al-Mawlid al-Nabawi Hal Nahtafil
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- Editions
- Dar al-Khulafa' al-Rashidin
al-Mawlid al-Nabawi: Hal Nahtafil? (The Prophet's Birthday: Shall We Celebrate?) is a contemporary treatise written by the Egyptian Salafi author Shehata Saqr (Shehata Muhammad Saqr) examining the legal status of celebrating the Prophet Muhammad's birthday (Mawlid) from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence and theology .
Subject and Core Arguments
The work argues against the permissibility of celebrating the Mawlid, categorizing it as an unlawful religious innovation (bid'ah) . The author establishes his position using several primary theological and legal premises:
- Completeness of the Religion: Introducing new religious observances implies that the religion was left incomplete, contradicting the Quranic declaration: الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا ("Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen Islam as your religion") [Al-Ma'idah: 3] .
- Absence of Precedent: Neither the Prophet ﷺ nor the Companions celebrated or sanctioned the occasion, and the author cites the principle articulated by Ibn Kathir regarding religious acts: had it been good, the early generations would have preceded later Muslims in doing it .
- Default Prohibition in Worship: Quoting Ibn Taymiyyah, the author asserts that the fundamental legal axiom governing acts of worship is prohibition unless explicitly legislated by divine text, unlike worldly customs where the default is permissibility .
- Critique of Physical Attendance Beliefs: Saqr rejects the belief held by some participants that the Prophet ﷺ physically attends Mawlid gatherings, citing Quranic verses and prophetic hadiths affirming that the deceased remain in their graves until the Day of Resurrection, drawing on rulings abridged from the fatwas of Ibn Baz .
Structure and Content
The book includes an introductory theological framework on the prohibition of newly invented matters in religion, relying on hadiths such as فَإِنَّ كُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ ("For every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance") and reports from Companions such as Ibn Mas'ud .
In a section titled "Questions Awaiting an Answer," Saqr highlights various practices and moral infractions associated with popular Mawlid festivities, arguing that they incorporate prohibited matters . These include acts of major polytheism (such as supplication, oaths, and animal sacrifices directed to deceased saints), circumambulating graves, journeying specifically to shrines, musical performances and dancing, gambling, magic shows, and unlawful mingling of men and women . He also raises rhetorical challenges asking why birthdays were never observed for figures such as Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, al-Bukhari, al-Shafi'i, or Ahmad ibn Hanbal .
Sources and Publication
Saqr compiled the work drawing upon several contemporary and classical reference works on religious innovations, including al-Bida' al-Hawliyyah by Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Tuwayjri, treatises by Hamid ibn Abd Allah al-Ali and Nasir al-Hunaini, online fatwas supervised by Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid and Dr. Abd Allah al-Faqih, as well as Saqr's own previous treatises on polemics against Sufism and innovations .
The treatise was published in Alexandria, Egypt, jointly by Dar al-Khulafa' al-Rashidin and Dar al-Fath al-Islami .
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