birthday is one of the newly invented, reprehensible innovations that surfaced only after the virtuous generations had passed. It also constitutes imitation of the People of the Book, and the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” It is the Christians who have long celebrated the birth of the Messiah, so why did the Companions never hold a celebration for the birth of the Messenger ﷺ?