Nurrohim Mauwlid Celebration Sunni or Shi'i Tradition

Mawlid Celebration: Sunni or Shi’i Tradition
By Nurrohim, Lc. M.Hum.

Introduction
There is some debates about one of the most popular tradition in Islam. That tradition usually
called Mawlid. Mawlid, for some reason is a celebration of the prophet’s brithday. This paper
will not justify the legitimacy of the Mawlid. Rather, it is to show how the Mawlid has
evolved from the time when it first became a formal, official celebration. Otherwise, the
legitimacy is a forgone conclusion amongst the overwhelming scholars of the Muslim
Ummah, past and present.
A simple example can highlight this point. There is a book called Tarikh al-Ihtifal bi Mawlid
al-Nabi (peace be upon him), written by an Egyptian scholar called Muhammad Khalid
Thabit. In it he charts the history of the Mawlid and then in detail, charts how the Mawlid is
celebrated in Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Jordan,
Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Balkan states, Russia,
Nigeria, Mali, Kenya, Spain, Ukraine, Holland, China, India, United Kingdom, Canada,
France, Denmark, Germany, Belgium,Switzerland, Bulgaria, Italy, Ireland, Australia, Greece,
Senegal, Indonesia and the United States. Proof, if any were needed, that the Mawlid is truly
a universal event.1
Wahabi followers usually think that this celebration is an inovation or bid’a in Islam and not
permitted to be celebrated. They argued that the Prophet himself did not celebrate his

birthday. Nor he ordered his followers to celebrate his birthday. Not one from the guided
caliph also celebrated the Prophet brithday. In the other hand some say that this celebration is
a tradition that can be permitted.2
Once again, this paper is not to justify about whether this tradition is permitted or not in Islam
but to know the best guided information about when, where and who is the one that
responsible to produce this one of the most popular tradition in Islam world nowadays.

1

Hafiz Ather Hussain al-Azhari in his paper “Mawlid History”, p. 1-4.
Abu Khadijah, The Origins of the Celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday, Birmingham: Salafi
Publication, 2013, p. 1-20.
2

Mawlid Celebration
The writer think that the term celebration is the best term to call the mawlid tradition. In the
history of this tradition, it can be date back to 10th century where Fatimid Dinasty became a
ruler in egypt between 969 to 1171 AD. The Fatimid is a dinasty that made ismailia shia as
the official state religion. It can be trace back to the time where this dinasty build in Maghrib
around 910 AD by al-Mahdi. In 969, under the command of Jawhar al-Sicily, the Fatimid of

Maghrib succesfully conquered egypt and build a city that called Cairo. This city then
became a capital for Fatimid Dinasty.3
Under the commad of Chalifate Muizz li Dinillah and the chalifates after him, Cairo became
a center of civilization development. One that make this city popular in those time is the
prophet celebration whom held by the chalifate himself. During this time, there are reports
that they used to commemorate the Mawlid. Not only the mawlid of the prophet but also to
the members of the prophet family (ahl al-bayt) that include ‘Ali ibn Abi Thalib, Fatima azZahra, Hasan ibn ‘Ali, Husain ibn ‘Ali and others. In this celebration, the chalifate involve
every people of Cairo both Sunni and Shia. Regarding the events of the year 975, the
historian al-Maqrizi comments that that state would distribute food, sadaqa to the public and
to the trustees of the Mizaars. During the Mawlid season, sweets would be distributed and all
would gather in al-Azhar (Cairo). Then they would all proceed to the government palace to
listen to speeches. But for most part these celebrations were Shi’a in nature.4
The reason behind this tradition from my thinking apart from a religious belief is a political
one. In those time, we knew that the biggest dinasty in Islam is Abbasid Dinasty. The capital
city of Abbasid is Baghdad and far away from Egypt. Egypt before the Fatimid conquest was
part of the Abbasid Dinasty. A great distances between Baghdad and Egypt make this place
vurnerable from the attack of the enemy. One of the enemy of Abbasid is Ismaili Shi’a of
Maghrib or the origin of Fatimid Chalifate. The conquest of Egypt by Muizz li Dinillah make
a statement about the power Shia dinasty in politic. When they rule egypt and build Cairo, it
can be said that they want to compete with Abbasiya in Baghdad. As we know that the

official religion of Abbasiya is Sunni Islam.
3

Ali Muhammad Asy-Syolabi, Ad-Dawla al-Fathimiyyah, (Kairo: Muassasa Iqra’ li al-Nasr wa alTauzi’ wa al-Tarjamah, 2006), p. 48.
4
Hafiz Ather, Mawlid History, p. 2.

