Commemorating the Maulid of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) is a show of faith and love. However, it must never be reduced to mere songs of praise, recitations, and festivities. It should be seen as a revolutionary reminder, a call to conscience, and a challenge to the Muslim Ummah to wake from the deep slumber and rise against oppression, injustice, and corruption in all their forms. The Prophet did not come to maintain the status quo; he came to shatter it. He came to liberate the oppressed, to humble the arrogant, and to build a society founded on justice, dignity, and equality. To truly celebrate the Maulid is to embrace this mission and to carry forward his struggle in our own time. This I believe the Islamic scholars know better.
Allah describes him in the Qur’an: “And We did not send you except as a mercy to the worlds” (Qur’an 21:107). This mercy was not passive; it was active resistance against injustice. The Prophet (SAWA) challenged the arrogance of Quraysh, who monopolized wealth, trampled upon the poor, and oppressed the weak. He stood firm against them until the idols of arrogance fell and the weak were given dignity. This is what is expected of the scholars of Islam to be used to galvanize the Ummah towards rebellion against our present day tyrants. His Maulid is therefore not just a memory, but a weapon, a torch, and a guide for change.
The Prophet taught that justice is the foundation of leadership, declaring: “The most beloved of people to Allah on the Day of Judgment will be the just leader” (Sunan al-Nasa’i). Imam Ali (AS) proclaimed: “Justice is the foundation upon which the world stands” (Nahj al-Balaghah). What then should be the fate of leaders who oppress, loot, and betray their people? And the scholars who rather than guide the society towards the true message of Islam, they end up mortgaging their Iman and their followers at the hands of tyrants. They have no legitimacy in the eyes of Allah, nor in the legacy of the Prophet. The Maulid is a loud reminder that Muslims must never submit to oppressors who rob the nation of dignity and sell their people for worldly gain.
Arrogance, the disease of tyrants, was condemned by the Prophet: “He who has in his heart an atom’s weight of arrogance will not enter Paradise” (Sahih Muslim). Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq (AS) declared: “Arrogance is the root of all oppression” (al-Kafi). How then can Muslims today watch silently while arrogant rulers oppress the poor, imprison the innocent, and collaborate with global powers against their own people? Silence in the face of tyranny is complicity. Imam Ali (AS) warned: “He who accepts the actions of a people is like one of them.” The Maulid calls us to reject silence, to reject fear, and to reject obedience to unjust rulers.
History reminds us that the Prophet’s mission was carried forward by his household. In Karbala, Imam Husayn (AS) rose not for wealth, not for power, but for truth and reform. He declared: “I did not rise up for the cause of tyranny or corruption. Rather, I rose up to seek reform in the nation of my grandfather.” His blood became a sword that continues to inspire every generation to resist oppression. If the Maulid revives the birth of the Prophet, then Ashura revives the continuity of his mission. Together they challenge us to rise against the Yazids of every age, whether they wear crowns, uniforms, or hide behind the false masks of democracy.
In our time, tyranny has many faces. It is seen in corrupt leaders who steal the wealth of their nations, in despots who imprison scholars and silence voices of truth, in foreign powers who exploit Muslim lands, and in regimes that betray Palestine and submit to the arrogance of global imperialism. The Maulid demands that Muslims resist these injustices, unite under the banner of truth, and build societies where justice prevails over corruption and dignity triumphs over humiliation.
To honor the Prophet (SAWA) is not to sing praises while bowing before tyrants. It is to emulate his courage, his defiance, and his unyielding commitment to justice. It is to rise against oppression in all its forms, whether political, economic, or social, and to reclaim the dignity of the Ummah. The Maulid is both a celebration and a challenge. It celebrates the divine mercy sent to humanity, and it challenges Muslims to embody that mercy by fighting for justice, defending the oppressed, and confronting arrogant powers, both local and global.
This is the real meaning of the Maulid: not empty rituals, but a fiery call to rise, to resist, and to reform. If Muslims truly honor the Prophet, then let us stand as he stood, fearless before tyrants, firm in the defense of the weak, and committed to building societies founded on justice, equality, and mercy.
Resource Forum
Islamic Movement Nigeria
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