and it was affirmed by Shaykh al-ʿAdawī al-Mālikī in his commentary on the Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl, and Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAlīsh al-Mālikī, may Allāh have mercy on them, in (Fatḥ al-ʿAlī al-Mālik fī al-Fatwá ʿalá Madhhab al-Imām Mālik). And the scholar Ibn al-Ḥājj al-Mālikī, may Allāh have mercy on him, said in (al-Madkhal) about the Mawlid if it is free from all reprehensible acts: if it is free from all that has been mentioned, it is an innovation by its intention alone, as it is an addition to the religion and not from the practice of the past predecessors... It was not reported from any of them that they intended the Mawlid, and we follow them, so what sufficed them suffices us. And the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar al-Shāfiʿī, may Allāh have mercy on him, said: The origin of the practice of the Mawlid is an innovation, not reported from any of the righteous predecessors in the first three centuries. And the ḥāfiẓ al-Sakhāwī al-Shāfiʿī, may Allāh have mercy on him, said: The practice of the noble Mawlid was not reported from any of the righteous predecessors in the virtuous first three centuries, but rather it occurred later. And Shaykh Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Mubārak, known as Ibn al-Ṭabbāḥ, may Allāh have mercy on him, said: This is not from the sunnahs. And Shaykh Ẓahīr al-Dīn Jaʿfar al-Tazmantī, may Allāh have mercy on him, said: This act did not occur in the early period of the righteous predecessors, despite their veneration and love for him (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) being greater than any one of us can reach, not even a fraction of it. And the Imām of Dār al-Hijrah, Mālik ibn Anas, may Allāh have mercy on him, said: Whoever introduces something into this ummah that its predecessors were not upon has claimed that the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) betrayed the message, because Allāh says: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion" (Sūrah al-Māʾidah, 3). So what was not religion then cannot be religion today. From ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) who said: "The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) led us in the dawn prayer, then turned to us and gave us an eloquent admonition that made the eyes weep and the hearts tremble. We said: O Messenger of Allāh, it is as if this is a farewell admonition, so advise us! He said: (I advise you to fear Allāh and to listen and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave is appointed over you, for whoever lives among you will see much difference after me. So adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs, hold onto it with your molars, and beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance)." And Allāh is the grantor of success, and may Allāh send prayers upon our Prophet Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions, and grant them peace.