Ibn Kathir Praises the Night of Mawlid

Imam Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, in his book al-Durar al-kamina fi ayn al-Mi'at al-thamina, mentions that Ibn Kathir, a muhaddith from among the followers of Ibn Taymiyya, in the last days of his life wrote a book entitled Mawlid Rasul Allah which was spread far and wide. That book mentioned the permissibility and recommendability of celebrating the Mawlid.

Ibn Kathir's book was edited and published in 1961. In it he says, p. 19: The Night of the Prophet's birth is a magnificient, noble, blessed and holy night, a night of bliss for the believers, pure, radiant with lights, and of immeasurable price.

Asqalani and Suyuti's Fatwas on the Permissibility of Mawlid

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti said in his Hawi li al-fatawa: The Sheikh of Islam and hadith master of his age, Ahmad ibn Hajar (Asqalani) was asked about the practice of commemorating the birth of the Prophet, and gave the following written reply:

As for the origin of the practice of commemorating the Prophet's birth, it is an innovation that has not been conveyed to us from any of the pious early muslims of the first three centuries, despite which it has included both features that are praisweorthy and features that are not. If one takes care to include in such a commemoration only things that are praiseworthy and avoids those that are otherwise, it is a praise worthy innovation, while if ones does not, it is not.

An authentic primary textual basis from which its legal validity is inferable has occured to me, namely the rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith in the collections of Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet came to Medina and found the Jews fasting on the tenth of Muharram (Ashura '), so he asked them about it and they replied: It is the day on which Allah drowned Pharaoh and rescued Moses, so we fast in it to thanks to Allah Most high, which indicates the validity of giving thanks to Allah for the blessings He has bestowed on a particular day in providing a benefit, or averting an affliction, repeating one's thanks on the anniversary of that day every year, giving thanks to Allah taking * any various forms of worship such as prostration, fasting, giving charity or reciting the Koran... THEN WHAT BLESSING IS GREATER THAN THE BIRTH OF THE PROPHET, THE PROPHET OF MERCY, ON THIS DAY ? IN LIGHT OF WHICH, ONE SHOULD TAKE CARE TO COMMEMORATE IT ON THE DAY ITSELF IN ORDER TO CONFORM TO THE ABOVE STORY OF MOSES AND THE TENTH OF MUHARRAM, [but] THOSE WHO DO NOT VIEW THE MATTER THUS DO NOT MIND COMMEMORATING IT ON ANY DAY OF THE MONTH, WHILE SOME HAVE EXPANDED ITS TIME TO ANY OF DAY THE YEAR, WHATEVER EXCEPTION MAY BE TAKEN AT SUCH A VIEW.

Other Scholars' Opinions on the Mawlid

According tothe Mufti of Mecca Ahmad ibn Zayni Dahlan, in his book al-Sira al-nabawiyya wa al-athar al-muhammadiyya, page 51: To celebrate the Mawlid and to remember the Prophet is accepted by all the Ulama of the Muslims. Most of the following quotations are taken from that work.

Imam Subki said, When we were celebrating the Prophet's birthday, a great uns (familiarity) comes to our heart, and we feel something special.

Imam Shawkani in his book al-Badr at-tali, said, It is permissible to celebrate the Prophet's birthday. He mentioned that Mullah Ali Qari held the same opinion in a book entitled al-Mawrid ar-Rawi fi al-Mawlid al-Nabawi, written specifically to support the celebration of the Prophet's birthday.

Imam Abu Shama, the sheikh of Imam Nawawi, said in his book on innovations entitled: al-Baith ala inkar al-bida wa al-hawadith:

The best innovation in our day is the remembrance of the Prophet's birthday. On that day, people give much donations, make much worship, show much love to the Prophet, and give much thanks to Allah Almighty for sending them His messenger to keep them on the Sunna and Sharia of Islam.

Imam Sakhawi said, The Mawlid was begun three centuries after the Prophet, and all Muslim nations celebrated it, and all ulama accepted it, by worshipping Allah alone, by giving donations and by reading the Prophet's Sira.

Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Haytami said , As Jews celebrated the day of Ashura by fasting to thank Allah, we also have to celebrate the day of Mawlid, and he quoted the aforementioned hadith, When the Prophet came to Madina... Ibn Hajar continues, One gives thanks to Allah for the favor that He gave on a particular day either through a great good, or through the averting of a disaster. That day is celebrated every year thereafter. Thanksgiving entails various forms of worship like prostration, fast, charity, and recitation of Qur'an, and what greater good is there than the advent of that Prophet, the Prophet of Mercy, on the day of Mawlid?

Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597) wrote a booklet of poems and sira to be read at mawlid celebrations. It is entitled Mawlid al-arus and begins with the words: al-hamdu lillah al-ladhi abraza min ghurrati arusi al-hadrati subhan mustanira: Praise be to Allah Who has manifested from the radiance of the bridegroom of His presence a light-giving daybreak...

To Celebrate Mawlid Is Mandub (Recommended)

Imam Suyuti in his book Husn al-maqsid fi amal al-mawlid, p. 54 and 62, says: The reason for gathering for tarawih prayers is Sunna and qurba (to seek nearness to Allah)... and similarly we say that the reason for gathering to celebrate mawlid is mandub (recommended) and qurba (an act of drawing near).. and the intention to celebrate mawlid is mustahsana (excellent) without a doubt.

Imam Suyuti continues, p. 64-65, I have derived the permissibility of Mawlid from another source of the Sunna [besides Ibn Hajar's deduction from the hadith of Ashura'], namely, the hadith found in Bayhaqi, narrated by Anas, that The Prophet slaughtered a aqiqa [sacrifice for newborns] for himself after he received the prophecy, although it has been mentioned that his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib did that on the seventh day after he was born, and the aqiqa cannot be repeated. Thus the reason for the Prophet's action is to give thanks to Allah for sending him as a mercy to the worlds, and to give honor to his Umma, in the same way that he used to pray on himself. It is recommended for us, therefore, that we also show thanks for his birth by meeting with our brothers, by feeding people, and other such good works and rejoicing. This hadith confirms the aforementioned hadith of the Prophet's emphasis of Monday as the day of his birthday and that of his prophethood.

CONCERNING THE CLAIM OF THE CONTEMPORARY SALAFI WRITERS WHO FORBADE MAWLID ON THE GROUNDS THAT IT IS AN INNOVATION, SUCH AS ALBANI, BIN BAZ, AL-JAZA'IRI, MASHHUR SALMAN, UTHAYMIN AND OTHERS.

This claim is not only an innovative departure from what the majority of the past scholars have said on the question; it is, first and foremost, defective in its logic and reasoning, since the scholars have defined innovations as being sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes indifferent, and therefore it is not allowed to prohibit something solely on the ground that it is an innovation without first defining what kind of innovation it is.

There is a bida hasana or excellent innovation according to the majority of the scholars who have written about bida, though some, like Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn Taymiyya, consider all bida to be bida dalala (innovation of miguidance). Their position in this is isolated as the following evidence shows.

Harmala ibn Yahya said: I heard al-Shafii saying:

al-bidatu bidatan: bida mahmuda wa bida madhmuma, fa ma wafaqa al-sunna fa huwa mahmud, wa ma khalafa al-sunna fa huwa madhmum.
Innovation is of two kinds: the praiseworthy innovation and the blameworthy innovation. Whatever conforms to the Sunna is praiseworthy, and whatever contravenes the Sunna is blameworthy.
Sources:
al-hafiz Abu Nuaym al-Asbahani cites it in Hilyat al-awliya (9:113);
al-hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani also in Fath al-Bari (13:253);
al-hafiz Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali also in Jami al-uloom wa al-hikam (p. 291);
al-hafiz Abu Shama in al-Baith ala inkar al-bida wa al-hawadith ed. Mashhur Hasan Salman (Ryadh: Dar al-Raya, 1990/1410) p. 93; Cairo edition, p. 12.
al-hafiz al-Turtushi al-Maliki, Kitab al-hawadith wa al-bida (p. 158-159); He himself divided the bida into muharrama (forbidden), makruha (disliked), and wajiba (obligatory): p. 15.
al-hafiz al-Suyuti alludes to it in the introduction to his fatwa on Mawlid entitled Husn al-maqsid fi amal al-mawlid in al-Hawi li al-fatawi;
al-hafiz Ibn Taymiyya, Dar' taarud al-aql wa al-naql, ed. Muhammad al-Sayyid Julaynid (Cairo: Mu'assasat al-ahram, 1409/1988) p. 171: Bayhaqi narrated it in al-Madkhal with a sound chain;
al-hafiz al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib al-Shafi'i (1:469) in these words:

