Gifts of Knowledge

When Napoleon was in Egypt the French army participated in the Mawlid, putting on military parades, fireworks displays and playing music. In his book, “ʿAllāmah Taqiyyud-Dīn al-Hilālī’s Travels to India and Afghanistan,” [2/248] our Shaikh, Abū ʿUbaidah Mashūr āl-Salmān, may Allaah protect him, commented on this saying, “This is the mawlid celebration that these kuffār want, in fact they scramble to do it. As for the true prophetic celebration which is made up of always following his example ﷺ, all the time, in all circumstances, every day—i.e., which is loving the Prophet ﷺ according to the Sharīʿah without any interruption or discontinuity, then they wage war against that and reject it! Subḥānallāh! How strange this life is and how things are turned on their heads, such impetuousness for [mere] phrases and folly, not for truthful facts and affairs of ʿaqīdah.”