The religious festival Mawlid al-Nabi marks whose birthday?
Mawlid Mawlid Mawlid or Mawlid al-Nabi al-Sharif ( "mawlidu n-nabiyyi", "Birth of the Prophet", sometimes simply called in colloquial Arabic "mawlid, mevlid, mevlit, mulud" among other vernacular pronunciations; sometimes "mīlād") is the observance of the birthday of Islamic prophet Muhammad which is commemorated in Rabi' al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar. 12th Rabi' al-awwal is the accepted date among most of the Sunni scholars, while Shi'a scholars regard 17th Rabi' al-awwal as the accepted date. The history of this celebration goes back to the early days of Islam when some of the Tabi‘un began to hold sessions in which
Mawlid playing a key role in the ceremonies. Emphasis was given to the "Ahl al-Bayt" with presentation of sermons and recitations of the Qur'an. According to the hypothesis of Nico Kaptein of Leiden University, the Mawlid was initiated by the Fatimids, with Marion Holmes Katz adding "The idea that the celebration of the "mawlid" originated with the Fatimid dynasty has today been almost universally accepted among both religious polemicists and secular scholars." This Shia origin is frequently noted by those Sunnis who oppose Mawlid. Among Sunnis, the Mawlid celebration emerged in the 12th century, and the first detailed description of a