Refuting false claims regarding Al-Mawlid-II

09/03/2009| IslamWeb

Fitfth claim: Al-Mawlid encourages people to ask Allah to send salutations upon His Messenger and exalt his mention, which is something mandatory upon all Muslims, as Allah Says (what means): {Indeed Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and his angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace.} [Quran 33:56] Therefore, anything which accomplishes that which is required Islamically is itself a requirement, such as Al-Mawlid.

Refutation:  The thing that would really make a person implement the command mentioned in that verse and frequently mention of name of the Prophet is if they were to live their life studying the Sunnah of the Prophet and applying it to all areas of their life. In reality, the celebration of Al-Mawlid once a year is nothing but a practical call to desert and abandon the Sunnah of the Prophet and the asking of Allah to send salutations upon him and exalt his mention - except during this yearly festival. One only has to look at the lives of the people who propagate the celebration of Al-Mawlid to confirm this. These people are the furthest from applying the Sunnah in their lives; they seem to think that just because they have celebrated this yearly festival, they have fulfilled their duties towards the Prophet . They also think that those who do not celebrate this event are not giving the Prophet his due right. Reality testifies that the truth is the opposite of this, and that those who celebrate Al-Mawlid are actually the ones who abandon the Sunnah of the Prophet and are the ones who are the furthest from its guidance. They do not realise that the true meaning of rejoicing at Allah sending us His Prophet is by rejoicing with that which he came with, and that following him is the only way for this joy to materialise and have a real effect. Allah Says (what means): "Say, [O Muhammad], 'If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you."Ibn Katheer said commenting upon this verse: "This verse is a ruling against anyone who claims to love Allah while not following the Prophet's Sunnah that they are a liar - until they follow the way of the Prophet Muhammad totally, in word and deed."  Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: "Some people made the claim that they love Allah, so He tested the claim with this verse."

Sixth claim:  If Jumu'ah (Friday) has a special virtue and is honoured due to the fact that Aadam, may Allah exalt his mention, was born on that day, as the Prophet said: "… And Aadam was born on it (Jumu'ah)", then surely the Prophet's birthday is worthier because he is the most honourable of all the Prophets.

Refutation:  The virtues of Jumu'ah are well established; it is a weekly holiday and a celebration for the Muslims. Although Aadam was born on Jumu'ah as the Prophet said: "The best of your days is the day of Jumu'ah, and Aadam was born on it."It is a lie upon the Prophet to claim that Islam glorified and honoured Jumu'ah because of the birth of Aadam, may Allah exalt his mention, on that day.  Those who make such a claim only do so to use it as a foundation for their argument of celebrating Al-Mawlid.

We need to bear in mind that the same Islamic texts (the Quran and Sunnah) which glorified and honoured the day of Jumu'ah are those that intentionally and deliberately did not mention anything about, nor honour the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad . Therefore, giving the same ruling to both events, when Islam did not legislate for one and did so for the other, is an extremely evil, corrupt and false double-standard. Allah Says (what means): {This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed my favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as a religion.} [Quran 5:3]

The Prophet forbade singling out Jumu'ah for fasting or optional night prayers (Qiyaam) when he said: "Do not single out the night of Jumu'ah for Qiyaam, nor its day with fasting unless you habitually fast it." [Muslim]

Seventh Claim: Al-Mawlid includes things which are Islamically praised, recommended and encouraged like charity, the mentioning of Allah's names and praise and glorification of the Prophet .

Refutation:  Although Al-Mawlid does include these praised and encouraged matters, it is still an unfounded gathering for an unlawful reason. Acts of worship must be justified by the Sharee’ah, otherwise they will be rejected by Allah due to them not coinciding with His commands and that of His Messenger . The Prophet did not legislate for his birthday to be a day to gather for prayer, charity or recitations of poems of praise, some of which contain Shirk, like the famous Al-Burdah written by Al-Booseeri which says in some of its verses:

"You are the most honourable of all creation

I have none but you to resort to when adversities befall me

If you don’t rescue me on the Day of Resurrection from your grace

Then my feet will definitely slip into the Hellfire

From your generosity you have provided this world and the Hereafter

Your know what is in the preserved tablet and you know the divine decree"

Allah Says: (what means):"Indeed Allah [alone] has knowledge of the Hour and sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul perceives in what land it will die. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted."[Quran 31:34] Ibn Mas’ood, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Your Prophet was given access to all knowledge (as needed) except the absolute knowledge of the unknown and the unseen." - Then he recited the aforementioned verse.

