Written by: Ali Shabl
What is the ruling on the legitimacy of celebrating the birth of the Chosen Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace? A question that is often asked as the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, approaches. It was received by Dr. Attia Lashin, Professor of Jurisprudence and Member of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.
In his confirmation of the legitimacy of celebrating the birth of the Prophet, Lashin explained that it is permissible to celebrate, show joy, and spread happiness and delight at the birth of the Master of Existence and the best of creations, based on the following evidence:
1- The saying of God Almighty: (And when God took a covenant from the prophets, “Whatever I give you of the Book and wisdom and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you must believe in him and support him.”)
According to what came in the blessed Qur’anic text, God took a covenant and a pledge from all the prophets and messengers, if they or some of them lived to see the time of his mission, may God bless him and grant him peace, they would be the first people to follow and believe in him, may God bless him and grant him peace. They acknowledged that and bore witness to that, and God bore witness to that with them. Is there not in that a celebration of him before his arrival, may God bless him and grant him peace, that leads us to the legitimacy of celebrating him after his arrival and death, may God bless him and grant him peace?
2- God Almighty said: (And remind them of the days of God)
Is there a day greater than the day of his birth, may God bless him and grant him peace, so that we can remind people of it??!!!
3- God Almighty said on the tongue of the friend of the Most Merciful: (Our Lord, and send among them a messenger from themselves who will recite to them His verses and teach them the Book and wisdom…) Isn’t that a celebration of him before his birth? So it is more appropriate for us to celebrate the day of his birth after his birth, may God bless him and grant him peace.
4- God Almighty said on the tongue of His Word and Spirit that He bestowed upon Mary, our Master Jesus, peace be upon him: (And when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, “O Children of Israel, indeed I am the Messenger of God to you, confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name will be Ahmad.”)
The good news about him was before his birth. Isn’t that a sign of celebrating him after his birth and mission????
5- Did not the Almighty God celebrate him before his birth when his grandfather Abdul Muttalib vowed that if he was blessed with ten sons, he would slaughter one of them, and the lot fell on Abdullah, the father of the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, and his father Abdul Muttalib continued to sacrifice him until his sacrifice amounted to a hundred camels, so he slaughtered them and sacrificed his son Abdullah for a reason that only God knows, so that the light in his loins would come out to illuminate the entire world, and it is the light of our master Muhammad, son of Abdullah.
Isn’t there anything in this that indicates the legitimacy of celebrating his birth, may God bless him and grant him peace?
6- Has not God commanded us to thank Him for His blessings by speaking about them and celebrating them? And is not our Master Muhammad the greatest of God’s blessings upon all of existence? He is His bestowed blessing and His mercy sent to all of God’s servants.
7- His uncle Abu Lahab, when his slave girl Thuwaybah gave him the good news of the birth of his nephew, was extremely happy and expressed his happiness by freeing his slave girl who had given him the good news of the birth. Despite his death as a disbeliever, the punishment was lessened for him every Monday because of his happiness at the birth of our master Muhammad, the Messenger of God. So if the disbeliever rejoices at the birth of our master Muhammad and celebrates it by freeing his slave girl, is it not permissible for us to celebrate and be happy on the day of his birth?
Some people composed poetry about this, saying:
If this is an infidel, then he should be blamed.
And his hands will perish in hell forever
It always comes on Monday.
May Allah ease his suffering for him
What do you think of the slave who lived a long life?
Ahmed was happy and died a monotheist.
Dr. Attia Lashin pointed out, via his official Facebook page, that some might object, saying: None of the Companions or Followers celebrated his honorable birth, which indicates that this is an innovation. He responded, saying:
Innovation is of two types: a reprehensible innovation called the innovation of misguidance, which is what is introduced that contradicts the Book, the Sunnah, or an athar.
A good innovation is something that has been introduced of goodness and has a general origin that testifies to it. There is nothing wrong with this. Did not our master Omar, during his era, gather the people behind an imam for the Tarawih prayer? This was not done during his era, may God bless him and grant him peace, nor during the era of the friend Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him. Then our master Omar added, saying: “This is a good innovation.”
We say, assuming that celebrating his birth is an innovation that did not exist in the era of the predecessors, we say: What a good innovation this is. And God knows best, and may God’s prayers and peace be upon the one who is commemorated.
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