Question
I was told that there is no significance to a place where the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born and that historically noone has ever gathered there to remember his birth. They mentioned this is a bid’ah and the practice of the ignorant people of Islam. Can you advise me on this?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. O Allah, I ask you to send prayers and salutations upon our Messenger Muhammad, his noble household, and companions.
The Place of His ﷺ Birth
The Imam of the Reciters of Quran in his time, ibn al-Jazari, writes in his book ‘arf al-ta’rif bil-mawlid al-sharif the following:
“His ﷺ birth was in al-shi’b (the canyon), a location known through countless transmissions by the inhabitants of Makkah. Every year, the people of Makkah come out to this location on the day coinciding with the birth, celebrating (yahtafilun) on that occasion more than they do so on the day of Eid. This practice has continued until our current time.
Personally, I have visited the place of birth and sought blessings (tabarraktu) from it during my Hajj which I performed in the year 792 AH. I witnessed an amazing blessing at that place. I repeated the visit to the same place when I was living in the area in the year 823 AH.
At that time, the structure was derelict, so I rebuilt it. During that time, students read in my presence my work: al-ta’rif bil-mawlid al-sharif. An uncountable number of people heard the reading of this book on that occasion, and that day was remarkable and widely recognised.
