Today is the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal, the date which many believe the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was born. In this final article of a three-part series, Dr Yasir Qadhi discusses the earliest records of Mawlid processions in Sunni lands.
In my previous two articles, we had discussed the date of the birth of the Prophet (saw) and demonstrated that there are over half a dozen opinions, the strongest being that he was born on the 8th of Rabi al-Awwal, in the Year of the Elephant. We also mentioned that the first recorded instance of a public celebration of the mawlid occurred in Shi’ite Fatimid Egypt, around the turn of the sixth century of the hijra. In this article, we shall mention the earliest references in Sunni lands to the mawlid.
The Mawlid in Sunni Lands
The earliest recorded reference in Sunni lands of the mawlid occurs in a history book written by Imad al-Din al-Isfahani (d. 597 AH/1200 CE), entitled al-Barq al-Shami. This work mentions the main political occurrences of Greater Syria (i.e., Sham) during the last three decades of the sixth Islamic century, in particular the wars of the Muslims against the Crusaders. Unfortunately, the original work remains in manuscript form and has yet to be edited, but a number of summaries exist, the most famous one being Sana al-Barq al-Shami of al-Bundari. It is from this printed work (Sana al-Barq al-Shami, Cairo edition, p. 49-52) that the following is extracted.
In the year 566 A.H./1170 CE, Nur al-Din al-Zangi’s (d. 569/1174) brother passed away in Mosul, a well-known city of Iraq. Nur al-Din was the famous leader of the Zangid dynasty, and helped propel Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (d. 588/1193) to fame. Nur al-Din visited the city of Mosul in order to quell a dispute regarding the succession of his brother, who had been the governor of the region. There, the historian tells us, he met a certain Umar al-Mulla, who was in charge of a zawiya (Sufi monastery). This zawiya was a popular place for the local leaders and noblemen to visit, and in particular “…every year, during the days of the mawlid of the Prophet (saw) he would invite the governor of Mosul, along with the poets, who would come and sing their poems, and be rewarded [by the governor] for this.” (Also see Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, vol. 12, p. 782)
This small reference, in passing, is the earliest reference we have to a public mawlid being celebrated in Sunni lands. The person who initiated it, Umar al-Mulla, was a venerated Sufi ascetic, and not a scholar of the religion. We do not know many details of his life or even date of death. And while the historian Imad al-Din did claim he was a righteous saint (a claim that was mentioned by all those who copied the story from Imad al-Din’s work), another scholar strongly disagreed. Ibn Rajab (d. 795), in his biographical dictionary Dhal Tabaqat al-Hanabilah, mentions this Umar al-Mulla, also in passing, in the context of a famous Hanbali scholar. Under the entry of Muhammad b. Abd al-Baqi (d. 571 AH), a Hanbali scholar from Mosul, he mentions how Umar al-Mulla was greatly respected in the city of Mosul, and a disagreement happened between the two of them, which resulted in Muhammad b. Abd al-Baqi being falsely accused of stealing, because of which he was beaten. Writes Ibn Rajab [Dhayl, vol. 1, p. 254], “As for this Umar, he outwardly showed himself to be a pious man and ascetic, but I believe him to be [a follower] of the innovated groups. And this incident [with Muhammad b. Abd al-Baqi] also shows his injustices and transgressions [against others].” And Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) mentions that when Nur al-Din Zangi abolished the unjust taxes that had been levied on the people, Umar al-Mulla actually wrote him a letter chastising him for his decision, and saying that this would lead to an increase of evil in the land. At which Nur al-Din responded back, saying,
“Allah created the creation, and legislated the Shariah, and He knows best what is beneficial for them. So if He knew that there should have been an increase [in revenue from taxes], He would have legislated it for us. Hence, there is no need for us to take more than what Allah has decreed, since whoever adds to the Shariah has presumed that the Shariah is incomplete and he needs to perfect it by his addition. And to do this is arrogance against Allah and against what He has legislated, but darkened minds will never be guided, and may Allah guide us and you to the Straight Path” [al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya, vol. 12, p. 805].
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In what can only be described as a reversal of traditional roles, it was the ruler who chastised the ʻsaint’ when Umar al-Mulla actually encouraged the collection of unjust taxes, while Nur al-Din sought to abolish it.
Before proceeding, it is noteworthy that the mawlid instituted by Umar al-Mulla involved singing poems in praise of the Prophet (saw), and nothing more than this. Unfortunately, the books of history do not mention the nature or content of these poems; however, it would not be too far-fetched to assume that at this early stage the poems would have praised the Prophet, (saw) in the manner that he truly deserves, and without the attribution of Divine characteristics to him that later poets are guilty of.
The city of Mosul was located in a relatively small province, and remained under the control of the larger Zangid Empire. Hence, it was only natural that mawlid celebrations performed in Mosul would not garner too much attention nor have a large budget at their disposal to use for the mawlids. Rather, for this to occur, it had to be sponsored by a dynasty that could afford to do so, and this dynasty was found in the neighbouring province of Irbil, a city less than a day’s journey from Mosul. As news of the mawlid spread to this city, the ruler of the semi-autonomous province, Muzzafar al-Din Kokburi (d. 630/1232), took it upon himself to celebrate the mawlid in an extremely lavish manner. It would take another few decades for the mawlid to spread to Irbil, but eventually, sometime in the early part of the seventh century, Muzzafar al-Din became famous for the extravagant mawlid ceremonies that were sponsored through the State Treasury of his principality.
The historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 681/1282) mentions that Muzzafar al-Din was known for his generosity, for he had built many khanqahs (monasteries) for the Sufis to worship in. Ibn Khallikan was also from Irbil, and was a friend of Muzzar al-Din, and witnessed first-hand the mawlid celebrations. Writes Ibn Khallikan (in his Wafayat al-Ayan, vol. 5, p. 78-9):
Two days before the mawlid, Muzzafar al-Din would take out camels, cows and sheep – a large number, beyond counting – and he would send these animals, accompanied with drums and song and other instruments, until they would reach the large open ground [outside the city]. Then, these animals would be slaughtered, and pots would be set up, and all types of different foods would be cooked, until finally it would be the Night of the Mawlid itself [meaning the night before the mawlid]. On that night, he would allow samaʻas [special poems] to be sung in his fort, and then he would descend down [to the people], the procession being led by countless candles. Amongst these candles were two, or four – I forget now – that were so large that each one had to be carried on a mule, and behind it was a man in charge of keeping the candle erect [on the mule], until it reached the Sufi monastery. Then, on the very morning of the mawlid, he commanded that the Royal Robe be taken out from the Palace to the khanqah (Sufi monastery), by the hands of the Sufis. Each Sufi would wear an expensive sash around his hand, and they would all walk in a procession, one behind the other – so many in number that I could not verify their quantity. Then, Muzzafar al-Din himself would descend to the khanqah, and all of the noblemen and leaders and gentry would gather together. A chair would be placed for the preachers, and Muzzafar al-Din himself would be in a special tower made of wood [that he had built for the occasion]. It had many windows, some of which faced the people and others faced the open ground, which was a large ground of immense size. The infantry would also gather there, in procession. So Muzzafar al-Din would listen throughout the day, sometimes looking at the people and sermons, and sometimes at the infantry, and this would continue until the infantry finished their processions. Then, a general tablecloth would be laid out for the poor, and all who wished could eat from it, bread and other types of foods beyond count! And there was another tablecloth laid out as well, for the people of the monastery, those close to the throne, and while the sermons would be delivered, he would call [each speaker] one by one, and the noblemen and leaders and guests who had come for this season: scholars, and preachers, and reciters, and poets, and he would give each of them garments, and they would then return to their seats. Once this was finished, they would all gather at the tablecloth to partake of the food. This would continue until the Asr prayer, or even after that, and he would spend the night there, and the samaʻas would continue to the next day. And this would be done every year, and what I have described is in fact a condensed summary of the reality, for to mention it in detail would be too cumbersome and take a long time. Finally, when these ceremonies would be completed, he would gift an amount to every visitor who had come from afar, as provision for his journey home. And I have already mentioned how, when Ibn Diḥya passed by Irbil, he wrote up a work regarding the mawlid, because of what he had seen Muzzafar al-Din do, and because of this he was gifted a thousand gold coins, along with the generous hospitality he was shown for the duration of his stay.
As can be seen, the ceremony of Muzzafar al-Din was an extremely lavish and extravagant affair, and would draw large crowds of locals and also visitors. It is clear that the relatively innocuous mawlid of Umar al-Mulla was now being taken to a different level. And because the celebrations of Muzzafar al-Din attracted more attention than those of Umar al-Mulla, they played a crucial role in spreading the custom of the mawlid and increasing its popularity.
