Mawlid celebrations begin at Baghdad’s Al-Gilani shrine

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Baghdad residents gathered at the Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani shrine in the center of the Iraqi capital on Monday evening to mark the Prophet Muhammad’s Mawlid (birthday), lighting candles, playing tambourines and raising banners.

Dozens of people from central Baghdad, particularly from neighborhoods surrounding the shrine, attended the celebrations.

Mawlid celebrations begin at the start of Rabi al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar. Gatherings include recitations of poems praising the Prophet Muhammad, lessons about his life and teachings, and the distribution of food and traditional sweets.

The Baghdad Operations Command said it had begun implementing a security plan for the celebrations, deploying forces to protect shrines, holy sites, places of worship, celebration venues and roads leading to them.

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, followers of the Qadiri Sufi order gathered at the Sayyid Abdullah Tekke in southwest of Erbil, for celebrations featuring dhikr, devotional chants and frame drums. The order, which traces its origins to Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, remains one of Iraq’s most prominent Sufi traditions.

In Al-Sulaymaniyah, Mawlid celebrations also drew large crowds to mosques and streets, with religious gatherings, devotional songs and communal meals.