Celebrating Prophet’s Birthday (PBUH) [Archives:2005/837/Culture]
By Salah Saleh
For the Yemen Times
As the 12 th of Rabe'e Awal drew nearer and nearer, Muslims all over the globe made the necessary arrangement to celebrate the 1426th birth day of Prophet Mohammad Bin Abdullah (Peace be upon him). Such exalted occasion has been anxiously awaited in many Arab and Muslim countries, particularly Sudan and Djibouti who mark the occasion for three to four days. All the Yemeni people were in tenterhooks to mark such a great religious occasion.
Locals in Tihama have their own rituals to celebrate the occasion and they gather in mosques and in houses to held festival. “After Adhan of Isha'a Prayer, we start to hold rituals while the atmosphere is prevailed with the nice smell of incense. This is followed by the recitation of some verses from the Holy Qur'an as well as reading out the biography of the Great Prophet (Peace be upon him),” said Sa'eed al-Kori, Deputy Manager of the High Institute for Medical Sciences in Hodeidah.
Celebration in the city of Hodeidah is held in certain zones, and preparations for the occasion start at earlier time. Women are seen to make cakes, sweets and other dashes and wear the newest of their garments as well as to cover their hands with henna.
According to Mohannad Sadiq, the celebraters do not forget to make the necessary arrangements; rather, they bring all the requirements including incense, perfume, henna and flowers.
In other Yemeni areas, celebraters offer certain amounts of money and other things such as presents to religious and tribal sheikhs and mosque preachers.
Ahmad Hashim al-Edrisi, a graduate from the Faculty of Legal Sciences, Hodeidah University commented: “The religious groups who are affected by the Saudi syllabus (al-Wahhabi) consider celebrating the occasion as a contrivance or something that contradicts the teachings of Islam, however we believe that marking the occasion is a loveable thing.
He added: There is a lack of interest toward the occasion that can be ascribable to comments made by al-Wahhabi groups as well as the change of livings among people and the availability of video and television.
“The occasion has its significance that stems from the significance of the birth of Great Prophet (Peace be upon him) and it has a variety of benefits that are reflected in acquainting generations with the life of Prophet Mohammad and the hardships he endured while calling people to Islam,” noted Ibrahim al-Edrisi, a teacher at the High Institute for Medical Sciences in Hodeidah.
Marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) is pondered upon as a remembrance of the messenger of humanity who was the symbol of moral values, integrity and cultivated behavior.
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