Baghdad papers cease publication on prophet’s birthday

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Baghdad newspapers did not appear today, which marks the birthday of Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Today was declared an official holiday by the Iraqi cabinet’s general secretariat. Al-Mawlid is the observance of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi al-Awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar. The origins of the observance can be traced back to the Fatimid dynasty in eleventh century Egypt, four centuries after the death of Muhammad as a Shiite ruling class festival. Shiites observe the event on the 17 th of the month, coinciding with the birth date of their sixth Imam, Jaafar al-Sadiq, while Sunnis observe it on the 12 th of the month. As the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar varies each year. SS (P) 1