On January 4, Muslims all over the world will celebrate Id Milad-un-Nabi, which is the observance of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. It occurs on the 12th day of Rabi’ alawwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar.
Muslims celebrate it as an expression of love for the Prophet with traditional fervour and spirit of social harmony imparting a festive touch to all.
It comes as a uniting force as Muslims are encouraged to invite adherents of all faith and traditions to share the infinite joy of the Prophet’s birthday, who was sent down as a mercy for the mankind.
On this occasion of universal integration and festivity, we must recall and emulate the Prophet’s mercy for all mankind, his forgiveness, generosity, gentleness, trustworthiness and all his noble behavioural attributes.
The brightest side of his humanitarian personality, I believe, was his deepest concern for the children, women and elderly men, the poor and all weaker sections of society. He even established rights for animals and had a tender heart for all the creatures of God.
He was so deeply concerned about the protection of the rights of non-Muslim citizens of his Madina state that he clearly stated: “Anyone who hurts a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state, he actually hurts me and he who hurts me annoys Allah”. So apart from the festivities processions and charity, let’s try to emulate the very loving prophetic ideals.
Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi is an alim (classical Islamicscholar) and a Delhi-based writer. He can be contacted at: grdehlavi@gmail.com