From this, it is clear that the mawlid was imported into Sunni lands at the beginning of the seventh Islamic century, through the actions of Umar al-Mulla and then Muzzafar al-Din. A contemporary author proves this point beyond a shadow of doubt. Abu Shamah al-Maqdisi (d. 665) was a famous historian from Damascus. He wrote a number of works, and is most famous for his book Kitab al-Baʻith ʻala inkar al-bidaʻ wa-l-hawadith. In it, he follows the opinion that religious innovations can be either reprehensible or praiseworthy (a theological opinion which was and remains the subject of debate amongst scholars, and which deserves to be discussed in another article), and considers the mawlid to be a praiseworthy innovation. What concerns us here is not Abu Shamah’s legal verdict on the mawlid, but rather his historical context. He writes, [Kitab al-Baʻith, (Cairo print, 1978), p. 24],
And of the best matters that have been introduced in our times is that which occurs in the city of Irbil – may Allah protect it – every year, on the day that the Prophet (saw) was born. [On this day], charity is distributed, and good [deeds performed], and pageantry is displayed, and happiness [is abundant]. And all of this, in addition to being beneficial to the poor, is an outward manifestation of the love of the Prophet (saw) and demonstrates respect for him, and honour in the heart of the one who does this [celebration], and thankfulness to Allah for what He has blessed us with in the existence of the Messenger that He has sent as a mercy to the worlds. And the first person whoever did this was [a man] from Mosul, the Shaykh Umar b. Muhammad al-Mulla, a well-known, righteous man, and it was from his custom that the Governor of Irbil, and others besides him, took this act from.
From this passage, it is clear that the custom of the mawlid was already known to Abu Shamah in Damascus, but he points out that the celebration occurs in Irbil, and not in Damascus. Hence, at this stage, in the middle of the seventh century, news of the mawlid has reached Damascus, which is around 500 miles away, but the city of Damascus itself has yet to start its own mawlid.
It is also striking to note the similarities between the Fatimid celebrations of the mawlid and the ones sponsored by Muzzafar al-Din: in both cases, the pomp and pageantry and generosity lavished upon the population must have played a vital role in popularizing these rulers amongst the people.
Before moving on, it is relevant to backtrack a few decades and mention another rudimentary version of the mawlid (if it can even be called such). This version is found in the travelogue of Ibn Jubayr (d. 614 AH), who set foot from Andalus to perform the Hajj and spent the next few years touring Muslim lands, finally settling down in North Africa to record his travels. Ibn Jubayr entered Mecca in 579 AH, and he mentions that on the first Monday of Rabi al-Awwal, the house in which the Prophet (saw) was reputed to have been born in would be open for visitors, along with some other ancient historic sites associated with the life of the Prophet, and visitors would enter these houses and seek blessings from it [see: The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, ed. M. J. De Goeje, p. 114-5].*
Therefore, it is clear that Muslims of Mecca did do something special on the first Monday of Rabi al-Awwal, and that is to open the house of the Prophet’s birth. Of significance, though, is that that is all they did. There are no celebrations, no festivals, no songs, and no ceremonies. All of this was to come later. In fact, in Mecca the mawlid was not even ‘celebrated’ on the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal, but rather on the first Monday of the month. This was the extent of the mawlid in Mecca in the latter part of the sixth century, before the customs of Muzzafar al-Din were done in the far away city of Irbil. Hence, to quote this as justification for modern-day mawlids is simply not appropriate.
It can be seen, then, that slowly but surely, the practice of celebrating the mawlid spread to other Muslim lands, and as the decades turned to centuries, more and more layers of celebrations were added. For most lands, it is impossible to document the precise date when the mawlid was initiated, or even the person who exported the idea to each land. Sometimes, however, we are provided such clues. For example, we can trace the beginnings of the mawlid in North Africa, and thence to Andalus to the efforts of a certain Abu al-Abbas al-Azafi (d. 633 AH), who wrote a work entitled ʻThe Edited Pearl Regarding the Birth of the honoured Prophet’. The work was the spearheading effort that eventually legitimized the celebration of the mawlid. In it, Abu al-Abbas clearly states that his purpose in legitimizing the celebration of the mawlid is so that the Muslims desist in the evil and reprehensible act of celebrating Christmas, Nawruz and other holy days of the Christians and pagans that some Muslims of Andalus had begun to adopt. He writes, “I have searched intensively and racked my brains to find something that would distract the attention of the people away from these bidʻahs to something that is permissible, which does not cause the one observing it to sin…Therefore, I drew their attention to the birth of the Prophet Muhammad…” Later in the work, he refutes those who have criticized this act as being a reprehensible innovation by claiming that the mawlid is a praiseworthy innovation, not a reprehensible one. This in itself shows that there were scholars in Andalus who were opposed to this practice and disapproved of it, hence al-Azafi was forced to defend the practice. [See: P. Shinar, “Traditional and reformist mawlid celebrations in the Maghrib in: Studies in Memory of G. Wiet, Jerusalem 1977, pp. 371-413; and N. G. J. Kaptien, Muhammad’s Birthday Festival, Brill, pp. 76-96].
From all the above, we can derive:
1) The very first Sunni to publically celebrate the mawlid was a Sufi mystic by the name of Umar al-Mulla. He seems to be a person of dubious character, and the least that can be said about him was that he was by no means a scholar of the religion.
2) Government-sponsored mawlids in Sunni lands were first introduced by Muzzafar al-Din, who got the idea from Umar al-Mulla. These celebrations were extremely popular amongst the masses, and helped secure popularity for the rulers.
