Muslims celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday

Muslims marked on Saturday Milad Un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)।The holy Prophet is believed to have been born on Monday in the city of Mecca, Arabia, in 570 A.C, on 12 Rabi Awwal, one of twelve months in the Islamic calendar.At the age of 40, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the final seal of all the prophets and messengers of Allah, received the final revelation from Allah.Muslims scholars used Friday sermons to urge Muslims emulate the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and follow his teachings and conduct, and have his noble character as a role model.Some Muslims believe that Milad Un-Nabi should be a time of celebration, arguing that the remembrance of the Prophet's birthday is a "good innovation," but others disagree.Celebrating the Prophet's birthday, or Milad Un-Nabi is permissible provided that it does not include any action that is forbidden according to the Islamic teachings.But the Prophet, his Companions, and his early followers never celebrated his birthday.The British historian and philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, (d. 1881) in his "Lectures on Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History," (1841) said about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), "The word of such a man is a voice direct from nature's own heart. Men do and must listen to that or nothing else; all else is wind in comparison . . . They called him prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them, bare, not enshrined in any mystery; visibly sewing his own cloak; cobbling his own shoes, fighting, counselling; ordering in the midst of them, they must have seen what kind of man he was. Let him be called what you like! No emperor with his dignity was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own making."The best way to show and express our love for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reading his Shirah (biography) and studying examples from his life as mentioned in the Sunnah.-- AJP and agencies