Eid-e-Milad-Un-Nabi 2020: Date, history and importance

Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi 2020 Date in India: This day is observed as the birthday of Islamic Prophet Muhammad. The festival is commemorated in Rabi’ al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar. This year, Eid-e-Milad-Un-Nabi will begin on the evening of October 29, 2020, and end in the evening of October 30, 2020.

• It is said that the first Muslim ruler to officially celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad was Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri. The Ottomans then declared it as an official holiday in 1588, known as Mevlid Kandil.

• According to a majority of Sunni Muslims and some Shi’as, Muhammad was born on the 12th of Rabi’ al-awwal. Some Twelver Shia Muslims, however, believe that Muhammad was born on the 17th of Rabi’ al-awwal.

• This day is now celebrated in almost all Islamic countries, apart from those with significant Muslim population such as Ethiopia, India, Turkey, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, France, Italy, Jordan, and Maldives, among others. Only in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, it is not an official public holiday and is forbidden.

• On this day, some countries organise carnivals and large street processions while mosques and houses are decorated. People do charity and stories of Muhammad are narrated. Some scholars and poets also celebrate by reciting Qasida al-Burda Sharif, the famous poem by 13th-century Arabic Sufi Busiri.

• In countries like India, relics of Muhammad are displayed after morning prayers in Jammu and Kashmir at Hazratbal Shrine. Grand religious meetings, rallies and parades, are also held in places like Hyderabad.