Question:

Assalaamualaikum

To Whom It May Concern

I was wondering as to what basis do the Wahabi and there like minded groups say that the Mawlid was initiated during the Shi’a Fatimid Dynasty? Is there proof of that? If not, when was Mawlid started?

Jazakallah

Answer:

A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem

wa `alaykum salam,

Please refer to Shaykh Gibril’s answer in the Post “About Reciting Mawlid” as well as the Fatwa of Dr. `Isa al-Mani` al-Humayri, Department of Awqaaf, Dubai in the following link

http://sunnah.org/ibadaat/mawlid_dubai.htm

This fatwa refers to the same claim that you refer to in the following:

“The ones prejudiced against celebrating the Prophet’s birthday have paved the way for their falsehood by deceiving the less-learned among the Muslims. The prejudiced ones claim that Ibn Kathir writes in his Al Bidaya wal Nihaya (11-172) that the Fatimide-Obaidite state, which descends from the Jew, Obaidillah Bin Maimoon Al Kaddah, ruler of Egypt from 357-567 A.H., innovated the celebration of a number of days, among them, the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday. This treacherous lie is a grave insult to the scholarship of Ibn Kathir and the scholarship of all Islam. For in truth, Ibn Kathir writes about the Prophet’s birthday in Al bidaya wal nihaya [13-136] “The victorious king Abu Sa’id Kawkaburi, was one of the generous, distinguished masters, and the glorious kings; he left good impressions and used to observe the honorable Mawlid by having a great celebration. Moreover, he was chivalrous, brave, wise, a scholar, and just.” Ibn Kathir continues, “And he used to spend three hundred thousand Dinars on the Mawlid.” In support, Imam Al Dhahabi writes of Abu Sa’id Kawkaburi, in Siyar A’laam al nubala’ [22-336] “He was humble, righteous, and loved religious learned men and scholars of Prophetic saying.”

And Allah and His Prophet know best.

Hajj Khalid Aboulela