Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Charles J. Adams, “Mawdudi and the 

Islamic State.” In Voices of Islamic Resurgence, edited by 

John L. Esposito, 99–133 (New York: Oxford University 

Press, 1983); Abu Ala Maududi, Towards Understanding 

Islam. Translated by Khurshid Ahmed (Chicago: Kazi 

Publications, 1992); Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, “Mawdudi 

and the Jamaat-i Islami: The Origins, Theory, and 

Practice of Islamic Revivalism.” In Pioneers of Islamic 

Revival, 2d ed., edited by Ali Rahnema, 98–124 (Lon-

don: Zed Books, 2005).

mawlid

 

(Arabic: birthday; anniversary)

At the center of popular Muslim devotional-

ism from North Africa to Southeast Asia and in 

Muslim diaspora communities is the mawlid, or 

celebration of the birth or death anniversary of a 

holy person (

wali

, 

shaykh

, pir). Other words used 

for this kind of popular celebration are variants 

such as mulid (Egypt), mulud (North Africa), 

milad or id-i milad (Middle East, Pakistan, India, 

Bangladesh); mevlid and mevlut (Turkey); as well 

as alternate terms like mawsim (or musim, literally 

“season”; North Africa), urs (literally “wedding,” 

referring to the saint’s mystical union with God; 

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh), hawliyya (Sudan 

and East Africa), hol (Malaysia), and zarda (Tuni-

sia). They may occur at almost any time of the 

year, except during r

amadan

. The most widely 

celebrated  mawlid is that of Muhammad the 

Prophet (d. 632), which occurs on the 12th day 

of Rabi al-Awwal, the third month on the Muslim 

lunar calendar. Mawlids have been celebrated 

since the 13th century, closely coinciding with the 

spread of Sufi brotherhoods (sing. 

tariqa

) and the 

establishment of non-Arab dynasties that sought 

legitimacy in the eyes of their subjects by patron-

izing popular saints and their shrines. Mawlids

and the customs associated with them have been 

judged to be illicit innovations (sing. 

bidaa

) by lit-

erally minded Muslims—above all by proponents 

of W

ahhabism

, who have prohibited them in Saudi 

Arabia and protested or violently attacked their 

celebration elsewhere.

Mawlids are usually centered at the shrine 

or tomb of the holy person who is honored by 

the holiday, or, as is the case with celebration of 

Muhammad’s birthday (mawlid al-nabi, mawlid 

al-rasul), at a shrine containing his relics, or 

dedicated to one of his descendants, such as the 

mosque of Husayn near al-a

zhar

 Mosque in Cairo. 

The celebration may be a modest affair, confined 

to the neighborhood of the shrine, but the mawl-

ids of the most famous saints now draw a million 

or more from great distances, who consider their 

journey to the shrine a pilgrimage (

ziyara

). Such 

celebrations may last up to a week or more, with 

the climax occurring on the eve of the last day. 

Though formal prayer is customarily performed 

at these shrines, celebrants engage in a wide range 

of activities. These include decorating the shrine, 

circumambulating the saint’s tomb, leaving votive 

K  464  

mawlid

---

gifts, processions, animal sacrifice, circumcising 

boys, Quran recitation, all-night Sufi 

dhikr

 ses-

sions, devotional songs, feasting, dancing, tat-

tooing, and acquisition of blessed souvenirs to 

take back home. Commercial activity as a rule is 

brisk at a mawlid, and special markets are set up 

for the larger ones. Mawlids are often attended by 

non-Muslims. Moreover, the Coptic Christians of 

Egypt celebrate the mawlids of their saints, as do 

Middle Eastern Jews theirs.

Mawlid also denotes a devotional song that 

praises Muhammad and celebrates the event of his 

birth, often embellished with legends. It is com-

monly performed in connection with the anniver-

sary of his birth, other saints’ holidays, and other 

celebratory occasions.

See also:  a

shUra

; 

al

-b

adaWi

,  a

hmad

; 

baraka

; 

holidays

; 

qawwali

; 

sayyid

; s

UFism

.