Imam Taj al-Din al-Fakihani* writes:
The Drinking-Water Source: On the Mawlid
All praise belongs to Allāh Who guided us to follow the master of the messengers; aided us with direction towards the supports of Religion; facilitated for us to follow the traces of the pious Salaf, until our hearts were filled with lights of the knowledge of Sharī‘ah and the certainties of evident truth; and purified our hidden secrets [i.e. hearts & minds] from the emergence of innovations and [from] inventing inside the Religion.
I praise Him for what He has bestowed of the lights of certainty, and I thank Him for what He has conferred of holding fast to the Firm Rope [i.e. the Qur’ān].
I testify that there is no deity but Allāh alone having no partner; and that Muḥammad (Allāh bless him and grant him peace) is His slave and messenger, the master of the first and the last, Allāh bless him and his folk, his companions and his pure wives – the mothers of the believers –, with a blessing that will last till the Day of Resurrection.
To proceed:
Indeed a question from a group of blessed ones has been recurring, on the Gathering some people do in the month of Rabī‘ al-Awwal, which they call “Mawlid”, whether it has a basis in the Religion or it is an innovation that arose in the Religion? They wanted an elucidated answer to that and an ascertained clarification of it.
So I say, and direction is from Allāh:
I do not know of any basis for this Mawlid, neither in the Book nor in the Sunnah. Its practice has not been recorded from any of the ‘ulamā’ of the Ummah who are the model of Religion, who held fast to the ways of the early ones. It is in fact an innovation (bid‘ah) introduced by idlers [1] and an appeasement of the base soul to which the consumers are given, on the evidence that when we pass the Five Rulings over it, we would say:
It will either be wājib, mandūb, mubāḥ, makrūh or ḥarām. It is not wājib by consensus. Nor [is it] mandūb because the reality of mandūb is: “that which the Sharī‘ah seeks without censuring the one who leaves it,” while the Sharī‘ah has not given permission for this, nor did the ṣaḥābah practise it, nor the tābi‘īn, and nor the practising ‘ulamā’, as far as I know. [2] This is my answer to it in the presence of Allāh if I am asked about it.
Nor is it possible for it to be mubāḥ because innovation inside the Religion [3] is not mubāḥ by consensus of the Muslims. [4]
Nothing remains but for it to be makrūh or ḥarām, and thus the discussion on it will be from two angles and will make a distinction between two situations:
The first of them is that a man practises it from his own wealth, for his family, associates and dependents, not going beyond eating food in this Gathering, nor perpetrating any sin. This is what we characterise as a makrūh bid‘ah and an abomination, since none of the early ones from the people of obedience practised it – who are the Jurists of Islām, the ‘ulamā’ amongst the creatures, the lamps of the ages and the adornment of the places.
The second is that criminality mingles with it, and devotion to it is intensified to the point that one of them gives something while his base self follows it [i.e. desires it], and his heart causes him pain and hurt for what he feels of the pain of injustice [i.e. for being pressured to give]. The ‘ulamā’, Allāh have mercy on them, have said: “Acquiring wealth by means of shame is like taking it using a sword”; especially when some singing, alongside bellies filled with instruments of futility like drums and flutes, are added to this; as well as men gathering with adolescent young boys and shameless women who are either intermingling with them or watching over them; as well as dancing with twisting and turning; and immersing in entertainment and forgetting the Day of Fear. Likewise, when women get together by themselves raising their voices with screams and beats in reciting [poems], falling outside of what is legislated and normal conduct in recitation and dhikr, while being unmindful of His (Exalted is He) statement: “Your Lord is in observation.” This is the one over which no two [scholars] differ in it being ḥarām, and nor do the chivalrous, the possessors of honour, approve of it. This is only pleasant to persons with dead hearts, and those who have not given up sins and evils.
I add to you that they view it as being from amongst the rituals, not from the prohibited abominations – so to Allāh we surely belong and to Him we are surely returning!
Islām started out as strange and it will soon return as it began.
To Allāh is [credited] the excellence of our shaykh, al-Qushayrī [5], Allāh (Exalted is He) have mercy on him, when he says in what he authorised us with:
The disapproved is approved,
And the approved is censured in our difficult days.
Possessors of knowledge have fallen into disrepute,
And the people of ignorance have come into position.
They have deviated from truth; so what of that
By connection with which they attained glory in the past?
