The actual date of birth of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

I intentionally did not want to write about this in Rabi-ul-Awwal because I did not want to hurt anyones feeling. The fact is that it has to be said. A lot of Muslims celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). First, there is no Islamic basis for this celebration. The second is that the data it's celebrated on is the 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal. There is a lot of controversy around this date.

The only mention of this date is in the book of Ibn Ishaq but it is mentioned without any chain of narrators. There are other dates like 2nd, 8th, 10th, 17th & 22nd that have a lot more backing.

So why is this date so popular. Below is a talk by Saikh Yasir Qadhi on this topic. Here is an article on this topic.