In Islam, anything that leads to a prohibited act it itself prohibited. Although the Islamic texts recommend charity, mentioning the name of Allah and asking Allah to send salutations upon the Prophet and exalting his mentioning, they do not state that people are to exaggerate in praising him to the extent of attributing knowledge of the unknown and unseen to him – which is knowledge that is exclusive to Allah and a form of Shirk if someone were to attribute this knowledge to anyone besides Him.

Eighth claim:  Some scholars have recommended Al-Mawlid, and Muslims all around the world have celebrated it throughout history. Therefore, it must be celebrated based on the saying of Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him: "Anything which the Muslims collectively deem as good is good and anything which the Muslims collectively deem as bad is bad."

Refutation:  If we are to understand from this statement of Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, that 'collectively' means the consensus of the scholars of the Muslim nation, then this is of course the correct understanding, because they never collectively agreed on anything that was misguidance. However, the notion that the Muslim nation as a whole are united in celebrating Al-Mawlid is a fallacy, in fact the opposite is true. The struggle against this Bid'ah began from the very first day that it was initiated by the misguided Baatinee (those with concealed beliefs) rulers. After that, in the seventh Hijri century, Sultan Irbil spread this misguidance even further. What made this Bid'ah spread as far and wide as it did was the fact that was propagated by the rulers, who hade complete control over their subjects.

The fact that many people in different countries take part in this Bid'ah can never be taken as evidence to justify it and make it Islamically permissible, because the truth is not related to the numbers who adhere to it. Allah Says (what means): {And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you from the way of Allah.}[Quran 6:116] Moreover, the Prophet described the victorious Muslim group which will supported by Allah and granted victory to be very small in number as stated in the book of Muslim.

If the people who propagate Al-Mawlid were to reflect on that saying of Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, they would find that it is actually evidence against themselves. This is because the consensus mentioned refers to that of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, of the Prophet . This is the very reason why these people deliberately delete the beginning and misinterpret the end of the narration. For the sake of completion, here is the complete narration: Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Allah looked into the hearts of the people and found that the heart of Muhammad was the finest, so He chose him to be His beloved and sent him with His Message. Then Allah looked into the hearts of everybody else and found that the hearts of Muhammad's Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were the finest (from the rest), so He made them succeed His Prophet and made them fight for the sake of His religion. Therefore, anything which the Muslims collectively deem to be good is good and anything which the Muslims collectively deem to be bad is bad." [Ahmad]

 As-Sindi said: "It is obvious that the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, of the Prophet are the ones referred to as 'the Muslims' in this narration. Therefore, the consensus must be that of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and the consensus of others cannot be included, let alone the agreement of a single group of people on one opinion …"

When Ibn Mas'oodand Abu Moosa Al-Ash'ari, may Allah be pleased with them, both,condemned circles in which the name of Allah was mentioned collectively, they did so due to it going against the practice of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, of the Prophet and therefore being a bad practice. This is despite the fact that generally, mentioning the name of Allah is a recommended act of worship, but these circles were an innovative way of doing so.Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him,said to some of the people in these circles: "What is this that I see you all doing?" they replied: 'We are counting how many times we say Allahu Akbar, Laa Ilaaha Illallaah and Subhaanallaah with these stones." He replied: "Woe to you! How fast it is that you lead yourselves to destruction, the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, of the Prophet are still many in number around you (to ask for religious instructions) and the Prophet just passed away (i.e. he has not been gone long enough for you to forget his teachings)."  Then Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "I swear by Him in Whose hands my soul is, you are either following a way (which you think is) more guided than that of Muhammad or you are initiating a way of misguidance." They replied: "But we only intended to do what is good." Ibn Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, replied: "How often it is that those who intend to do good miss out on it.' It was never reported that any of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, of the Prophet held an opinion opposite to that of Ibn Mas'ood and Abu Moosa, may Allah be pleased with them, regarding the condemnation of those who gathered for the collective mentioning of Allah's name. If all the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, regarded that as evil, then what would they have thought of those who gather to read Quran collectively during Al-Mawlid, which also includes other activities that are clear forms of Shirk?