I declare to the righteous ones possessing Taqwā
And piety, when the calamity worsens:
“Do not find your conditions strange,
Your turn has come at a time of strangeness.”
Imām Abū ‘Amr ibn al-‘Alā’, Allāh (Exalted is He) have mercy on him, indeed did well when he said: “People will remain on goodness for as long as the surprising is wondered at!”
This is along with [the fact] that the month in which he (Allāh bless him and grant him peace) was born, which is Rabī ‘al-Awwal, is the very month in which he passed away, so delight is not more worthy in it than is grief.
This is what [falls] on us to say, and from Allāh (Exalted is He) we expect a beautiful acceptance.
[1] The first documented cases of Mawlid celebrations were conducted by Shi’ah. Sunni celebrations originated afterwards at the hands of questionable individuals. The fourth century Shi’i leader, al-Mufid, refers to Shi’i celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday. (Mawsu’at al-Shaykh al-Mufid, 7:50-1)
[2] This is al-Fākihānī’s testimony that he, in the seventh/eighth century, is not aware of any of the practising ‘ulamā’ that took part in the Mawlids, despite the fact that Mawlid celebrations had existed within Sunnī circles for around a century. He was himself associated with some of the great practising scholars of that time, like Ibn al-Munayyir, al-Dimyāṭī and Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd.
[3] As opposed to innovations outside of Religion and innovations in service of Religion. True bid‘ah is only innovation inside of Religion. ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Ḥabīb al-Mālikī (ca. 175 – 238) reported from ‘Abd al-Malik ibn al-Mājishūn (d. 213): I heard Mālik say: “Whoever introduces any innovation inside Islām, viewing it to be good, he has claimed that Muḥammad (Allāh bless him and grant him peace) has betrayed his role as messenger, as Allāh said: ‘Today I have perfected for you your Religion.’ Hence, whatever was not Religion then will not be Religion today.” (al-I‘tiṣām, Maktabat al-Tawḥīd, 1:62; Ibn Ḥazm reports it with a complete chain of transmission to Ibn Ḥabīb in his al-Iḥkām, 6:58; it appears the transmission is from Ibn Ḥabīb’s famous work on Fiqh, al-Wāḍiḥah)
[4] Al-Qarāfī states: “Know that the scholars [of the Mālikī school], as far as I know, are in agreement on condemning innovations (bida‘). Ibn Abī Zayd [al-Qayrawānī] (310 – 386 H) and others have stated this explicitly.” (al-Furūq, Mu’assasat al-Risālah, 4:305)
[5] A reference to the great imām, Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd, regarded by some as the mujaddid at the turn of the 7th century. Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd also said: “We have indeed been forbidden from inventing something that is a salient feature of the religion, like what the Rawāfiḍ invented, of a third ‘Īd which they call ‘Īd al-Ghadīr. And similarly [we are forbidden from] assembling and making it a salient feature for a specific occasion in a specific way that has not been established in Sharī‘ah.” (Iḥkām al-Aḥkām, 1:170)
*‘Allāmah Abū Ḥafṣ Tāj al-Dīn al-Fākihānī
‘Allāmah Abū Ḥafṣ Tāj al-Dīn ‘Umar ibn ‘Alī ibn Sālim al-Lakhmī al-Fākihānī, known as “al-Fākihānī” or “Ibn al-Fākihānī”, was born in the year 654 H in Alexandria, Egypt. He was brought up in his hometown, and learnt Qur’ān under one of Alexandria’s most prominent Qur’ān teachers and Muqri’s, Makīn al-Dīn al-Asmar ‘Abdullāh ibn Manṣūr al-Iskandarī (d. 692 H). He learnt the various Qirā’āt from Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn ‘Abdillāh al-Māzūnī (606 – 693 H). He travelled to Cairo, and excelled in Mālikī Fiqh and the sciences of Arabic language. He learnt the Shifā’ and Tirmidhi from Abū ‘Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn Ṭarkhān, and learnt Sunan Ibn Mājah from Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aẓīm ibn al-Saqaṭī (622 – 707 H).
He kept the company of the great Alexandrian imām, Nāṣir al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Mālikī, known popularly as “Ibn al-Munayyir” (620 – 683 H), and attended his durūs. He was known to have kept the company of a group of the Awliyā’.
