The bid‘ah (innovation) of encouraging billions of salawaat upon the Messenger of Allah on the occasion of the Mawlid (Prophet’s Birthday)

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Anyone who knows the
Sunnah and its rulings, and has been blessed with its light and smelled the
fragrance of sharee‘ah and following the Sunnah will realise that actions
such as that mentioned in the question are innovations and misguidance. It
is not by such means that the Muslim shows his love for the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him); otherwise, what did Abu Bakr and
the Sahaabah do of such actions? What did Sa‘eed ibn al-Musayyab and the
Taabi’een do of such things? What did the four imams and other leading
scholars do of such things? None of them ever did any such thing, or even
came near it.

Yes, Allah, may He be
exalted, has instructed us to send blessings upon His Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him), and our Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) also encouraged us to do that, but none of those who
truly loved him and sought that great reward for themselves did this, or
even came close to it.

Wasting time in
making a schedule and distributing it in school or to different houses or on
Internet discussion boards – there is no benefit in any of that, and it is a
waste of time. In fact it is misguidance from the true religion and is
foolishness.

If they truly knew
what it means to follow the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him), they could have put all that effort into doing something which is
actually useful, such as telling people about the teachings of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) one how to interact with one’s
wife, or how to do wudoo’ and how to pray, or encouraging them to give up
riba and to stop staying away from prayer in congregation, and even to stop
neglecting prayer altogether, or warning women against flaunting their
beauty and going out uncovered, and other things that could have a
far-reaching effect in conveying the message of Islam to many groups who are
unaware of this guidance and who have gone astray from the right path. But
how could the innovator be guided to do these noble actions when he mocks
those who truly follow the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) and regards as ignorant those who show their love of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in the proper manner as
prescribed in Islam.

For more information
on the ruling on sending blessings on the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him), please see the answer to question no.
101856

For more information
on the meaning of sending blessings and greetings of peace upon him, please
see the answer to question no. 69944

These people are
committing several innovations, or are committing a multifaceted innovation,
such as the following:

1.They have connected this
salawat to the occasion of the Mawlid (Prophet’s birthday), which is an
innovated festival.

We have previously
discussed at length what is wrong with this innovation, in the answers to
questions no. 10070, 13810
and 70317

2.They have stipulated a specific
target number, and have shared that out among themselves and other people,
which has not been ordained by Allah, may He be exalted. The Muslim may send
blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) ten
times, as mentioned in the hadeeth quoted in the question – even though
there is some difference of opinion as to how sound it is – and he may do
more than that, as it is up to him. But he has no right take a dhikr for
which a particular number of times has been stipulated and make it
unlimited, or to take a dhikr for which no particular number of times has
been stipulated, and stipulate a number of times for it based on his own
speculation.

Those people deserve
the words of ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him), that he
addressed to their predecessors in innovation:
“Count your bad deeds, for I
promise you that nothing of your good deeds will be lost.”

Narrated by
ad-Daarimi in the Introduction to his Sunan, 304. See also the answer
to question no. 11938

3.Sending blessings upon the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is not one of the adhkaar
that is to be recited collectively; rather it is a private dhikr between the
individual and his Lord.

Ibn al-Qayyim said:

Although sending
blessings upon the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) is one of the best of deeds and one of the most beloved to Allah, may
He be exalted, each dhikr has its appropriate time and place, and no other
can replace it. They said: Hence it is not prescribed to send blessings upon
him when bowing or prostrating, or when rising from bowing.

Jala’ al-fhaam fi
Fadl as-Salaah ‘ala Muhammad al-Anaam sall Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, 1/424

For further
discussion on these two points, please see the answers to questions no.
88102, 82559,
22457 and 21902.

What the one who
invented this way of sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) must do is repent from this innovation and refrain
from calling people to participate in it. What the one who knows that this
is an innovation must do is tell people not to participate in it or to call
others to do so, and not to be deceived by the words of the people who
promote it.

It is not expected
that any wise person would tell them not to send blessings upon the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) in response to the divine command
and in the fulfilment of the Prophet’s encouragement to do so. But one
cannot draw closer to Allah by means of these innovated kinds of dhikr and
so on.

In the answers to
which we have referred you will find a detailed discussion of this matter,
so please read them carefully. We hope that Allah will make them beneficial
and that He will guide the misguided Muslims to follow the Sunnah of His
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

And Allah knows best.