al-muhdathatu min al-umuri darbani ahaduhuma ma uhditha yukhalifu kitaban aw sunnatan aw atharan aw ijmaan fa hadhihi al-bidatu al-dalalat wa al-thaniyatu ma uhditha min al-khayri la khilafa fihi li wahidin min hadhihi wa hadhihi muhdathatun ghayru madhmuma.
Innovated matters are one of two kinds: one is an nnovation which contravenes something in the Qur'an or he Sunna or a report from a Companion or the consensus of he scholars: this is the innovation of misguidance (bida dlala); the other kind is whatever good has been nnovated which contravenes none of the above, and this is an innovation that is not blameworthy (muhdathatun ghayru madhmuma).
al-Hafiz al-Izz Ibn Abd al-Salam said:

There are five types of bida:

Haram (forbidden)
Makhruh (disliked)
Mubah (permitted)
Mandub (praiseworthy)
Wajib (obligatory)
Sources:
al-hafiz al-Shatibi, Kitab al-itisam (Beirut ed.) 1:188;
al-hafiz al-Imam al-Nawawi, Kitab al-Adhkar (Beirut: al-Thaqafiyya) p. 237; and Tahdhib al-asma' wa al-lughat ([Cairo] : Idarat al-Tibaah al-Muniriyah, [1927]?) 3: 22;
al-hafiz Ibn Abidin, Radd al-muhtar (Kuitah, Pakistan ed.?) 1:376;
al-hafiz al-Suyuti mentions it in the introduction to his fatwa on Mawlid entitled Husn al-maqsid fi amal al-mawlid in al-Hawi li al-fatawi.
3. Others who admitted the possibility of praiseworthy bida are:

Abu Shama; he divided it into bida mustahsana / hasana on the one hand, and bida mustaqbaha on the other, itself subdivided into muharram and makruh. In al-Baith ala inkar al-bida wa al-hawadith Cairo ed. (p. 13);
al-Tal-Hanafi; he divided it into either bida mustahsana (approved), such as mubaha yuthab alayha (permitted innovation which merits reward), or bida mustaqbaha (disapproved), such as makruha or muharrama. In Kitab al-luma fi al-hawadith wa al-bida (Stuttgart, 1986) 1:37;
Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Maliki, who followed al-Izz Ibn Abd al-Salam's classification. Madkhal al-shar al-sharif (Cairo, 1336 H) 2:115;
al-Tahanawi al-Hanafi, who also followed Ibn Abd al-Salam. Kashshaf istilahat al-funun (Beirut, 1966) 1:133-135;
al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his commentary of Umar's saying related by Bukhari about Salat al-Tarawih: What a fine innovation this is (

SENDING DARUD OR SALAWAT

CONCERNING THE STANDING OF THE PEOPLE AT THE CONCLUSION OF MAWLID, WHILE SENDING DARUD OR SALAWAT -- BLESSINGS AND SALUTATIONS -- ON THE HOLY PROPHET

Another objection of those who harbor ignorance or enmity in their heart towards the lovers of Allah and his Prophet consists in criticizing the standing of the people at the conclusion of Mawlid, in which the people address salutations and blessings to the Prophet. It is beyond us how anyone can object to an act of obedience and worship which has been specifically enjoined by Allah in His Book when He said: O Believers, send blessings and utmost salutations on him! (33:56) and He also spoke in praise of Those who remember Allah standing, and sitting, and on their sides (3:191). Since remembering Allah and sending blessings on His Prophet are acts of worship, no attention is given to those who object to standing for the sake of fulfilling one of Allah's orders and greeting the Prophet according to Allah's order.

Furthermore, it is known that anyone who visits the Prophet in Madina is obliged to stand in front of him with utmost respect at the time he gives him greetings and salutations, and there is no difference in the greeting of Salam being given to the Prophet in front of him in Madina and the one given to him from thousands of miles away, according to many sound hadiths of which several are mentioned above in the section on Ziyarat or Visitation of the Prophet, among them the following:

Whoever invokes blessings on me at my grave, I hear him, and whoever invokes blessings on me from afar, I am informed about it.

No one greets me except Allah has returned my soul to me so that I can return his salam.

