Praise be to Allaah. I was reading a sufi website and i found that they have forged the quote of Imam Ibn Kathir. Below is what they said
“””Now Im going to prove from a scholar whom even Salafi consider the top most scholar in Tafsir and Tarikh and he not only says 12th is the mainstreem opinion but also relies with exact hadith for it
ورواه ابن أبى شيبة في
مصنفه عن عفان ، عن سعيد بن ميناء ، عن جابر وابن عباس أنهما قالا : ولد رسول الله
صلى الله عليه وسلم عام الفيل يوم الاثنين الثانى عشر من شهر ربيع الاول
Translation: Ibn Abi Shaybah (rah) in his Musannaf narrates from Affan>>Sa’id>>Jabir and Ibn Abbas (ridhwan Allahu ajmain) who said: Rasul Ullah (salallaho alaihi wasalam) was born in the year of elephant on Monday, the 12th Rabi Ul Awwal [Ibn Kathir in Seerat un Nabi, Volume 1, Page No. 199]”””[Taken from the article of ahlus-sunna website regarding Mawlid un Nabi]
Screen shots: http://images.orkut.com/orkut/photos/QQAAAL6N_EG4TSviVRH2jlCw82vEBaq17lAxEti1QSH94e05WYKLZrWlPBfjkHXMsuAVtO-pAyuR0d8WarQqF4QgE8gb8HQkMZFFtVxBAVEIcFLkAJtU9VC9NExIx9StaqIMxv9qNnAy2ecrvg.jpg
Response:
They have forged the quote of Imam Ibn Kathir, this is what he said
وَقَالَ أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ حَدَّثَنَا عُثْمَانُ عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ مِينَا عَنْ جَابِرٍ وَابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ.قَالَا: وُلِدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَامَ الْفِيلِ يَوْمَ الِاثْنَيْنِ الثَّانِيَ عَشَرَ مِنْ رَبِيعٍ الْأَوَّلِ.وَفِيهِ بعث، وفيه عرج به إلى السماء، وفيه هَاجَرَ، وَفِيهِ مَاتَ. فِيهِ انْقِطَاعٌ.
Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Shaybah (rah) narrates from Uthman>>Sa’id>>Jabir and Ibn Abbas (ridhwan Allahu ajmain) who said: Rasul Ullah (salallaho alaihi wasalam) was born in the year of elephant on Monday, the 12th Rabi Ul Awwal and on this date Prophet peace be upon him went to the sky (meraj), and he migrated on this date and he died on this date. There is Inqita Missing link”””[Al Bidaya wal nihaya] http://www.islamweb.net/newlibrary/display_book.php?flag=1&bk_no=59&ID=208
so they have not included the criticism of Imam Ibn Kathir on the narration, and same narration states, وفيه عرج به إلى السماء means on this date Prophet peace be upon him went to the sky (meraj) but we know that brailwis celbrate night of meraj on 27th of rajab. If they want to accept this weak narration then they should accept it as a whole. They just quoted half of the narration without mentioning the criticism. May Allah save us ameen.
apart from Imam Ibn Katheer, Imam Jozqani (d 543 h) mentioned this narration in his book الأباطيل والمناكير والصحاح والمشاهير (1/ 267