Mawlid al-Nabi: Difference between revisions

  | other names = Maktabat al-Makka al-Mukarrama

  | place = [[Mecca]], [[Shi'b Abi talib]], [[Suq al-Layl]]

'''Mawlid al-Nabi''' (The birthplace of the Prophet(s) is the house of [['Abd Allah b. Abd al-Muttalib]], where the [[Prophet Muhammad(s)]] was born. This place was located in the city of [[Mecca]] in the neighborhood of [[Shi'b Abi Talib]]. In the second/eighth century, Khayzaran, the mother of Harun al-Rashid, bought the place and turned it into a [[mosque]].

Due to the importance and fame of Mawlid al-Nabi, this building has been rebuilt many times by order of kings and nobles, but it was destroyed during the The [[House of Sa'ud]] government like many blessed places and buildings in Mecca (in 1343 AH/ 1303 sh). In the year 1370 AH/1329 sh. In order to keep the memory of this place alive, a library was built in it, which is still there, and it is called ''[[Maktaba Makkah Al-Mukarrma Library]]''.

The house where prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was born, which was located at the location of [[Shi'b Abi talib]] in a neighborhood called [[Sawq al-Layl]], has been called ''Mawlid al-Nabi(s)'' or the birthplace of the Prophet. In some historical sources, other places have been mentioned as the possible place of the Prophet’s birth, which is not approved by most historians of [[Mecca]].<ref>Fasi al-Makki, ''Shifaʾ al-gharam'', vol. 1, p. 270.</ref>

===until the third century===

According to Azraqi in his book ''Akhbar Makka'', who lived in the third century, ''Mawlid al-Nabi(s)'', or the house where the Prophet was born, fell into the hands of [['Aqil]], son of [[Abu talib]], after his emigration, and was passed on to 'Aqil’s children until it was handed over to Muhammad b. Yusuf. Thaqafi was sold and he added it to his house, which was known as the ''White House''. When Khayzran, the mother of [[Harun al-Rashid]], performed [[Hajj]] in 171 A.H., she bought it and built a mosque in it where they pray. Azraqi states that the people of [[Mecca]] have not discord about the birthplace of the Prophet.<ref>Azraqi, ''Akhbar Makka'', vol. 2, p. 198.</ref> The same report was also given by Fakihi (245 AH), another old historian of the history of Mecca.<ref>Fakihi, ''Akhbar Makka fi qadim al-dahr wa haithih'', vol. 4, p. 5.</ref>

===Ibn Jubayr's report (seventh century)===

[[Ibn Jubayr]] (614 AH) visited this mosque in 579 AH and described it in his travelogue.<ref>Ibn Jubayr, 'Safarnama Ibn Jubayr'', p. 82, 125.</ref>He considered the building to be a magnificent mosque that “opens on Mondays in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, which is the month of the Prophet’s(s) birth and birthday and all the people will come there on that day to obtain grace and blessings, and other holy places will also be opened on the same day, and it is always the Day of Resurrection in [[Mecca]].”<ref>Ibn Jubayr, 'Safarnama Ibn Jubayr'', p. 154.</ref>  

According to Ibn Jubayr, the Prophet’s birthplace in this mosque is built in the form of a pond with a width of three wajabs (0.675m), in the middle of which is a green marble with a width of two-thirds of a wajab (about 0.225m), which is said to be surrounded by silver. The [[Mihrab]] of the mosque is located in front of this place.<ref>Ibn Jubayr, 'Safarnama Ibn Jubayr'', p. 126-127.</ref>

Two and a half centuries later, in 1081 AH, Turkish travel writer ʾuliaʾ Chalbi saw Mawlid al-Nabi<small>(PBUH)</small> and described it in his book. He has described this building as a large and beautiful mosque, which was a square building with a high dome covered with lead. Chalbi mentioned the decorations inside the mosque, including the precious carpet and the pulpit covered with silk cloth and gold. According to him, the Prophet’s birthplace was a stone in a yellow hole on which the place of his body was imprinted.<ref>Chalbi,''Al-Rahla al-hijaziyya'', pp. 255-256</ref>

===The last descriptions of Mould al-Nabi<small>(PBUH)</small> building before its destruction===

Mulla Ibrahim Kaziruni, who had the opportunity to visit this house in 1315 AH, writes: “On Friday, the 14th, we went to visit the Prophet<small>(PBUH)</small> birthplace  at a place known as the Mawlid al-Nabi<small>(PBUH)</small>, and that place is located in [[Sawq al-layl]] We went inside and went down approximately fourteen steps. We entered a room named after the mosque. After that, we went to another room. There is a shrine in this room. The servant opened the door of the shrine. There is a pit inside this shrine. In the middle of it there is a green stone, which was the birthplace of Prophet.” <ref>''Safarnam-iy Mulla Ibrahim Kaziruni'', p. 366.</ref>

MuhammadLabib Batanuni who in 1909/1327 AH. He traveled to mecca in his travelogue and drew a plan from the plan of the Prophet’s building and described it as follows: “When you enter it, you first enter a 12-meter-long and 6-meter-wide playground, which is on the right wall. There is a door, after passing through it you will enter a space on which a dome is placed, in the middle of this space and under the dome leaning against the western wall, there is a wooden compartment inside which is a concave marble stone with a little It has sunk in. It can be seen. This place shows the birthplace of the prophet” <ref>Batanuni , ''Safarnam-iy  hijaz'', p. 146.</ref>

==Prophet’s birthday celebration in Mawlid al-Nabi Mosque==

In the 6th century, Ibn Jubayr reported the presence of the people of Mecca in the Prophet’s birthday Mosque on Monday in the month of Rabi al-Awwal on the occasion of the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday.<ref>Jubayr, Safarnama Ibn Jubayr, p. 154.</ref> There are reports of the celebration of the birth of the Prophet in this place in the later centuries.

Muhammad b. Ahmad Nahrawali (d. 990AH) gave a detailed report about the ritual of the Prophet’s birthday in the 10th century. According to him, every year on the twelfth night of [[Rabi' al-Awwal]], after Maghrib prayer, the jurists, nobles, grandees and people, while carrying many candles and torches, gather before the supervisor of [[Masjid al-haram]] and the judges of the Sunni’s four denominations, and from Masjid al-haram to Sawq al-layl and Mawlid al-Nabi place and enter it and gather near the birthplace of the Prophet(s). A sermon is read there, and after that, people come to Masjid al-haram, and some officials of [[Masjid al-haram]] are given robes, and the [['Isha prayer]] is held, and the ceremony ends.<ref>Nahrawali, ''Al-A'lam bi a'lam bayt Allah al-haram'', p. 422.</ref>More than a century later, a travel writer who went on [[Hajj]] in 1105-1106 AH narrated the same report of Nahrawali and described this event as a big gathering in which many primitives and residents of other cities (except Mecca) participated.<ref>Al-nablusi ‘’Al-haqiqa wa al-Majazl. 3, pp. 354-355.</ref>

In the [[House of Sa'ud]] government, the building of Mawlid al-Nabi<small>(PBUH)</small>, like many old buildings in Mecca, was destroyed in the year 1343 AH under the pretext that people were looking for blessings on it.<ref>Biladi, '''atiq Ma'alim Makka al-tarikhiyya wa al-athariyya'',  p. 294.</ref>