Suyuti in Anba' al-adhkiya' bi hayat al-anbiya' said that radda means ala al-dawam , i.e. permanently, and not temporarily: in other words, Allah does not return the soul and take it back, then return it again and then take it back again, but He has returned it to the Prophet permanently, and the Prophet is alive permanently, not intermittently as some ignorant people have suggested. To those who would differ with Imam Suyuti we say: This is very much confirmed even if the hadith is taken literally, since there are always people at prayer in the world during the entire twenty-four hour cycle, and sending salawat on the Prophet is part of salat, therefore people are constantly and permanently invoking blessings and greetings on the Prophet without stop in the world. This shows that the hadith of the Prophet on the return of his soul takes into consideration the continuity of prayer concomitant with the revolving five times of prayer around the world, and that indeed he is alive in permanence, since Allah has entitled him to return every single salam that is made to him.

Nor is the appropriate time for standing when making salawat only at the time of Mawlid, but at any time, such as after salat, after Juma prayer, individually or in congregation, because it is a voluntary act of worship that no-one can forbid others from performing for the sake of obeying Allah.

Ibn Qunfudh al-Qusantini al-Maliki (d. 810) wrote in his book Wasilat al-islam bi al-nabi:

The Community is unanimous concerning the obligation to magnify and exalt the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions. It was the practice of the Pious Predecessors and the Imams of the past that whenever the Prophet was mentioned in their presence they were seized by reverence, humbleness, stillness, and dignity. Jafar ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (Jafar al-Sadiq) would turn pale whenever he heard the Prophet mentioned. Imam Malik would not mention a hadith except in a state of ritual purity. Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr al-Siddiq would turn red and stammer whenever he heard the Prophet mentioned. As for Amir ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awamm al-Asadi (one of the early sufis), he would weep until his eyes had no tears left in them. When hadith was mentioned in their presence they would lowetheir voices. Malik said: His sacredness (hurmat) in death is as his sacredness in life.

Another reason why it is desirable and recommended to be seen standing at the time of greeting the Prophet is that he himself himself ordered the Companions to stand up when Sad ibn Muadh came to him, as related by Bukhari in his Sahih: Qumu li sayyidikum or Stand up for your master. What better master to stand for than the Prophet? Imam Nawawi demonstrated at length that standing out of respect for scholars was not only permissible but desirable in his book al-Tarkhis fi al-ikram bi al-qiyam, the full title of which reads: The Permissibility of Honoring, By Standing Up, Those Who Possess Excellence and Distinction Among the People of Islam: In the Spirit of Piousness, Reverence, and Respect, Not in the Spirit of Display and Aggrandizement. The following discussion on the subject of standing out of respect is taken from Nawawi's Tarkhis, as well as his Sharh Sahih Muslim, Ibn Hajar's sections of Fath al-Bari following up on Nawawi's Tarkhis, and Sakhawi's own biography of Ibn Hajar entitled al-Jawahir wa al-durar:

1. From Amr ibn Shuayb from his father from his grandfather: The Prophet said: He is not of us who did not show mercy to our young ones and ignored the honor of our elders. Tirmidhi (Birr wa silat 4:322 28) said: hasan sahih (fair and sound). Ahmad (2:185) narrates it but the second part is: and ignored the right of our elders. Nawawi said: we related (by a chain) from Bukhari that he said: I saw Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ali ibn al-Madani and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh cite the hadith of Amr ibn Shuayb from his father from his grandfather as a proof -- and who are those who came after them! Another version from Ibn Abbas has: ...and does not treat our elders with reverence... Tirmidhi (4:322 28), but with a weaker chain.

2. From Maymun ibn Abi Shabib: A beggar passed by A'isha and she gave him a chunk of bread. Another time a handsomely dressed man passed by her and she invited him to sit and eat. She was asked about it and she said: The Prophet said: Treat people according to their station. Abu Dawud related it with an interrupted (munqati) chain; Muslim mentions it without chain in the introduction to his Sahih. Sakhawi says in his introduction (p. 5) to al-Jawahir wa al-durar (The diamonds and the pearls), his biography of his teacher Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani: This is a fair (hasan) hadith... Nawawi reports Ibn al-Salah's opinion that it is not definitely established as sound [although it satisfies Muslim's criterion], however, al-Hakim definitely establishes it as sound in the part that deals with the 16th kind of sound narration of his book Marifat ulum al-hadith (Knowledge of the Sciences of Hadith) where he also says: Ibn Khuzayma declared it sound... al-Bazzar extracted it in his Musnad... so did Abu Dawud in his Sunan... al-Askari in his Kitab al-amthal... Abu Yala in his Musnad... Bayhaqi in al-Adab... Abu Nuaym in the Hilya...

3. Abu Said al-Khudri said: The people of Qurayza submitted to Sad ibn Muadh's arbitration, so the Prophet sent for Sad who came riding on his donkey. When he approached the mosque, Allah's Messenger said to the Ansar: Stand up for your chieftain -- or: for the best among you -- then he said: These people have submitted to your decision... Muslim narrated it in his Sahih (Bk. 32 Jihad - Ch. 22 1728).

NAWAWI'S COMMENTARY: There is in this hadith the proof for honoring persons of merit by standing up for them upon receiving them while they are coming towards us. Thus have the overwhelming majority of the scholars used this as a proof for the desirability of standing up. Qadi Iyad said: This is not the kind of standing that is forbidden. The latter is only when one sits and the others remain standing all through his sitting. I say: Standing up for the person of merit who is coming is desirable; many ahadith have been related supporting it, while there is not one sound explicit prohibition against it.

4. Anas said that none was dearer to them than Allah's Messenger, and they would not stand up when they saw him due to their knowledge that he disliked it. Tirmidhi (Adab - 5:90 44) said it is hasan sahih (fair and sound).

NAWAWI'S COMMENTARY: This is the hadith most readily cited as a proof against standing up. There are two answers:

The Prophet feared confusion for them and for their successors in their exaggeration in magnifying him, as he said in another hadith: Do not praise me in the fashion that the Christians praised Isa ibn Maryam (Bukhari 6:478 Bk. 60 Anbiya' 48 and Ahmad 1:23,24). He disliked their standing for him for that reason. However, he did not dislike their standing for each other, and he even stood for some of them, and also they stood for others in his presence without his prohibiting it. Rather he approved it, and he ordered it in the hadith of standing up for Sad ibn Muadh... This is a clear answer in which none will see doubt except an ignorant person or a stubborn one.
There was between the Prophet and his Companions a perfect state of love and purity which does not suffer addition through honoring by standing up, since there was no purpose being achieved by standing up, as opposed to standing up for someone else. One's companion who is near this state has no need of standing up.
IBN AL-HAJJ'S OBJECTIONS:

This answer is not complete except if it is first conceded that the Companions rose up for no-one. If they got up for him then, it would be exaggeration. However, Nawawi affirms that they did this for other than him; how then does he deem it permissible for them to do with other than the Prophet what leaves no protection against exaggeration, while they do not do it with him? For if they do this to honor someone, then the Prophet is worthier of such honor, as we know from the source-texts which order us to honor him above everyone else. It seems that their rising for other than him was therefore only for a necessity caused by their arrival, or to congratulate them, and so forth, not for the reason that is controverted [= respect].
Nawawi's explanation can be reverted and it can be said that the Companion whose devotion to the Prophet has not been ascertained and who has not yet realized the stature of the Prophet is excused for not standing up, as opposed to him whose devotion is ascertained and whose station is greater in relation to the Prophet and his worth is known: he would apply himself (to respect him), because he would be certain that he deserves more piety and honor and reverence than any other. But Nawawi's saying makes it necessary that whoever is likelier to show respect to the Prophet and is closer in station to him, should show him less reverence than he who is far from him, due to intimacy and complete affection. The reality is other than that according to the authentic reports, as occurred in the story of the Prophet's oversight, while Abu Bakr and Umar were present among the people and they were too afraid to speak to him, while Dhu al-Yadayn (He of the Long Hands-- perhaps al-Khirbaq al-Sulami) spoke to him despite his remoteness from the Prophet in station in comparison to Abu Bakr and Umar. [A reference to the hadith in Bukhari (English 1:278-279) and Muslim whereby the Prophet prayed Asr and gave salam after two rakats; this Companion said to him: O Messenger of Allah, has the prayer been shortened or did you forget? The Prophet replied that neither applied, then he prayed the remaining two rakats.
ASQALANI'S REFUTATION OF IBN AL-HAJJ:

This objection of Ibn al-Hajj does not stand, because Imam Nawawi never said that the Companions' rising for the Prophet is considered exaggeration in order for Ibn al-Hajj to say: This answer is not complete except if it is first conceded that the Companions rose up for no-one. If they got up for him then, it would be exaggeration. What Imam Nawawi said is that the Prophet feared lest their rising should lead to exaggeration. That is why he forbade it to them, fearing exaggeration and lest they should fall in the confusion of exaggeration. Y, he is worthier of being honored than any other, except that he feared that their showing him this particular mark of honor might lead to exaggeration and that is why he forbade it to them.
With the second objection Ibn al-Hajj has contravened the universal custom of people in their companionship and their love. It is definitely known that the stronger the companionship and love between two people, the more superfluous certain formalities become between them. This is clear and needs no exposition. On the contrary, if companionship is weak and mutual acquaintance limited, a human being in that case needs to win his companion's love and affection with all kinds of honorific acts. This is because obtaining a person's love and affection is upheld by the transmitted reports dealing with giving honor. Now when love reaches the level where it is no longer increased by honorific acts, the latter are no longer necessary.
As for Ibn al-Hajj's objection that Nawawi's saying makes it necessary that whoever is likelier to show respect to the Prophet and is closer in station to him, should show him less reverence than he who is far from him, due to intimacy and complete affection: it is an invalid necessity. That some formalities become superfluous between friends and loved ones does not mean that mutual reverence and respect become superfluous. This is clear and needs no exposition. Rather, the contrary is true: because the lover is of all people the most aware of the attributes of his beloved, and when the latter is graced with praiseworthy, high attributes, and people flock to give him proper respect and reverence, the lover is the most intense of all in respect and reverence due to his added knowledge of the attributes of the beloved.

As for Ibn al-Hajj's inference from the hadith of the Prophet's oversight, it does not impose itself due to the possibility that Abu Bakr and Umar's silence may be for a reason other than fear, such as their knowledge that he disliked questioning, or their knowledge that he does not setlle on a mistake except Allah certainly informs him of it, or for another reason. Moreover, Ibn al-Hajj's inference contradicts what has been related concerning his attributes, namely that those who were far from him feared him, and that those who grew near him, frequented him, and saw his humbleness and the nobility of his manners, immediately were at ease with him and loved him. Here are some proofs:

Ibn Majah narrated (2:1101 Bk. 29 - atima Ch. 30) from Ibn Masud that a man came to speak to the Prophet and he began to shake with fear. The Prophet said to him: Put yourself at ease, for I am not a king, I am the son of a woman who ate sun-dried meat. Tirmidhi narrated (5:599 - Bk. 50 manaqib ch. 8) from Ali at the end of his description: Whoever saw him from afar was awed by him, and whoever mixed with him and grew to know him, loved him. The reason for this is the presence in the Prophet of the attributes of majesty and sanctity despite great humbleness before all who saw him.

5. Abu Mijlaz said: Muawiya went out to meet Ibn al-Zubayr and Ibn Amir. The latter stood up while the former remained seated. Muawiya said to Ibn Amir: Sit, for I heard the Prophet say: Whoever likes for men to stand up for him let him take his place in the fire. Tirmidhi's version mentions Ibn al-Zubayr and Safwan, and both get up. Abu Dawud narrated it (Adab 4:385), also Tirmidhi (Adab 5:90 44) who said: hasan (fair) and Ahmad (4:94, 100).

NAWAWI'S COMMENTARY: Most people in disfavor of standing are fond of quoting this hadith. It is answered in many ways,

The soundest and best -- nay, the one answer which makes all others superfluous is that there is no proof against standing up in this hadith. Its plain, outward meaning is the explicit condemnation and harsh threat against any man who likes people to get up for him. There is neither prohibition nor other than prohibition concerning standing itself, and there is agreement about this... The gravity of the condemnation is in what takes place inside the mind of the person who likes people to stand for him. If there is no such thing in his mind there is no blame on him -- all this whether they get up or not... The prohibition revolves around the love of adulation not the act of standing. Therefore there is no proof in this hadith against the permissibility of standing.
Another answer is that the hadith is mudtarib (

USING THE PHRASE: AS-SALAMU ALAYKA YA RASULALLAH

CONCERNING THE OBJECTIONS OF SOME TO USING THE PHRASE: AS-SALAMU ALAYKA YA RASULALLAH (PEACE UPON YOU, O MESSENGER OF ALLAH), ALTHOUGH ALLAH SAYS IN THE HOLY QUR'AN:

O BELIEVERS, SEND BLESSINGS AND GREETINGS UPON HIM, AND THEIR CLAIM THAT ONE CANNOT HAIL THE PROPHET WITH THE TERM YA (O)

Our answer is, al-hamdu lillah, that it is permissible, excellent, praiseworthy, and highly meritorious to invoke blessings upon the Prophet with the phrases:

Ya Rasulallah (O Messenger of Allah)

Ya Habib Allah (O Beloved Lover of Allah)

Ya Nabi Allah (O Prophet of Allah)

Ya Safi Allah (O Intimate Friend of Allah)

Ya Khalil Allah (O Intimate Friend of Allah)

Ya Naji Allah (O Intimate Friend of Allah)

and any such phrases at all times and places, but most especially in gatherings of dhikr where such phrases increase love of the Prophet in the heart in untold amounts, and we are obliged to love him more than children, parents, and life itself. The scholars of manasik (rites of Pilgrimage) recommend these phrases, moreover, when visiting the Prophet in Madina. It is established that Abdullah ibn Umar would say: as-salamu alayka Ya Rasulallah upon each of his visits to the Prophet, and a similar phrase with Abu Bakr and with his father. Those who object to using YA with the Prophet are injuring themselves and others by falling into various traps of inconsistency and innovation due to the following reasons:

1. Apparently they don't make salat, or they don't say tashahhud in

salat and this renders their salat invalid if this is the case. For

in every salat, at least ten times a day, we say, in tashahhud:

as-salamu alayka ayyuha al-nabi wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

and the phrase ayyuha al-nabi is the same as ya nabi.

2. Allah orders us not to call upon the Prophet in the same way as we call upon each other:

la tajalu dua'a al-rasuli baynakum ka dua'i badikum badan

Make not the calling of the Messenger among you as your calling one of another (24:63)

This is a proof that He did not prohibit us from calling upon him, for an absolute prohibition needs not be qualified further. Allah Himself shows us the etiquette of addressing the Prophet by calling him Himself Ya ayyuha al-nabi -- O Prophet -- and referring to him as The Messenger in the Qur'an, whereas He calls other Prophets by name: Ya Ibrahim, Ya Yahya, Ya Musa, Ya Isa, etc. The ulama have explained that Allah established by this an honorific difference between the Seal of Prophets and those that preceded him, blessings and peace of Allah upon him and upon all of them. They have also said that it is the reason why we should prefer to say: Ya Rasulallah over saying Ya Muhammad.

3. As mentioned in the section on Tawassul, the Prophet taught a blind man to make a dua in which he has to say: Ya Muhammad. This is a well-known authentic hadith and no-one can refute it except those who have no knowledge of the Religion. This is the invocation:

O Allah, I am asking you and turning to you by means of your Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy; O Muhammad, I am turning with you to my Lord regarding my present need so that He will fulfill it; O Allah, allow him to intercede (with You) for me!

The words O Muhammad are missing from the version in Tirmidhi. It is a strange, ungrammatical omission because without the vocative O Muhammad, the sense of the direct address continues to be O Allah, which makes no sense since in the latter part he is saying: I am turning with you to my Lord, which clearly does not mean O Allah, I am turning with You to my Lord.

THE WAHHABIS' TAMPERING OF THE MUWAJAHA AL-SHARIFA (GATE TO THE PROPHET'S NOBLE GRAVE)

In this connection Muslims should take note of the followinheinous act on the issue of Ya Muhammad, because it is established without doubt as one of the great Wahhabi tamperings of our time. If one looks at an old picture of the golden gate at the entrance of the Prophet's grave, one will see, at the top of each door, intertwined, the invocations in Arabic calligraphy:



If one looks now at the top of each door, one will notice that the Arabic letter Y ( ) in the initial position in the word YA in Ya Muhammad has been lopped off, but the A ( ) as well as the bottom two dots of the Y have been left in place, so that now one will read:

YA ALLAH

A MUHAMMAD

We have published a picture of the old gate, before the Wahhabis defaced it, on the front cover of our book Islamic Beliefs and Doctrine According to Ahl al-Sunna: A Repudiation of Salafi Innovations, Part I. It is a high-quality, clear color picture which we hope can seen and understood by all Muslims. All must know the acts of the shaytans who rage against the Prophet with their hand, their tongue, and their heart.

We declare that we consider such enemies of the Prophet and those who support them as our enemies, and call upon every Muslim to oppose them with us. They may have penetrated many mosques and Islamic centers, but they are very easily unmasked. All you have to do is shout: YA RASULALLAH! in front of them and you will see them scurry away.