3) Late in the sixth Islamic century, the mawlid had been introduced to some Sunni lands, but the mainlands of Islam (e.g., Mecca, Damascus, etc.) had not yet begun to commemorate the day with any festival.
4) In Mecca, no festival or public celebration occurred; instead the birth-date was an occasion to open up historic sites for the people. Also, the birth-date itself had not yet been associated with the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal; rather, it was associated with the first Monday of Rabi al-Awwal.
5) The association of the mawlid with the 12th of Rabi al-Awwal was clearly a Fatimid influence, which was later followed by other government-sponsored mawlids.
5) The mawlid spread in various lands due to miscellaneous factors. In some lands, it was patronized by the rulers and used as a means of legitimizing their rule. In other lands, it was used as a tactic to divert Muslims from that which was clearly impermissible to a matter that was deemed to be praiseworthy.
Later Claims Regarding the Origin of the Mawlid
It is quite clear that the Fatimid celebration, having preceded the Sunni one by almost a century, was the actual origin of the mawlid. However, later authorities (most famously al-Suyuti (d. 911) in his treatise on the subject), either knowingly or unknowingly glossed over the Fatimid origins of the mawlid, and attributed it to the Sunni ruler Muzzafar al-Din Kokburi. A few modern researchers (such as Kaptein) have theorized that this was done intentionally, in order to cover up the Shiite origins of the festival and attribute it to a popular Sunni ruler, viz., Muzzafar al-Din. But for our purposes it matters little whether al-Suyuti was aware of the Fatimid origins of the mawlid or not; the fact that cannot be denied is that the origin of a public celebration goes back to their empire, and Muzzafar al-Din’s suspiciously similar festival occurred almost a century after theirs.
Therefore, to attribute the origins of the mawlid to Muzzafar al-Din, or even Umar al-Mulla, is simply not accurate.
Conclusion
The purpose of this article was to give a brief overview regarding the origins of the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday, and some examples of how it spread to other lands. It did not discuss the legal validity for such a celebration, as that is another topic altogether, and one that has been hashed and rehashed on many different sites and forums.
My own leanings, which I have never shied away from expressing, are the same as those of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728) that he mentioned in his work Iqtida Sirat al-mustaqim: that the general ruling is that such a celebration is not a part of the religion, but was added by later generations, and hence should be avoided; but it is possible that some groups of people who practice it out of ignorance will be rewarded due to their good intentions. The mawlid of the Prophet (saw) should be celebrated every day, by following his Sunnah and doing in our daily lives what he (saw) wanted us to do.
I also stress that even if I disapprove of a public celebration of the mawlid, not all mawlids are the same, and if the only matter that is done on a mawlid is to praise the beloved Prophet (saw) in an appropriate manner, and mention aspects of his seerah, and thank Allah for blessing us to be of his Ummah, then this type of celebration is permissible, in fact praiseworthy, on any day of the year, and hence even if some groups choose one specific day to do it, others should not be harsh in their disapproval of it. I believe that the fatwas given by such esteemed authorities as Ibn Hajr (d. 852) and al-Nawawi (d. 676) legitimizing mawlids refer, in fact, to such ‘innocent’ mawlids. Sadly, it is well-nigh impossible to find such ‘pure’ mawlids practiced in our times!
To conclude, it is appropriate to quote a non-Muslim author who has specialized in the topic of the mawlid and written a doctoral dissertation on it, N. J. G. Kaptein. He writes in his monograph [p. 29],
At the end of this chapter, I would like to draw attention to a number of points that are important for the general history of the mawlid al-nabi:
1. The mawlid was originally a Shiite festival
2. The mawlid came into being in the sixth hijri / twelfth Christian century
3. In the Fatimid period themawlidwas not always celebrated on the same date: in 517 the mawlid was celebrated on the 13th Rabi I, while according to Ibn Tuwayr this festival always fell on the 12th Rabi al-Awwal
4. The mawlid was celebrated during the daytime
5. The ruler played a central role
6. Sermons were given and recitations from the Qur’an took place
7. Presentations to officials took place
8. By means of these presentations, amongst other things, the Fatimid’s close relationship with theAhl al-Baytwas emphasized, in order to cultivate loyalty to the Fatimid imam-Caliph
9. After the fall of the Fatimids, the mawlid continued to exist.
Kaptein’s conclusions are very reasonable and have clear evidence to back them up, as this article has also showed.
And Allah knows best.
Dr Yasir Qadhi has a Bachelors in Hadith and a Masters in Theology from Islamic University of Madinah, and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Yale University. He is an instructor and Dean of Academic Affairs at Al Maghrib Institute, and the Resident Scholar of the Memphis Islamic Center.
This article was published on the Muslim Matters website in March 2009.
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