Question:
Do we have evidences from early Sunni scholars (prior to 500AH) that recommended fasting (or other virtuous deeds) on Rabi al-Awwal on account of the birth of the Prophet peace be upon him ?
We see that such practice existed among the shites (the shiite scholar al-Mufid (d.413H) for example as quoted by Marion Holmez’s in “The Birth of The Prophet Muhammad: Devotional Piety in Sunni Islam”) , that gives the impression to me that it might have been present among the Sunni community too.
Answer:
Fasting on Mondays “because it is the day I was born” is what the Prophetic Sunna established, and the sources on voluntary works around the year such as the Ghunya or Lata’if al-Ma`arif did not mention any historical instance or juristic recommendation where the entire Mawlid month was included into that principle in practice.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
