shaykh gibril haddad says: The Prophet did celebrate his birthday by fasting. His uncle al-`Abbas (ra) mentioned in his poetry that the Prophet's birthday was a light by which the Muslims pierce through the darkness of kufr and the Prophet approved of him. The massive majority of the Ulema past and present, especially in the Hijaz, also approve the desirability of extolling the birth of the Holy Prophet and celebrating the Mawlid. It is truly the mark of Ahl al-Bid`a to try to extinguish that light. As Sidi al-Habib `Umar said, those Muslims lost and became unable to "pierce through" when they stopped celebrating the light of the Mawlid described in that poetry of al-`Abbas. [http://www.abc.se/~m9783/n/riiz_e.html]
