Question:
What is the ruling regarding those who celebrate the birthday of the Prophet ?
Fatwa:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.} [Quran 3:31] In a Hadeeth (saying of Prophet ) on the authority of 'Aa'ishah the Prophet said: that "whoever introduces something new to Islam which does not belong to it, it will be rejected and Allah The Almighty will not accept it from him." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
In a Hadeeth on the authority of Jabir Ibn Abdullah the Prophet used to mention in his sermons that the "best of sayings is the Book of Allah The Almighty, and the best of guidance is that of Muhammad and the worst of matters is innovations in religion and that every religious innovation is misguidance." [Muslim]
It was not authentically narrated from the Prophet or the rightly-guided Caliphs that they celebrated the birthday of the Prophet or did anything to that effect. If the celebration of his birthday was a good thing, they would have done that before anyone else. In the spirit of observing the noble Sunnah (rituals of Prophet ) and abiding by the Quran, Muslims should not introduce any matter that does not belong to the Book of Allah, the Quran, or the Sunnah of the Prophet .
If they were to do so, they would fail to apply his Sunnah and convey his message, while occupying themselves with trivial matters. It is not permissible for any Muslim, irrespective of his status, to propagate religious innovations or practice them, for this was the norm of the righteous predecessors of this Ummah (Nation), and affirmed by the diligent and prominent Imams all.
Finally, we implore Allah The Almighty to guide us to follow in their footsteps and hold fast to the straight path without addition or deletion. Allah The Almighty is the guide to success.
Allah Knows best.
Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb