Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Muslims ought to use the occasion of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday to communicate the mission of mercy that the Prophet represented. For tips on how to make the best use of the Prophet’s birthday, see the detailed fatwa.
Responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Prophet Muhammad’s birthday: Dos and Don’ts
While celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (peace be upon him), we must make sure to keep away from all expressions of excessive venerations and innovations. Instead, we ought to use the occasion to communicate the mission of mercy that the Prophet (peace be upon him) represented. Allah sent him as a mercy for the world; as such, we ought to show the world through our words and deeds how this message can bring peace, harmony, and compassion in today’s world.
How to make the best use of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday
Here are a few points to help us in our endeavor to make the best use of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday:
1. Opening our mosques and centers to welcome visitors from other faith communities and introduce them to the beauty of his message and life.
2. We ought to educate our children, youth, and adults on the spiritual and moral lessons of the Seerah; often, we focus on the military exploits of the Prophet, which would give them the wrong impression that his life was all about warfare and politics.
3. We may do well to celebrate the occasion through art, music, and stories so that we use it to help everyone connect with the emotional or experiential dimension of Islam.
4. Choosing specific themes from the Prophetic teachings such as animal welfare, environmental protection, or empathy for the poor and the weak and creating endowments for such projects would be innovative and highly effective ways of expressing our love for the Prophet (peace be upon him).
5. Last but not least, we ought to condition ourselves to invoke Allah’s blessings on him and pass this habit on to our children and future generations.
I pray to Allah to instill in our hearts love for Allah and His Messenger and honor us to earn his companionship in the next world. Amen.
Almighty Allah knows best.