Mawlid

[Husain]

Instead of wasting our time bashing the Ulama of Deoband or their opponents, let us rather try to grasp the reason behind the difference of opinion; it will give us some insight into the matter.

Our respected Ulama of Deoband -right from Ml.Gangohi, Ml.Thanwi etc to contemporaries like Mf.Taqi,Mf.Desai etc all oppose celebrating the birth day of Nabi (Sallallahu Alaihi wasallam) -not discussing his seerah, which is what muhannad refers to- for a very simple,easy to understand reason.

According to them, the following principle is accepted:

Any Ibadah not practiced upon in Khairul Quroon (time of Sahabah and Tabi'een) inspite of the Dawaa'ee (motivating factors and reasons) for it to be done being present, then practicing upon such an action would be termed Bidah.
Thus inspite of the great love of the sahabah for Nabi (salalahu Alaihi wasallam) [this is in reality the motivating factor behind mawlid], Sahabah (Radhiallahu Anhum) never practiced the mawlid, thus it is Bidah!.
This usul can be found in Ashraful Jawaab of Ml.Thanwi Pg.81 with full detail and is briefly mentioned in Jawahirul Fiqah of Mufti Shafi Vol.1 Pg.213 with a few Dalail as well.
Now looking through the Fatawa of our Akabir of Deoband, this is as clear as the sun.
The primary reason given by all of them for Mawlid being Bidah, was that Sahabah (Radhialahu Anhu) and the rest in Khairul Quroon never practiced it.
See:
Fatawa Rashidiyyah Pg.112, Ashraful Jawaab Pg.81, Fatawa Rahimiyyah Vol.2 Pg.72-74 . etc

Many Arab Ulama -not all- don't hold the same view. They contend that an ibadah not being practised upon by the Sahabah doesn't mean that is it a bidah. G.f.Haddad defended this in his refutation.

This matter is famously known as "Mas'alah at-Tark" (The Question of that which was left out). Abdullah ibn Siddiq al-Ghumari authored a book named "Husn at-Tafahhum wa ad-Dark li mas'alah at-tark"wherein he contends that Sahabahs leaving it out doesn't render it a bidah.

This is in reality the reason for the difference of opinion.

Now, the question might arise, that when both sides have a sound basis for their arguments and both are of the ahl as-Sunnah why don't they respect each others views and stop making such a big noise about it?

Well, the following reason came to my mind:
Those practising upon it in India were the Barelvis, who were making takfir of the Deobandis, holding many aqa'id contrary to the haq, their moulud gatherings were mixed gatherings full of evil practised with scant regard for salah etc thus instead of accepting these gathering as having some basis in shairah, they completely opposed them.
As for the Arab Ulama, they were faced by hardline wahabis firing their automatic weapons of "Shirk" and "Kufr" at anything that moved, thus they labeled the opponents of moulud as those who hold no love for Nabi (sallallahu Alaihi wasallam).

In my weak opinion, if the Arab Ulama had to be asked regarding the Deobandi stance or vice versa, they would have said that while we don't agree with them, it is an acceptable view, just as we say regarding other mazahib.

My sincere advice to all is to follow the Mufti who rely on, without attacking those who hold a view contrary to yours, rather try to understand why he is saying it.

P.S. Maybe those with contact with Hamza Yusuf or others who have studied in Mauritania should ask them what is the opinion of his teachers (Murabit al-Haj, Had Amin etc) regarding it. If I am not mistaken, they completely oppose it, even if no other evils are found in it. I have found them to be extremly similar to the Ulama of Deoband in many aspects, I think this is also from amongst them.

And Allah taala knows best

[salman]

salam

If one surfs Muslim forums, whether Sunni or otherwise, there is a startling reality: forgotten priorities.

We find armies of ignorant people clashing in the darkness of ignorance about matters they don't understand, matters that the great imams of Islam differed upon with decorum.

