ABSTRACT
In the eighteenth and nineteenth century CE, the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday and the recitation of mawlid texts were ubiquitous practices endorsed by the majority of mainstream Sunni scholars. As we have seen, the legal status of mawlid observances was disputed from quite early in the history of the Sunni celebration, and dissenters never ceased to exist. However, by the modern period the celebration of the mawlid was overwhelmingly accepted and practiced by Muslims at all levels of religious education and authority. Prominent elite scholars continued to contribute to the development of the tradition. The author of one of the most beloved mawlid texts in history, Ja‘far ibn Hasan ibn ‘Abd al-Karim al-Barzanji (d. 1177 AH/1764 CE), was a respected jurist who served as the Shafi‘i mufti of Medina.1 While it is relatively brief and avoids the more extreme excesses of the popular mawlid tradition, al-Barzanji’s text incorporates elements of the popular tradition that had clearly become the common coin of mawlid narrative. Thus, for instance, his mawlid refers to the attendance of Asiya, Maryam, and other heavenly handmaidens at the Prophet’s birth.2 al-Barzanji also affirms the practice of standing at the mention of the Prophet’s birth, although the pointedness with which he does so suggests that the custom must have had its detractors.3 Another of the most popular mawlid works of the modern period was composed by Ahmad al-Dardir (d. 1201 AH/1786 CE), a Maliki jurist and Khalwati shaykh who also produced an influential legal handbook.4 al-Dardir reproduces a full spectrum of traditional mawlid material, including the cosmogonic narrative attributed to Jabir al-Ansari.5