Amongst his teachers was the great erudite imām of Qus, Egypt, Shaykh al-Islām Abu l-Fatḥ Ibn Daqīq al-‘Īd (625 – 702 H). He also learnt ḥadīth from the ḥāfiẓ of his time, Ḥāfiẓ Sharaf al-Dīn al-Dimyāṭī (613 – 705 H). Amongst his teachers was also the famous Badr al-Dīn Ibn Jamā‘ah al-Shāfi‘ī (639 – 733 H). (Bughyat al-Wu‘āt, 2:221) He learnt from many other teachers.
He travelled to Quds and Damascus in 731 H. In Damascus, he taught some of his books, and amongst those who learnt from him was Hāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr. They both attended lessons of other mashāyikh together. (Al-Bidāyah wa l-Nihāyah, Dār Ibn Kathīr, 16:261) He also took from, and taught, al-Dhahabī while in Damascus. (al-Mu‘jam al-Mukhtaṣṣ, 227)
Ibn Farḥūn relates from the muḥaddith, Jamāl al-Dīn ‘Abdullāh ibn Muḥammad Ibn Ḥadīdah (d. 783), that he heard him narrating in the year 778: “We travelled with our shaykh, Tāj al-Dīn al-Fākihānī, to Damascus, and he wanted to visit the sandal of our master, the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam), which was in Dār al-Ḥadīth al-Ashrafiyyah in Damascus, while I was with him. When he saw the blessed sandal, he uncovered his head, and began to kiss it and rub his face on it, while tears were flowing, and he recited [the following lines of poetry]: ‘Had it been said to Majnūn: Is it Laylā and keeping ties with her that you desire, or the world and what is [hidden] in its folds? He would say: The dust from the soil of her sandals are more beloved to my soul and more protective of its trials.’” (al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab, 2:81)
He was the author of a number of accepted works. His al-Taḥrīr wa ‘l-Taḥbīr, a commentary on al-Risālah of Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī, became an accepted reference work in the Mālikī madhhab, quoted frequently in later works like al-Ḥaṭṭāb’s Mawāhib al-Jalīl and al-Kharshī’s Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalīl. He wrote a book on praise of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) called al-Fajr al-Munīr and a book defending visitation of his grave called al-Tuḥfat al-Mukhtārah fi l-Radd ‘alā Munkir al-Ziyārah. One of his famous works is a commentary on a text devoted to the ḥadīths of legal rulings, called al-‘Umdah, which he titled Riyāḍ al-Afhām fī Sharḥ ‘Umdat al-Aḥkām. The book is in print and has been highly regarded by the scholars. He also authored a work on Naḥw, called al-Ishārah, on which he wrote a commentary. He has a commentary on Nawawī’s al-Arba‘ūn, called al-Manhaj al-Mubīn, which is also in print. From his list of written works, Ibn Ḥajar includes: al-Mawrid fi ‘l-Mawlid, his refutation of the Mawlid, the birthday celebration of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) held in Rabī‘ al-Awwal. (al-Durar al-Kāminah, 3:178)
He is described as a polymath, ascetic, of beautiful character and piety. There are different views on when he died, whether in the year 731 or 734. He died in his hometown of Alexandria. At his deathbed, his son-in-law, al-Faqīh Maymūm, was reciting the shahādah to him to remind him to recite it; at which al-Fākihānī opened his eyes, and recited the following lines of poetry: “He proceeds to remind me of bonds [made] at the protectorate, but when have I forgotten that I need to remember?!” Then he recited the shahādah and passed away. (al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab, 2:82)
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr al-Jazarī (d. 738 H), a Damascene contemporary of al-Fākihānī, described him as: “The shaykh, the imām, the ascetic…He was a shaykh, a Mālikī jurist, a scholar of Naḥw; he possessed virtues and piety.” (Tārīkh Ibn al-Jazarī, 3:704)
Another contemporary, the great Imām al-Dhahabī (673 – 748 H), described him as: “The imām, the scholar of Naḥw, the proficient…I saw him, and he had authored books; he heard from me and I took ḥadīths from him.” (al-Mu‘jam al-Mukhtaṣṣ, 227)
Ibn Kathīr (701 – 774 H), who is counted amongst his students, described him as, “the shaykh, the polymath.” (Al-Bidāyah wa l-Nihāyah, Dār Ibn Kathīr, 16:261)
Qāḍī Burhān al-Dīn Ibn Farḥūn al-Mālikī (730 – 799 H), a great Mālikī scholar of Madīnah, described him as follows: “He was a jurist, virtuous, a polymath in [the fields of] ḥadīth, Fiqh, Uṣūl, Arabic language and literature. He possessed a great share in the firm religion and [in] immense piety and following the righteous Salaf. [He was] of beautiful character. He kept the company of a group of the Awliyā’, adopting their traits and taking on their etiquettes, and he performed ḥajj more than once and narrated some of his books. He has a commentary on ‘Umdah, which is unprecedented, because of its many benefits.” (al-Dībāj al-Mudhhab, 2:80-1)
