Praising the Prophet on his birthday Fatwa No: 90783
- Fatwa Date:29-11-2005
I have a very important question to ask. I have read all your Fataawa about the innovators and celebrating the birthday of the last messenger Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, so please do not refer me to any more Fataawa. Just answer my question straight. I am 17-years old, Sunni Muslim. I read Namaz behind an Imaam, who does celebrate 'Eed Milaad un-Nabi.' And of course I do as well. By celebrating the 'Eed Milaad un-Nabi what I mean by that is I gather around with other people from town and we stay approximately 3 to 4 hours in mosque from Thuhr till Asr, we don’t sing songs or anything. Only thing we do is read Namaz and listen to the lectures (bayans) which refer to Prophet Muhammad’s, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, life their teachings and their Hadeeth and some people read Naa’ts (praise to Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam). Does this mean that I am an innovator even Hassan bin Sabit, may Allaah be pleased with him, said praise to Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, whilst sitting in front of them. Please answer this question as soon as possible.
My second question is that does the cry of girl go up to seventh heaven and shake the heavens. Is that true?
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
Hassaan Ibn Thaabit praised the Prophet but he did not restrict this to his birthday and he did not reserve a specific day in the year to praise the Prophet with his poetry. Additionally, he was not used to extol him to an extent that makes him a non-human being. As regards what you are doing especially in his birthday, the exaltations, the supplications and Prophetic praises which generally extol the Prophet beyond his status, then this is an innovation in religion. Acts of worship are determined by Islamic Law and there is no room for opinion or Ijtihaad. If you say that all what you want to achieve is righteousness, the answer is that many people who want to achieve that did not succeed to do so. The companions of the Prophet were the best people who were keen on performing acts of righteousness but did not do anything of this kind. If there was really any good in these acts, they would have certainly preceded us in doing so. If you say it is the love of the Prophet which made you do so, you have to know that the love of the Prophet is by following his example and not by innovating. So, dear brother, fear Allaah and abandon what you are doing you will be successful. For more details, please refer to Fatwa 89739, 87826 and 81804.
As regards the seven heavens shaking to the cry of the girl, then there is no evidence on this as far as we know and we did not find this in any religious books. However, Ibn Al-'adiy reported that 'Umar said: "The Prophet said: "When an orphan cries, the Throne of Allaah shakes." It seems that this narration is weak as in the chain of narrators there is Al-Hassan Ibn Abu Ja'far who is listed among the week narrators.
Allaah Knows best.