Category: The prophet Muhammad (SAW) Islamic Rulings

Love of the Prophet is not only on One Night

Question :

What is the ruling on (celebrating) the Prophet's birthday? Please simplify for us the reply, for much has been said about it in recent times.

Answer :

It has not been authentically reported that the Prophet told us to celebrate the night of his birthday or anyone else's birthday, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. This proves that there is no special significance attached to this night. If it had any importance, it would be purely for that night on which he was born, and the grace of it would not be carried forward to the years following it, even though he was born on that date.

Allah has perfected His religion through what the Prophet conveyed. If this celebration were legislated and a Sunnah, and the Prophet had not made this clear, nor celebrated it, nor encouraged (his Companions) to do so, it would mean that the religion was incomplete during his lifetime, and that he hid from his people what was incumbent upon him to convey and explain.

It has been authentically reported from him that he said:
"Whoever innovates in this matter of ours that which is not from it, will have it (his innovation) rejected.

There is no doubt that this celebration on the night of his birthday was innovated after him and added to his legislation and there is no such thing in the religion, therefore, it is a innovation, and every innovation is a misguidance. The Prophet did not do it, neither did his Well-Guided Caliphs, nor the Imams of the religion who came after them.

It was only done after them by some of the Rafidhah in the fourth century after Hijrah, with the intention therewith of reviving the customs of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance and misguiding the Muslims. Many of the succeeding generations followed them, but the majority of scholars reject it.

It is incumbent upon every Muslim to love the Prophet and that this love should last the whole year, not just be evoked on one night of each year. Love for him implies obedience to him and following the path he prescribed. Whoever does so, is one of his people and his followers, while whoever worships by means of what has not been legislated, has contradicted his Sunnah and his path and added something to the religion something which does not belong to it.

The night of his birthday is not better than the night of the sending down of the Revelation, nor the night of Al-Isra', nor the night of the Hijrah, nor the night of the battle of Badr, nor any other night (on which some important event occurred). On all of these nights something good or beneficial for the Muslims happened, but it has not been reported that anyone celebrated them or singled them out for commemoration or celebration, and they are the righteous early generations of the community and people of exemplary conduct, not those who contradict their path.