The Innovation of Gathering for the Prophet’s Birthday (Peace Be Upon Him) by Imam Abu Al-Walid Sulayman bin Khalaf bin Sa’d Al-Baji who was teacher of great Maaliki scholars of 4th and 5th century.
He said:
الحمد لله الذي هدانا لاتِّباع سيد المرسلين، وأيَّدنا بالهداية إلى دعائم الدين، ويسَّر لنا اقتفاء آثار السلف الصالحين، حتى امتلأت قلوبنا بأنوار عِلم الشرع وقواطع الحق المُبين، وطهَّر سرائرنا مِن حدث الحوادث والابتداع في الدين، أحمده على ما منَّ به من أنوار اليقين، وأشكره على ما أسداه من الحبل المتين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأن محمدًا عبده ورسوله سيد الأولين والآخِرين، صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وأصحابه وأزواجه الطاهرات أمهات المؤمنين، صلاة دائمة إلى يوم الدين، أما بعد؛ فقد تكرَّر عليَّ سؤال جماعة مِن المباركين عن الاجتماع الذي يعمله بعض الناس في شهر ربيع الأول ويُسمُّونه المولد، هل له أصل في الشرع أو هو بدعة وحدث في الدين؟ وقصدوا الجواب عن ذلك مبينًا والإيضاح عنه معينًا، فقلت وبالله التوفيق:
لا أعلم لهذا المولد أصلاً في كتاب ولا سنَّة، ولا يُنقَل عمله عن أحد من علماء الأمة الذين هم القدوة في الدين، المتمسِّكون بآثار المتقدِّمين، بل هو بدعة أحدثها البطالون، وشهوة نفْس اعتنى بها الأكالون، بدليل أننا إذا أدرنا عليه الأحكام الخمسة قلنا: إما إن يكون واجبًا أو مندوبًا أو مباحًا أو مكروهًا أو محرَّمًا، وليس بواجب إجماعًا ولا مندوبًا؛ لأن حقيقة المندوب ما طلبه الشرع من غير ذمٍّ على تركه، وهذا لم يأذن فيه الشرع، ولا فعله الصحابة ولا التابعون ولا العلماء المُتديِّنون فيما علمتُ، وهذا جوابي عليه بين يدي الله – تعالى – إن سئلت عنه، ولا جائز أن يكون مباحًا؛ لأن الابتداع في الدين ليس مباحًا بإجماع المسلمين، فلم يبقَ إلا أن يكون مكروهًا أو حرامًا.
وحينئذ يكون الكلام فيه في فصلين والتَّفرِقة، بين حالين:
أولهما: أن يعمله رجل مِن عَين ماله لأهله وأصحابه وعياله، ولا يُجاوزون في ذلك الاجتماع أكل الطعام، ولا يَقترِفون شيئًا من الآثام، وهذا الذي وصفناه بأنه بِدعة مكروهة وشناعة؛ إذ لم يفعله أحد من متقدمي أهل الطاعة، الذين هم فقهاء الإسلام، وعلماء الأنام، سرج الأزمنة، وزَين الأَمكِنة.
والثاني: أن تدخله الجناية وتقوى به العناية، حتى يُعطي أحدهم السحت، ونفسه تتبعه، وقلبه يؤلمه ويوجعه، لما يجد مِن ألم الحيف، وقد قال العلماء: أخذ المال بالحياء كأخذه بالسيف، لا سيما إذا انضاف إلى ذلك شيء مِن الغناء مع البطون الملأى بآلات الباطل من الدفوف والشبابات، واجتماع الرجال مع الشباب المُرْد والنساء الفاتنات، أو مختلطات بهم أو مُتشرِّفات، والرقص بالتثنِّي والانعطاف، والاستغراق في اللهو ونسيان يوم المخاف، وكذلك النساء إذا اجتمعنَ على انفرادهنَّ رافعات أصواتهن بالتهنيك والتطريب في الإنشاد، والخروج في التلاوة والذِّكر عن المشروع والأمر المُعتاد، غافلات عن قوله تعالى: ﴿ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ ﴾ [الفجر: 14]، وهذا الذي لا يَختلف في تحريمه اثنان، ولا يستحسنه ذوو المروءة الفتيان، وإنما يَحلو ذلك لنفوس موتى القلوب وغير المستقلين مِن الآثام والذنوب، وأزيدك أنهم يرونه مِن العبادات لا مِن الأمور المنكرات المحرَّمات؛ فإنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون، و((بدأ الإسلام غريبًا، وسيعود كما بدأ)).
ولله در شيخنا القشيري؛ حيث يقول فيما أجازنا به:
قد عُرِف المنكرُ واستُنكِر المعرو
ف في أيامنا الصعبه
وصار أهل العلم في وَحدة
وصار أهل الجهل في رُتبه
حادوا عن الحق فما للذي
ساروا به فيما مضى نِسبه
فقلت للأبرار أهل التقى
والدِّين لما اشتدَّت الكُربه
لا تُنكِروا أحوالكم فقد أتَت
نَوبتكم في زمن الغُربه
ولقد أحسن الإمام أبو عمرو بن العلاء؛ حيث يقول: لا يزال الناس بخير ما تعجب من العجب.