Al-Suyūṭī (849 – 911 H) describes him as follows: “He was a jurist, a polymath in the sciences, pious, immense (aẓīm). He kept the company of the Awliyā’ and adopted their etiquettes.” (Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍarah, 1:458)
Appendix: The Attitude of the Pious Salaf Towards Innovation
1. It is reported from Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān (raḍiyallāhu ‘anhumā)
Every ritual act of devotion which the companions of the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) did not worship with, do not worship with it, for the early ones have not left any speech for the later ones, so be mindful of Allāh O assembly of reciters, and adopt the way of those before you. (al-I‘tiṣām, 3:53)
It is reported from Imām Mālik:
Do you think people today are more desirous of good than those who have come before?! (al-I‘tiṣām, 2:276)
‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd (raḍiyallāhu ‘anhu) said: “Conform and do not innovate, for you have been sufficed.” (Sunan al-Dārimī, no. 211)
2. Muḥammad ibn Waḍḍāḥ (199 – 287 H), the great muḥaddith of Qurṭuba, Andalus, narrates:
Muḥammad ibn Muṣaffā (d. 246) narrated to me: Suwayd ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz (108 – 194 H) narrated to me: Sayyār Abu l-Ḥakam (d. 122) narrated to us from al-Sha‘bī (30 – 104 H) that ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb would hit the Rajabiyyūn: those who fast the whole [month] of Rajab [i.e. publically]. (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘Anhā, p. 51)
Muḥammad ibn Waḍḍāḥ explains: “Its purpose was only for fear that they will treat (the fast in Rajab specifically) as a sunnah (a ritual practice with intrinsic merit for Rajab) just like Ramaḍān.” (ibid.)
‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Ṣan‘ānī narrates through his authentic route of: Ibn Jurayj from ‘Atā’ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, the famous student of Ibn ‘Abbās, that Ibn ‘Abbās would forbid fasting the whole month of Rajab [as an institutional practice], so that it is not treated as an ‘Īd [a religious occasion]. (Muṣannaf ‘Abd al-Razzāq, 4:292)
Some groups of people got together and decided they would collectively fast in the whole month of Rajab. The ṣaḥābah forbade this as it might occur to some of them that Rajab has some special religious distinction for the ritual of fasting like Ramaḍān does, and is not merely voluntary.
3. ‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Ṣan‘ānī reported from Ja‘far ibn Sulaymān: ‘Aṭā’ ibn al-Sā’ib reported to us saying: I do not know it except from Abu l-Bakhtarī, he said:
It reached ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd that a group are sitting from Maghrib to ‘Ishā’, making tasbīḥ, saying: “Say it so-and-so [many times], say such-and-such.” ‘Abdullāh said: “If they sit, inform me about them.” When they sat, they informed him, so he proceeded when they informed him. He entered and sat with them, and had a hood on top of him. They went ahead with their tasbīḥ, upon which ‘Abdullāh uncovered the hood from his head, and he said: “I am ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd.” The people became quiet. He said: “Indeed you have produced a dark innovation or you have surely exceeded the companions of Muḥammad in knowledge.” A man from Banū Tamīm said: “We have not produced a dark innovation and nor have we exceeded the companions of Muḥammad in knowledge.” ‘Amr ibn ‘Utbah ibn Farqad said: “I seek forgiveness from Allāh, Ibn Mas‘ūd, and I turn to Him [in repentance].” He then ordered them to disperse. (Muṣannaf ‘Abd al-Razzāq, no. 5409)
Ibn Waḍḍāḥ narrates:
Asad [ibn Mūsā] narrated to us from Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf [al-Firyābī] from al-Awzā‘ī from ‘Abdah ibn Abī Lubābah that a man would gather the people and say: “Allāh have mercy on one who says subḥānallah such-and-such number of times.” So the people would say it. Then he would say: “Allāh have mercy on a man who says alḥamdulillāh such-and-such number of times.” Then the people would say it. ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd passed by them and said: “You have indeed been guided to what your prophet was not guided to, or you are surely holding onto a tail of misguidance!” (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘Anhā, p. 19)
There are number of other routes to this incident found in for example Sunan al-Dārimī (no. 210) and al-Mu‘jam al-Kabīr (8628-30, 8633, 8636, 8639). One of the routes of al-Ṭabarānī was graded ṣaḥīḥ by al-Haythamī. (Majma‘ al-Zawā’id, no. 855)
Ibn Mas‘ūd observed these individuals making dhikr in a group and doing it a fixed number of times in a public way (and not as a personal practice) – all of which will make it seem that this form, and reciting the adhkar a particular number of times (not established in the Sunnah), has special intrinsic merit, hence he forbade it strongly.
