What is Prophet Muhammad's Birthday?

Mawlid al-Nabi (also transliterated as Milad un-Nabi) commemorates the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad was born in Mecca on 12 Rabi' al-Awwal in the year 570 CE. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, the date moves approximately 11 days earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar.

The observance of Mawlid began in the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt around the 10th century and spread across the Islamic world during the medieval period. It is marked in many Muslim communities with processions, recitation of poetry praising the Prophet (particularly the Burda), communal meals, charitable giving, and gatherings for prayers and religious lectures.

The holiday is not observed universally in Islam. Some traditions — notably Salafi and Wahhabi movements — consider Mawlid an innovation (bid'ah) with no basis in the Quran or the Prophet's practice, and refrain from celebrating it. Where it is observed, it is a public holiday in many Muslim-majority countries, including Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia.