According to the Shi'ite belief, at the spring (khum) of al-Ghadir, the Prophet as his successor declared Ali bin Abu Talib and the festival commemorated this occasion. The fusion of religion which was characteristic of all religious festivals in Fatimid Egypt, is best exemplified by the festival of Eid al-Ghadir. The festival of Ghadir was celebrated with official sanction in Egypt for the first time in 362/973, when a group of people from Cairo, together with the North African troops (al-maghriba), gathered for invocations (du'a) on the 18th Dhu'l-Hijja, proclaiming that the Prophet had made Ali as his successor on the day of Ghadir al-Khum. It delighted Imam al-Muizz.
During the early centuries of Islamic history, the day of Ghadir Khum was well known and accepted as an auspicious occasion, and there are many indications that all Muslims participated in celebrating it. Ibn Khallikan describes the 18th Zil Hijja as the day of Ghadir Khum (1:60) and Masudi in al-Tanbih wa al-Ishraf (p. 31) mentions the night of the same day as the night of the festival of Ghadir Khum. Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, the famous Iranian scholar of the 5th century, includes the festival of Ghadir Khum among the festivals that the Muslim celebrated in his time (al-Athar al-Baqiyah, p. 334). The Shaf'i scholar Ibn Talhah writes, "The day of Ghadir Khum is a festive day and an historic occasion, for it was then that the Prophet clearly and explicitly nominated Ali as Imam and leader of the Muslims after him (cf. al-Ghadir, 1:267).
Over the course of the next century, this popular practice in Egypt was adopted as court ceremony. The Eid al-Ghadir was celebrated regularly during the period of Imam al-Aziz and Imam al-Hakim. Musabbihi (d. 420/1029) reports that the people gathered at the Azhar along with the Koran reciters (qurra), jurists (fuqaha) and singers (munshidun). They stayed for the noon prayer and then went to the palace, where portions (ja'iza) were distributed. In 415/1025, the people of Cairo followed their custom on the day of Ghadir al-Khum, put on fine clothes, and the munshidun went to the palace to offer invocations and poetry.
The month of Rabi I has an immortal significance in the whole of human history. In this month that Blessed Being made his auspicious appearance from the person of Amina who diverted totally the very stream of the human history; who uplifted humanity from the lowest pit of degradation and rose it to the zenith of glory and grandeur; who heralded a new message of peace and prosperity for the suffering mankind. He emancipated the human race from those fetters in which it had been lying shackled for centuries. He relieved humanity of those heavy burdens under which it had been groaning for ages. The whole world was groping in the dark and gone astray at the time when the Holy Prophet was born. This was the deplorable time through which he passed till he attained the age of forty and then he emerged from the Cave of Hira with a recipe of alchemy that transformed man's destiny with the Light of Divine Guidance. Eid al-milad, the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) comes with blessings and benedictions on it wake, not for the Muslims alone, but for the whole of the universe, whatever amount of love and sincerity be displayed to welcome this auspicious day, would not commensurate with its sanctity just for the reason that it is the birthday of the Greatest of all the great prophets of the world. A scrupulous survey will reveal that Eid al-milad is the source of all other happy festivals.
In general, the Prophet's birthday is called maulid, a word that also often denotes the festivities held on this day, i.e., 12th Rabi al-Awwal. An alternative term is milad meaning birthday or anniversary, and the passive participle maulud, from the root w-l-d, is also used maulud (Turkish mevlut or mevlud and mulud in Maghrib).
The most important festival initiated by the Fatimid regime was the mawlid al-nabi (Prophet's Nativity). The Fatimids had a privilege to commemorate it for the first time in state level in Islam. According to Encyclopaedia of Quran (London, 2002, 2:206), "The celebration of mawlid might have begun with the Shi'ite Fatimid celebration of the birthdays of the Prophet, Ali, Fatima and the reigning Imam. N. Kaptein has demonstrated that the mawlid al-nabi introduced in Egypt under the Fatimids, certainly by the 6th/12th century." Annemarie Schimmel writes in And Muhammad is His Messenger (Lahore, 1987, p. 145, 147) that, "It seems that the tendency to celebrate the memory of Muhammad's birthday on a larger and more festive scale emerged first in Egypt during the Fatimid era (969-1171). This is logical, for the Fatimids claimed to be the Prophet's descendants through his daughter Fatima. The Egyptian historian Makrizi (d. 1442) describes one such celebration held in 1122, basing his account on Fatimid sources. It was apparently an occasion in which mainly scholars and religious establishment participated. They listened to sermons, and sweets, particularly honey, the Prophet's favorite, were distributed; the poor received alms.... In Egypt, the tradition of maulid was continued from Fatimid days by all subsequent dynasties." According to The Encyclopaedia of Religion (London, 1987, 7:455), "The joyful celebration of Muhammad's birthday began comparatively early; it was introduced on a larger scale in Fatimid Egypt, where the rulers, descendants of Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, remembered the birthday of their ancestor by inviting scholars and distributing sweets and money, a feature that has remained common. Ever since, the pious have felt that celebration of the Mawlid have a special blessings power (barakah)."
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