The religious reason behind this celebration that held by Fatimid in my opinion is to persuade
the Cairo peoples to know more abotu Shia. Before the arrival of Fatimid in Egypt, since the
first conquest of Islam in Egypt by Amr ibn al-Ass in 641 the majority of Islam that grew in
there is Sunni Islam. So, the arrival of the new religious belief in the form of Shia Ismailiya is
not an option. From here i’m certain that Fatimid tried to persuade those Sunni believers to
convert to Shia. Fatimid prefer to use a softnes than a violence because althought they are the
ruler but they are still a minority to Sunni Islam that became cairenes’s beliefs. One of the
policies is to use a Mawlid celebration. As we knew before that in those celebration, the
caliphate would distribute food for free for all the people of Cairo and shadaqa. This can be
very important in the effort of the Shia goverment to spread their beliefs.
From that infromation above, we knew that there are some mawlid celebrations in Shi’a
tradition, one of them is the celebration of Prophet bitrhday. Al-Maqrizi himself wrote in his
book that called “Khitat al-Maqrizi” about all of those celebration that held in Fatimid Era (

969-1171 AD). So, we can certain that there is a mawlid tradition in Shia Islam, especially
Ismiliyya Shi’a.5
In the Sunni world, the first that commemorate Mawlid of the Prophet is Sunni Islam and not
Shi’a Islam. The argumentation of the opinion is a collection of the infromation about who is
the first man that held those tradition formally. There are some version about who is the first
one from Sunni Islam that formally held mawlid celebration.
Syaikh Umar al-Mulla
Al-Shaykh Umar al-Mulla (d. 570/1174) lived in the time of the ruler Nur al-Din Mahmud.
Nur al-Din Mahmud himself was a great, pious leader who was often compared to Umar ibn
Abd al-Aziz. He loved the Ulama and kept their company. Al-Shaykh Umar al-Mulla was a
Sufi Muslim who had written many works on the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon
him). Each year, he gave the Mawlid utmost importance, inviting the rich and the poor, the
dignitaries, poets and the scholars. Abu Shama wrote:
He held a gathering each year during the days of the birth of the Messenger (peace be
upon him), inviting the people of Mosul. Poets would attend to praise the Prophet
(peace be upon him) during this gathering.
Many historians write that he was the first to commemorate the Mawlid in a formal manner.
5

Al-Maqrizi, Khiṭāt Maqrizi, ( London: Muassasah al-Furqan li al-Turats al-Islami, 1995), p. 48-54.

Sultan Muzaffar of Irbil
Sultan Muzaffar of Irbil (d. 630/1232) lived in thetime of Salah al-Din Ayyubi. He was a
pure-hearted, brave and wise ruler. He wasone of the first to turn the Mawlid into a formal
event. He would spend 300,000 dinars annually on the Mawlid. Additionally, he would spend
200,000 dinars on releasing Muslim prisoners held by the Europeans. He also spent 300,000
dinars annually on looking after the two Harams and providing water along the routes to the
two cities. His wife reports that Sultan Muzaffar himself used to wear a garment of five
dirhams. This period led to the first publication specifically on the Mawlid. Hafiz Abu alKhattab Ibn Dihyah passed by Irbil in 654/1256, where he saw celebrations of the Mawlid.
So he wrote the book Kitab al-Tanwir fi Mawlid al-Bashir al-Nazir. He was gifted 1000
dinars for his efforts by Sultan Muzaffar.6
Those two historical evidence were a strong evidence to be believed that mawlid celebration
also permitted as a Sunni tradition. But as we look to the year of the two evidence was in
Salahuddin al-Ayyubi era. Salahuddin on his early year before he build Ayyubid Dinasty had
served as a wazir to Fatimid Dinasty. This make a strong assumption for me that Salahuddin
make a direct contact with some of the biggest tradition of Fatimid. Some of the Sunni
historian believes that Salahuddin was the first Sunni person that commemorate the Prophet
birthday celebration to motivate his troops in war with the Crusades. This happened after The
Fatimid Dinasty fall apart in 1171 AD.
If it was true, i believe that Saladin make this choice to avoid a disunity in his troops because

