Milad-un-Nabiਮੀਲਾਦ-ਉਨ-ਨਬੀ

Milad-un-Nabi is the day Muslims in much of the world set aside to honour the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, who was born at Mecca in about 570 CE. In Punjab it is one of the most visible days of the Islamic year: mosques and bazaars are dressed in green flags and lights, processions fill the streets, and the air carries naat, poetry sung in the Prophet's praise. It is also, honestly recorded, a day not all Muslims keep, and this page explains both the celebration and the disagreement.

What does Milad-un-Nabi mark?

Mawlid is the Arabic word for a birth or birthday, and Mawlid al-Nabi means the birth of the Prophet. Sunni tradition dates the birth to 12 Rabi al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic year; Shia tradition keeps 17 Rabi al-Awwal. The exact date was not recorded in the Prophet's lifetime and rests on tradition rather than document, but the twelfth is the date kept across Pakistan and most of the Sunni world. Public celebrations took shape centuries later: the first large public Mawlid is attributed to Gokbori, a deputy of Salahuddin, in the twelfth century, and the day later became an official holiday in the Ottoman Empire.

How is Milad-un-Nabi celebrated?

The heart of the day is remembrance. In mahfil gatherings, scholars and storytellers recount the Prophet's life and character, and naat khwans recite poetry in his praise, a tradition woven deep into Punjab's devotional music. Streets fill with processions, called juloos; in South Asia the great procession is the Jashne Julus, with banners, flags and decorated vehicles, from which sweets are handed out to children, as in this page's photograph. Mosques, homes and bazaars are lit and hung with green flags, food and sweets are distributed to neighbours and the poor, and some devotees keep a fast. Lahore's shrines and mosques, Data Darbar among them, host large gatherings, and the day is a public holiday across Pakistan.

Why do some Muslims not celebrate it?

The disagreement is about origins and permission, and it is centuries old. Critics, including Salafi and Wahhabi scholars, note that neither the Quran nor the practice of the first generations of Muslims records a birthday celebration, and they class the Mawlid as bid'a, an innovation in religion, which they hold to be prohibited; the Deobandi school has taken intermediate positions, accepting private devotion while questioning public festivities. The counter view, held by the majority of Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i scholars and by Shia tradition, is that gathering to remember the Prophet's birth, recite poetry and feed people is a commendable act rather than a new act of worship. Readers will meet both views in Punjab itself, sometimes in neighbouring mosques, and the Kosh reports the range without taking a side.

Milad-un-Nabi in Punjab

The Punjabi celebration leans on the region's Sufi culture: the naat, the devotional gathering and the open distribution of food are at home in the world of the shrines described in our guide to the Sufi heritage of Punjab. In Lahore, processions move through the old city and the areas around the great shrines, and towns across both Punjabs light their mosques. For families it is also simply a festive day of visiting, sweets and new clothes for children, closer in mood to a birthday than to the two Eids, which mark sacrifice and the end of Ramadan's fast.

From court ceremony to street festival

Historians trace the earliest court celebrations of the Prophet's birthday to Fatimid Egypt, where the ruling house marked the birthdays of the Prophet and his family; the public, popular festival came later, with the celebrations of Gokbori's era, and spread through the Mamluk and Ottoman worlds until the day became an official Ottoman holiday. Today it is a public holiday in most Muslim majority countries, kept with the same mixture everywhere: recitation, poetry, processions and food shared in the Prophet's name.

When is Milad-un-Nabi in 2026?

By astronomical calculation, 12 Rabi al-Awwal 1448 falls on Tuesday 25 August 2026, and the day is a public holiday in Pakistan. As with all Islamic dates, the confirmed observance follows the sighting of the new moon, and some countries shift the official holiday to the nearest weekend.