reprehensible, but also to the permitted, meritorious, or compulsory categories in response to al-Fakihani's statement that “according to the consensus of the Muslims innovation in religion is not permitted.” In response to al-Fakihani's statement that “This, not withstanding the fact that the month in which he… is born namely Rabi'I, is exactly the same as the one in which he died. Therefore joy and happiness in this month are not any more appropriate than sadness in this month,”> al-Suyuti said that “birth is the greatest benefaction which has ever befallen us, but his death the greatest calamity that has been visited upon us.” He said that the Law allows expression of gratitude for benefactions, and that the Prophet had prescribed the sacrifice after the birth of a child because this would express gratitude and happiness for the newborn. Indeed, al-Suyuti said that the principles of the Law say it is right to express happiness at the Prophet's birth. The Shafi'i scholar Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d 852 A.H.) too approved of the Mawlid and states that:As for what is performed on the day of the Mawlid, one should limit oneself to what expresses thanks to God, such as the things that have already been mentioned: [Qur'anic] recitation, serving food, alms-giving, and recitation of praise [poems] about the Prophet – may God bless him and grant him peace – and asceticism which motivate people to perform good deeds and act in view of the next world. The Damascene Shafi'i scholar Abu Shama (died 1268) (who was a teacher of Imam al-Nawawi (d 676 A.H.)) also supports the celebration of the Mawlid. The Maliki scholar Ibn al-Hajj (d 737 A.H.) also spoke positively of the observance of the Mawlid in his book al-Madhkal. Al-Hajj addresses his thoughts on the paradoxical problem of misguided Mawlid observance when he says: This is a night of exceeding virtue and what follows from an increase in virtue is an increase in the thanks that it merits through the performance of acts of obedience and the like. [However], some people, instead of increasing thanks, have increased innovations on it. Likewise, the Shafi'i Egyptian scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974 A.H.) was an avid supporter of the Mawlid and wrote a text in praise of it. This was supported and commented on by the Egyptian scholar and former head of Al-Azhar University Ibrahim al-Bajuri and by the Hanafi Syrian