4. There was a practice some of the pious in the time of the Salaf invented, which was to have a gathering of people, select the verses of sajda of the Qur’ān, recite them on their own and perform sajda after them together. They would also make a supplication after having done this.
Muḥammad ibn Waḍḍāḥ reported from Mūsā ibn Mu‘āwiyah from ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī from Abū Sulaymān Ja‘far ibn Sulaymān from Yazīd al-Rashk from Khālid ibn ‘Abdillāh ibn Muḥriz al-Ashajj: “We were in the masjid of Madīnah, while a preacher was preaching to us, and began to select the [verses of] sajda from the Qur’ān, so he would prostrate and we would prostrate with him, when suddenly a man came and stood over us, saying: ‘If you are on anything, you are surely better than the companions of Muḥammad (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam)!’ We asked about him saying: ‘Who is this old man?’ They said: ‘This is ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar.’” (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘anhā, p. 29)
He also narrates from Mūsā ibn Mu‘āwiyah from ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī from Ḥammād ibn Salamah from his uncle, Ḥumayd al-Ṭawīl, that a group were reciting [together a verse of] sajdah, and when they had prostrated, they raised their hands and faced the qiblah: Muwarriq al-‘Ijlī reprimanded them for this and hated it. (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘Anhā, p. 24)
Muwarriq al-‘Ijlī was an eminent imām from the younger tābi‘īn.
Ibn Waḍḍāḥ reported from Mūsā ibn Mu‘āwiyah from ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī from Hammām ibn Yaḥyā from Qatādah from Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib and Muwarriq that they both said: “It is reprehensible to select the [verses of] sajda and raise the hands [thereafter] and raise the voice in supplication.” (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘anhā, p. 29)
He also reported from Mūsā ibn Mu‘āwiyah from ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī from Abū Bakr ibn ‘Ayyāsh from Mughīrah ibn Miqsam from Ibrāhīm al-Nakha‘ī that he would hate selecting [the verses of] sajda. (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘anhā, p. 29)
5. Ibn Waḍḍāḥ narrates:
Asad [ibn Mūsā] narrated to us from al-Rabī‘ ibn Ṣabīḥ from Yūnus ibn ‘Ubayd, he said: A man said to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī: “Abū Sa‘īd, what do you think of this gathering of ours: a group of Ahl al-Sunnah wa l-Jamā‘ah, [those who] don’t attack any [of the ṣaḥābah] – we come together in the house of this [individual] one day and the house of this [individual] another day, we recite the Book of Allāh and supplicate to our Lord and we send blessing on the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam), and we make supplications for ourselves and the Muslims in general?” Al-Ḥasan forbade that strongly. (al-Bida‘ wa l-Nahy ‘anhā, p. 21)
This is also an early example of the usage of the term “Ahl al-Sunnah wa l-Jamā‘ah”, who are defined in this narration as those who do not attack the ṣaḥābah.
See also: Ta’rif Outside ‘Arafa vs Mawlid
Conclusion
Since the Salaf were so sensitive to any small innovation that has some semblance of a devotional/ritual practice with intrinsic merit, and reacted so negatively to what appeared to be a deviation from the way of the earlier ones, one can appreciate how they would respond to other such practices that emerged after them, like the birthday celebration of the Prophet ﷺ.
Barelwis: A Critical Review 