1. Parents should teach their children the importance of mawlid.  Special family gathering of durood (salutations for the Prophet (saw) should be arranged and the importance of this should be taught to the children.
2. Family gatherings of naat (nasheed) should be arranged.  The parents and the children should have an opportunity to recite a naat.
3. Parents should relate to their children stories of the Prophet (saw) in which instances of the affection shown towards children are emphasised.
4. Food that the Prophet (saw) enjoyed should be prepared at home. Details can be obtained from the book Shamail-e-Mustafa.
5. Homes should be thoroughly cleaned for the 12^th of Rabi Al Awal.
6. Recite durood in abundance.  The durood shareef written in the book Dalail-ul-Barakaat (authored by Shaykh-ul-Islam) should be recited 500 times daily for the first twelve days.  For the rest of the month, this should be recited at least 200 times daily.
7. For the first twelve days of Rabi-ulAwal, two raka’ nafl should be prayed on behalf of the Prophet (saw).  During the rest of the month, the nafl should be prayed every Monday.
8. A fast should be kept every Monday.
9. A badge of the ‘green dome’ (gunbad-e-khazra) or that of the blessed na’lain should be worn.
10. For the first twelve days, decorate your houses for the mawlid celebrations.
11. On the 12^th, children should wear new clothes and be given gifts.
12. Spending in the way of Allah ie sadaqah should be increased and guests invited for dinner.
13. Present relevant books as gifts eg. Seerat-ur-Rasul(saw), Meelad-un Nabi(saw) or Shamail-e-Mustafa(saw) or Minhaj-us-Savi.
14. Various chapters from the book Nur-ul-Absar should be read in family gatherings on a daily basis.
15. Children should be taken on a special day out during the month of Rabi-al-Awal.
16. Messages of ‘mubarak’ should be sent over the phone, text and emails.

By Faiza Qadri