he was in a big war with the Crusades. So, he maybe choose not to banish a Shia tradition in a
form of Mawlid Celebration to make his troops unite. So in my opinion with the political
reason Saladin deliberately adopting a Shia tradition. My thinking about this became even
clearer when i read a book that written by Paula Sanders about ritual, politics and the city of
Fatimid. She wrote that the ritual practice in Fatimid Era (one of them is Mawlid) make
Fatimid more stronger in the face of Cairo’s people. She called it political legitimacy. She
think the reason behind all of the ritual practice in Fatimid era was to have a power and
authority to won over Cairo’s people that in those time emnbrace Sunni Islam than Shia.7
And if we want to enforce that Sunni Islam is the first one that celebrate a Mawlid we need
another strong eveidences because when we see the historical sources, it said that the first one
6

Hafiz Ather, Mawlid History, p. 3-4.
Paula Sanders, Ritual, Politics and The City in Fatimid Cairo, ( New York: State University of New
York Press, 1994), p. 201.
7

that commemorate Mawlid Celebration is Shia in Fatimid Era ( 969-1171 AD). There is no
eveidence that says about Mawlid Celebration before it started by Fatimid Dinasty.
Conclusion

Until now, there are several debates over the origin of the Mawlid celebration between
Islamic scholars, historians and even the ummat itself. This mawlid celebration became a
universal rite among the majority of Muslim in the world. The origin of the Mawlid itself can
be date back to time where Fatimid Dinasty rule egypt between 969-1171 AD. In the several
last years of the Fatimid Dinasty rule, we knew one name that became a centre of discussion
in this subject. Saladin, in some historical evidence was believed to be the first person to
formally commemorate mawlid celebration. But i found a difficulty to search the source of
this information. Some paper said that Saladin celebrate mawlid to motivate his troops in the
war with the Crusades. As we know that Saladin in several years became a wazir of Fatimid.
So, we can not wrong some assumption about the probability of Saladin to adopt the Mawlid
celebration from the Fatimid.
This makes us to believe that the first one that commemorate Mawlid celebration is not Sunni
Islam, but Shia Islam under the Fatimid rule. The reason behind those rites and celebrations
was to rival Abbasid Chaliphate in Baghdad in a political aspect. Nowadays, this mawlid
celebration became a Sunni and Shi’a rites. So, we can believe that maybe Sunni Islam adopt
those celebration and change some aspect in the process. Because in history, there are two
important things, change and continuity. Those two terms can describe the assumption about
the adoption of the mawlid by Sunni Islam. Wallahu a’lam bi al-showab.

Rereferences

Al-Maqrizi, Itti’az al-Hunafa’ bi Akhbar al-Aimmah al-Fatimiyyin al-Khulafa’, 3 jilid, Kairo:
Lajnah Ihya Turats al-Islami, 1996.
________, Al-Mawa’idz wa al-I’tibar Fi Dzikr al-Khitat wa al-Atsar. London: Muassasah alFurqan li al-Turats al-Islami, 1995.
Asy-Syolabi, ‘Ali Muhammad, Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi wa Juhudihi fi al-Qadha’ ‘ala adDawla al-Fatimiyyah wa Tahrir al-Bait al-Muqaddas, Beirut: Bait al-Ma’rifath, 2008.
_____________, Ad-Dawla al-Fatimiyyah, Kairo: Muassasah Iqra li al-Nasr wa al-Tauzi’ wa
al-Tarjamah, 2006.
Haji, Hamid, Founding The Fatimid State: The Rise of an Early Islamic Empire. London: IB
Tauris, 2006.
Hussain al-Azhari, Hafiz Ather, Mawlid History
Ibrahim Hasan, Hasan, Al-Fatimiyyun fi Misr wa A’malihim as-Siyasah wa ad-Diniyyah bi
wajh Khass, Kairo: al-Matbu’ah al-Amiriyyah, 1932.
Sanders, Paula, Ritual, Politics and The City in Fatimid Cairo. New York: State University of
New York Press, 1994.
Sayyid, Ayman Fuad, The Fatimids and their Successors in Yaman. London: IB Tauris, 2002.
Surur, Jamal al-Din, Tarikh ad-Dawla al-Fatimiyyah, Kairo: Dar al-Fikr al-‘Arabi, 1995.