هذا مع أن الشهر الذي ولد فيه – صلى الله عليه وسلم – وهو ربيع الأول هو بعينه الذي توفي فيه، فليس الفرح فيه بأولى مِن الحزن فيه، وهذا ما علينا أن نقول، ومِن الله – تعالى – نرجو حسن القَبُول، والله أعلم، وصلى الله على محمد وآله وصحبه.
Praise be to Allah, who guided us to follow the master of messengers, supported us with guidance to the pillars of religion, and facilitated our following in the footsteps of the righteous predecessors, until our hearts were filled with the light of religious knowledge and clear truths, and He purified our innermost selves from innovations and heresies in religion. I praise Him for the light of certainty He bestowed upon us, and I thank Him for the strong rope He granted us. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, the master of the first and the last. May Allah’s prayers be upon him, his family, his companions, and his pure wives, the mothers of the believers, continuously until the Day of Judgment.
To proceed: I have been repeatedly asked by a group of blessed individuals about the gathering that some people hold in the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, which they call the “Mawlid” (Prophet’s birthday celebration). Does it have a basis in Sharia, or is it an innovation and a heresy in religion? They requested a clear and detailed answer. So I say, with Allah’s success:
I do not know of any basis for this Mawlid in the Book or the Sunnah. It was not practiced by any of the scholars of the Ummah who are the role models in religion and who adhered to the ways of the early generations. Rather, it is an innovation introduced by idle people and a desire of the soul exploited by the gluttonous. This is evident when we apply the five Sharia rulings to it: it must be either obligatory, recommended, permissible, disliked, or forbidden. It is not obligatory by consensus, nor is it recommended, because the essence of a recommended act is that it is requested by Sharia without blame for abandoning it. However, Sharia did not authorize this, nor did the Companions, the Successors, or the devout scholars practice it to the best of my knowledge. This is my answer before Allah if I am asked about it. It cannot be permissible because innovation in religion is not permissible by the consensus of Muslims. Thus, it remains only to be either disliked or forbidden.
At this point, the discussion can be divided into two sections and two scenarios:
First: If a person holds it using his own wealth for his family, friends, and household without exceeding the bounds of gathering to eat food and without committing any sins, then what we have described is an innovation that is disliked and reprehensible, since none of the early pious people—the jurists of Islam, the scholars of mankind, the lamps of the ages, and the adornments of places practiced it.
Second: If it involves wrongdoing and is given undue importance, to the extent that someone gives unlawfully acquired wealth while his soul follows it and his heart pains him for the injustice he feels and the scholars have said: “Taking wealth through shame is like taking it by force” especially if accompanied by singing with bellies full of false instruments like drums and flutes, and the gathering of men with beardless youth and enchanting women, or women mixing with them or revealing themselves, and dancing with bending and swaying, and immersion in amusement while forgetting the Day of Fear. Similarly, if women gather alone, raising their voices with excitement and melodious chanting in recitation, and exceeding the prescribed manner in recitation and remembrance, heedless of Allah’s words: “Indeed, your Lord is in observation” (Quran 89:14). This is something that no two people disagree about its prohibition, and no one with chivalry and youth finds it good. It only appeals to those with dead hearts and those who are not deterred by sins and wrongdoings. I add that they consider it an act of worship, not a forbidden and prohibited matter. Truly, to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange as it began.”
How excellent are the words of our Sheikh Al-Qushayri, which he permitted us to quote:
“The wrong has become known, and the known has become denied in these difficult times of ours.
The people of knowledge have become isolated,
While the people of ignorance have attained ranks.
They have deviated from the truth, so what they once followed has no connection.
So I said to the righteous, the people of piety and religion, when the hardship intensified:
Do not deny your circumstances, for your turn has come in a time of strangeness.”
Imam Abu Amr bin Al-Ala also said well: “People will remain in good as long as they are amazed by the amazing.”
This is despite the fact that the month in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was born, Rabi’ al-Awwal, is the very same month in which he passed away. Thus, rejoicing in it is no more appropriate than grieving in it. This is what we must say, and from Allah we hope for acceptance. And Allah knows best. May Allah’s prayers be upon Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
مجلة الإصلاح، العدد الثاني عشر، شعبان سنة 1347 هـ، ص14
P.S. This is exactly what Ibn al-Hajj al-Maliki said in his al-Madkhal a point which Sufis try to distort to portray him as having allowed Mawlid celebrations, which is utterly incorrect. He even stated that it is an innovation even if someone performs only good deeds, exactly as Abu Walid al-Baji said.
The Mawlid was innovated by the Rafidhi Batini Fatimids in the 4th century. They innovated six Mawlid celebrations, which included the Mawlid of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) , Ali, Fatimah, Hassan, Hussain may Allah be pleased with them all and the (Fatimid) Caliph. Then, in the 5th century, some Sunnis rejected all other Mawlids but adopted only one (the Prophet’s), began calling it a “good innovation” (bid’ah hasanah). I do not know why they did not also call the Mawlid of Ali, Fatimah, Hassan, and Hussain (may Allah be pleased with them) a “good innovation.” Why only one Mawlid?
After Abul Walid al Baji wrote against it, in sunnis Abul Khattab Ibn Dahiya wrote the first book ever in its favor and received 1000 dirhams from King al-Muzaffar, who had both good and bad deeds according to the scholars. May Allah forgive his mistakes and grant him Jannah.