It is pertinent to highlight this time of the year (Rabi ul Awal 2019 – at the time of writing) when Mawlidun nabi is in full swing around the world there will be the usual naysaysers and detractors who are actively spending their every waking hours to discredit Mawlidun Nabi by highlighting how this is supposedly a “biddah” in the Islamic tradition. However, when you point out the founding fathers who says this; mawlid is biddah, primarily the heads of the wahabbi movement, based out of Saudi Arabia will happily celebrate every year (without a miss) the birth of the founding father of the nation, Abdul Azeez Ibn Saud,
The founding father; Abdul Azeez Ibn Saud.
the usual response they give is they do not do this as a act of worship but it is a social function to get the nation together, an Islamic celebration but a national celebration; this is the biggest biddah in Saudi Arabia. In Islam there is no separation of state and religion, e.g everything a muslim does is governed by Islam, your social, economic, private, public life everything is governed by Islam, your entire life is the worship of Allah, (or it should be); as Allah azzawajal says he did not create man or jinn except for his worship. So the feeble point Saudis say they celebrate the birth of Al Saud not as an act of worship but a social celebration is incorrect and a bibbah, further to this Saudis also have a national day celebration for the founding of the Saudi state every year, as well as this, on December 2019 Saudis will celebrate the 84th birthday of King Salman bin Abdulazia al Saud the current head of the state. Yet all these acts are done and not a single shout by the red and white scarf wearing extremist.
The usual red and white checkered scarf wearing “biddah” police of Saudi Arabia.
The idea of separation of state and religion was first coined by Thomas Jefferson in which “separation of church and state” is derived from a letter written in 1802 to Baptists from Danbury. He wanted to separate the notion of religion governing every aspect of a citizen’s life. The irony here is Saudi Arabia is now borrowing a unislamic concept and introducing it in the holiest place of Islam; the land of Makkah and Madinah.
Talk about getting your arguments in a twist, if they are adamant in prohibiting the celebration of the birth of the Messenger of Allah sallahu alihi wasallam then they should not celebrate the births of these 20th century bedouins; why is there a double standard when it comes to implementing Islam and its injunctions? Unfortunately, Islam is always used as a political football by nation states when it suits its political ends and the “Saudi” state is no exception. By categorising Mawlid as a “biddah” it essentially allows the state to minimise the potential of a large scale gathering to take place and hence keep people in check so that there is no potential for a rebellion and upheaval. It is a tool used to divert peoples attention from religious devotion which should gain, may lead to the downfall of a unjust and tyrannical monarchy e.g the Saudi monarchy.