The above invocation was also used after the Prophet's lifetime, as is proven by the sound (sahih) hadith authenticated by Bayhaqi, Abu Nuaym in the Marifa, Mundhiri (Targhib 1:473-474), Haythami, and Tabarani in the Kabir (9:17-18) and the Saghir (1:184/201-202) on the authority of Uthman ibn Hunayf's nephew Abu Imama ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf: A man would come to Uthman ibn Affan for a certain need, but the latter would not pay him any attention nor look into his need, upon which he complained of his condition to Uthman ibn Hunayf who told him:

Go and make ablution, then go to the mosque and pray two rakat, then say (this dua), and he mentioned the invocation of the blind man, then go (to Uthman again).

The man went, did as he was told, then came to Uthman's door, upon which the door-attendant came, took him by the hand, and brought him to Uthman who sat him with him on top of the carpet, and said: Tell me what your need is. After this the man went out, met Uthman ibn Hunayf again, and said to him: May Allah reward you! Previously he would not look into my need nor pay any attention to me, until you spoke to him. He replied: I did not speak to him, but I saw the Prophet when a blind man came to him complaining of his failing eyesight, and he mentioned to him the substance of the previous narration.

Finally, Ya Muhammad is the speech of sayyidina Isa to the Prophet after Isa's descent, according to an authentic hadith on the authority of Abu Hurayra:

I heard the Prophet say: By the one in Whose hand is Abu al-Qasim's soul, Isa ibn Maryam shall descend as a just and wise ruler. He shall destroy the cross, slay the swine, eradicate discord and grudges, and money shall be offered to him but he will not accept it. Then he shall stand at my grave side and say: Ya Muhammad! and I will answer him.

Abu Yala relates it with a sound (sahih) chain in his Musnad (Dar al-Ma'mun ed. 1407/1987) 11:462; Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani cites it in al-Matalib al-aliya (Kuwait, 1393/1973) 4:23, chapter entitled: Concerning the Prophet's life in his grave and 4574. Haythami says in Majma al-zawa'id (8:5), Chapter entitled: Isa ibn Maryam's Descent: Its sub-narrators are the men of sound (sahih) hadith.

It is not necessary for the person greeting the Prophet to be standing at the Prophet's graveside, since the Prophet also said: Whoever invokes blessings on me at my grave, I hear him, and whoever invokes blessings on me from afar, I am informed about it.

Abu al-Shaykh cites it in Kitab al-Salat ala al-nabi (Jala' al-afham p. 22), and Ibn Hajar says in Fath al-Bari (6:379): Abu al-Shaykh cites it with a good chain (sanad jayyid). Bayhaqi mentions it in Hayat al-anbiya and Shuab al-iman (2:218 1583) with ublightuhu in the end.

Thus the following report of Ibn Abi Fudayk, one of the early scholars of Madina and one of Shafii's shaykhs, applies not only to the Prophet's visitor in Madina, but to every person who invokes blessings on the Prophet from afar with the words Ya Muhammad as if he were standing in front of the Prophet: I heard one of the authorities whom I have met say: It has reached us that whoever stands at the Prophet's grave and recites: Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet... (33:56) and then says: May Allah bless you, O Muhammad (sallallahu alayka ya Muhammad) seventy times, an angel will call him saying: May Allah bless you, O So-and-so; none of your needs will be left unfulfilled. Ibn Jamaa related it in Hidayat al-salik 3:1382-1383, Ibn al-Jawzi in Muthir al-gharam p. 487, Qadi Iyad in al-Shifa', and Bayhaqi in Shuab al-iman (4169).

Bukhari in his Adab al-mufrad, Nawawi in his Adhkar, and Shawkani in Tuhfat al-dhakirin all relate the narrations of Ibn Umar and Ibn Abbas whereby they would call out Ya Muhammad whenever they had a cramp in their leg (Chapters entitled: What one says if he feels a cramp in his leg). Regardless of the grade of authenticity of these narrations, it is significant that Bukhari, Nawawi, and Shawkani never raised such a disturbing notion as to say that calling out O Muhammad amounted to shirk.

In conclusion, we advise the beloved brothers and sisters who meet objections to saying Ya Rasulallah to stand firm in the knowledge that their act is grounded in the Sharia and that it is the objectors who are in the wrong. If the objectors show enmity, such as using labels of shirk and so forth in the manner of Salafis and Wahhabis, at that time steer clear of them because Allah has sealed their hearts and they will even reject the evidence of Qur'an and hadith through pride in their hearts. It is better to emigrate from them and protect one's religion until they repent, rather than to accommodate their disease and lose even one iota of a meritorious act, and Allah knows best.