Such argument and dispute is highly reprehensible. The Beloved Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

"No people went astray after having been given guidance except after they started argumentation." [Tirmidhi and Ibn Maja, from Abu Umama (Allah be pleased with him)]

Imam Ghazali mentioned numerous harms in argument and disputation, at the level of individuals, relations between individuals, and at the level of community. The most fundamental problem is at the level of the human heart: it busies the heart with darkness, and fills it with blameworthy character traits such as arrogance, love of dispute, leaving sincere counsel for one's fellow human, and anger.

The Qur'an and Sunna, on the other hand, express the centrality of the need to make one's heart busy with nothing other than Allah, and our limbs busy only with that which is pleasing to Allah.



Wassalam,


Faraz Rabbani

[iqadeer]

I am posting a fatwa of Hadhrat Thanvi from the Imdad vol. 4 p.52 which may clarify the official Deobandi position. The translation is mine and may contain errors since the original language of fatwa is in old Urdu. I will try my best, however, insha'Allah.

Q. To read mawlood in a celebrated style in a standing manner is permissible or not? Also, if its read where some text is read aloud and then some poetry is recited, is it permissible? Is it rewarded or an innovation. Please provide detail answer.

A. Narrating the birth of prophet is full of rewards and praseworthy in and of itself just like other rememberences provided that its free of innovations and blameworthy aspects. Then what could be better than that? Hazrat Thanvi cites an arabic couplet.

However, the way its practiced today with conditions and blameworthy practices accompanying it, it is without a doubt an innovation. The reasons are:

1. Majority of mawlood reciters are ignorant of deen thus they narrate false stories and the people witnessing this fall under the admonishment of Hadith whoseover attributes a lie to me should find himself a place in fire.

2. They make lavish arrangements for it so much so that it surpasses the arrangements made for most established practices of deen. Hazrat Thanvi cites some examples of those days in detail and then says that they consider these things to be necessary i.e., wajib as if without these mawlood will not occur.

3. They regard the day of his noble birth to be necessary as if doing this on other days is not praiseworthy.

4. Majority of these are people of innovation or ones commiting open sins and you have to interact with them and even respect them during these gatherings.

5. Majority of the poetry is comprised of ignorant where they exaggerate the praises and sometimes border on disrespecting other prophets and angels.

6. They stand up during the narration of his birth and some of them think that the prophet actually arrives at the celebration so this is absolutely shirk if they think that he has absolute power and knowledge by his own virtue otherwise its attributing a falsehood to the prophet. Others say they do so out of respect of the angels that are present so this is also pure ignorance. Firstly, the angels are always present with a person so what's different about the narration of birth?

7. They insist upon these events and argue with ones who prohibit them from such things and have hatred for them. To persist on sin is a great sin.

Thus due to these reasons its better not to celebrate it. However, if its in the form of a lecture devoid of these blameworthy aspects then there is no harm in it.

[Yaseen]

Majority of the poetry is comprised of ignorant where they exaggerate the praises and sometimes border on disrespecting other prophets and angels.

Would the following be deemed as excessive praise?

Plead with him if it is something you want from Allah.
Faced with millions of sins, how can this so-called Islam
benefit me, O Prophet of Allah?
Being told that you are the intercessor on behalf of the sinners
I have gathered a vast bundle of sins for myself.
Who will come to my help if you do not?
Who else will sympathise with me if you do not?

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

P.S. Maybe those with contact with Hamza Yusuf or others who have studied in Mauritania should ask them what is the opinion of his teachers (Murabit al-Haj, Had Amin etc) regarding it. If I am not mistaken, they completely oppose it, even if no other evils are found in it. I have found them to be extremly similar to the Ulama of Deoband in many aspects, I think this is also from amongst them.

Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj is against tariqah - although i have not heard him issue any fatwa against it. As for his position on the mawlid, i have "heard" two different opinions from him through his students:

1. apparently he said it was the greatest 'id...

2. it is a bid'a

to be honest i have no firm confirmation that he said either, BUT Shaykh Hamza himself takes the position of countless sunni ulama which is mawlid an-nabi IS a bid'a if practised on the 12th of Rabi al-awwal only every year.. and not if done throughout the year. this would agree with the 'apparent' position of Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj above.. in any case, Shaykh Hamza makes his position clear in a CD he released last year. as such, you WILL see Shaykh Hamza at mawlid an-nabi events..

