Mawlid, Mawlid an-Nabi ash-Sharif or Eid Milad un Nabi (, sometimes simply called in colloquial Arabic , , among other vernacular pronunciations; sometimes , ) is the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which 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 most Shia scholars regard 17th Rabi' al-awwal as the accepted date, though not all Shias consider it to be this date. It is also called Maouloud in West Africa. 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 the crowds. It has been said that the first Muslim ruler to officially celebrate the birth of Muhammad in an impressive ceremony was Muzaffar al-Din Gökböri (d. 630/1233). 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, with the emergence of Wahhabism-Salafism, Deobandism, Ahl-i Hadith and the Ahmadiyya, many Muslims began to disapprove its commemoration, considering it an illicit religious innovation (bid'ah or bidat). Mawlid is recognized as a national holiday in most of the Muslim-majority countries of the world with the exception of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Some non-Muslim majority countries with large Muslim populations such as Ethiopia, India, the Philippines and Tanzania, etc., also recognise it as a public holiday. Etymology Mawlid is derived from the Arabic root word , meaning to give birth, bear a child, descendant. In contemporary usage, Mawlid refers to the observance of the birthday of Muhammad. Along with being referred to as the celebration of the birth of Muhammad, the term Mawlid refers to the 'text especially composed for and recited at Muhammad's nativity celebration' or "a text recited or sung on that day". Date According to the majority of Sunni Muslims and some Shi'as, Muhammad was born on the 12th of Rabi' al-awwal. Many Twelver Shia Muslims on the other hand assert that Muhammad was born on the 17th of Rabi' al-awwal. It stands as a