Mawlid (Arabic: مَولِد), also known as Eid-e-Milad an-Nabi (Arabic: عید ميلاد النبي, romanized: ʿīd mīlad an-nabī, lit. 'feast of the birth of the prophet'), is an observance of the day when the Islamic prophet Muhammad is reported to have been born. It is commemorated in Rabi' al-Awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar. 12th Rabi' al-awwal is the accepted date among most of the Sunni scholars, while some Shi'a scholars regard 17th Rabi' al-awwal as the accepted date.
The history of this celebration goes back to the early days of Islam when some of the Tabi‘un began to hold sessions in which poetry and songs composed to honour Muhammad were recited and sung to crowds in the major cities. The Ottomans declared it an official holiday in 1588,
known as Mevlid Kandil.
The term Mawlid is also used in some parts of the world, such as Egypt, as a generic term for the birthday celebrations of other historical religious figures such as Sufi saints.Most denominations of Islam approve of the commemoration of Muhammad's birthday; however, some denominations including Salafism, Deobandism and the Ahmadiyya disapprove its commemoration, considering it an unnecessary religious innovation (bid'ah or bidat). Mawlid is recognized as a national holiday in most of the Muslim-majority countries of the world except Saudi Arabia and Qatar which are officially Salafi. The Mawlid observance is generally approved of across the four Sunni schools of law and by mainstream Islamic scholarship.