[zaka]

[QUOTE=to be honest i have no firm confirmation that he said either, BUT Shaykh Hamza himself takes the position of countless sunni ulama which is mawlid an-nabi IS a bid'a if practised on the 12th of Rabi al-awwal only every year.. and not if done throughout the year. this would agree with the 'apparent' position of Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj above.. in any case, Shaykh Hamza makes his position clear in a CD he released last year. as such, you WILL see Shaykh Hamza at mawlid an-nabi events..[/QUOTE]

It seems Shaykh Hamza's position is the same as the Deobandi position, i.e. not to restrict the Mawlid to one day. This is quite clear in the Fatwa of Shaykh Mufti ibn Adam on the Mawlid.

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

...true, but i don't see deobandi masjids actively holding mawlids, or calling them 'mawlids' and increasing such gatherings during that month. Shaykh Hamza said the lyrics of the burda were on everyone's tongue in Mauritania.. the burda or parts of it are sung in most barewi masjids around the uk, yet i haven't seen it in deobandi ones - neither have seen circles of loud dhikr in the latter. just some observations.. just as we are seeing many well-known ulama flying into the UK during this blessed month to celebrate the mawlid (Shaykh Gibril Haddad, Shaykh Jihad, Shaykh Habib Ali, Shaykh Faysal abdur-razzaq, Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi etc etc) , i would like to see the deobandis welcome such gatherings..

[iqadeer]

Would the following be deemed as excessive praise?

Plead with him if it is something you want from Allah.
Faced with millions of sins, how can this so-called Islam
benefit me, O Prophet of Allah?
Being told that you are the intercessor on behalf of the sinners
I have gathered a vast bundle of sins for myself.
Who will come to my help if you do not?
Who else will sympathise with me if you do not?

This is not excessive praise but rather asking Rasool Allah for intercession which is part of Sunni aqeedah. Unfortunately, I don't have any examples from Hazrat's book on Mawlood right now since I will have to find them. I will leave this discussion at this point since the point has already been made. Bottom line is that Deobandi position is not against remembering the birth of the noble prophet but rather the innovations that have crept inside the whole practice of Indo-Pak sort of Mawlood. Even Mufti Ibn Adam Al-Kawthari's fatwa attest to this fact.

[iqadeer]

Dear brother Shaykhs-pir sahib,

You have to understand that even today such extravagant practices can be found in Indo-Pak and unfortunately, only the Deobandis can be seen denouncing them. They do hold majalis of zikr regularly and the followers of Shaykh Zakariya rahimullah even hold majalis of durood, i.e., salutations on the prophet. The noble shaykh has written a wonderful book on virtues of salaat and salaam on the noble prophet. Hazrat Ashraf Ali Thanvi wrote a beautiful book on seerah 'nashr-at-tayyib' which was read in villages of India during the times of plague and miraculously those villages where it was recited, were left unharmed by the epidemic! The Deobandis are not against the spirit of Mawlood but rather the practices and to avoid "tasahabah" they don't hold such gatherings. I hope this clarifies the position.

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

i understand that extravagant things occur in the indo-pak areas, which do make raise an eyebrow (or two)... but such things don't make the whole issue a bida, just because certain people are practising bida. its like denouncing the whole of tasawwuf because of a few deviant sufis who don't even pray and sit with hindus and buddhists.

the fact is, we are now in the west, we know what is bida and what is not, we know what is extravagant and what is not (even the arab sufi ulama who do practice the mawlid are aware of these things, yet they do not choose to leave the whole practice).

i am in no way criticising the deobandis who no doubt are doing NO WRONG, yet i am just stating how it is. having seen the sunni ulama of the arab lands and their followers, the barelwiyya are more similar to them.

i am clear on the deobandi postion dear brother - and it would be nice to see such gatherings from amongst them - they could even show how it should be done, free of bida and extravagance.

and as side note, the barelwi's generally do not limit the mawlid to rabi al-awwal, and do have mawlid all year round.