The Wahhabi “Shaykh al-Islam” & His Fatwa on Mawlid

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Taqi’ ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah (r.a.) wrote his legal opinion about Mawlid from Majma’ Fatawa ibn Taymiyyah, Iqtidha’ asw-Swirath al-Mustaqim, from the section, “The Innovated Festivities of Time & Place.”  He said, “And similarly what some people innovate by analogy with the Christians who celebrate the birth of Jesus (a.s.), or out of love for the Prophet (s.a.w.) and to exalt him, and Allah (s.w.t.) may Reward them for this love and effort, not on the fact that it is an innovation.  To celebrate and to honour the birth of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and to take it as an honoured season, as some of the people are doing, is good and, in it, there is a Great Reward, because of their good intentions in honouring the Prophet (s.a.w.).”