Excess in Wedding Feasts
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Fatwa No. ( 18541 )
Q: I am sending this letter to your eminence, hoping that Allah will reach you in good health and well-being, and that He will prolong the life of your honor. Your Eminence: We testify to Allah regarding your love for us, and I ask Allah to gather us in the highest level of Paradise with our Muslim brothers. Your Eminence: In the spirit of cooperation in righteousness and piety, and in gratitude to Allah for His abundant blessings—specifically the blessing of Islam, and then the blessing of food and drink that He, the Exalted, has bestowed upon us—there are some people who do not restrict themselves to these blessings and spend them in places other than where they are due. There are customs among the tribes in the southern region where, during the arrival of guests on the day of the wedding, and after finishing the lunch meal, the guests proceed to the groom’s place—meaning, after two or three hours—then the groom and his neighbors divide the guests between the groom’s place and the neighbors’ place. Then they prepare new food, such as making bread, ghee, and honey, and what they call al-'arrik, and all varieties of wheat food and others. Another group prepares fruit, and the cost of these foods can reach two or three thousand riyals.
and the addition to the beverages, then only a bite or two is taken from it, then it is thrown away, and after this food, two hours later, there is the dinner meal, so the phenomenon that is sought to be addressed is the phenomenon of preparing food two or three hours after the lunch meal, then this food is thrown away, and this phenomenon, that is, preparing these foods, fruits, and beverages a few hours after the lunch meal, is called in the tribal concept (al-wasl) and this situation occurs in weddings and occasions. So the question is: Why are these foods prepared two or three hours after the lunch meal, then not eaten and thrown in the trash? Is this not a waste of blessings and extravagance, and something that causes the removal of blessings? Therefore, I have raised to your honor the matter of this phenomenon that occurs a few hours after the lunch meal, then only a little is eaten from it, then it is thrown away, so why not suffice with the dinner meal after the lunch meal, we ask your honor to issue a fatwa to address this phenomenon and print your fatwa through bulletins distributed to the people in this region and distributed in the mosques and through the preachers on Friday and explain the danger of wasting blessings and abandoning this phenomenon. May Allah guide them all.
A: Holding a wedding feast in the marriage contract is a prescribed matter, and numerous hadiths have come encouraging it, and that it is counted among the announcement of
Marriage, for it is established in the two Sahihs thatMishkat al-Masabih 3220, and it is also established in them that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf when he got married: The prescribed practice in this is not to let the wedding feast, foods, and prepared drinks reach the level of extravagance, waste, and squandering, for that is blameworthy in the Shari'ah, and its doer is among the brothers of the devils. Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Isra 17:26-27] So what is required is moderation, with neither extravagance nor stinginess. If the abundance and variety of food lead to it being thrown into the trash and not utilized, there is no doubt that this is a greater sin and more dangerous, and its doer exposes himself to the punishment and wrath of Allah. So the Muslim must be cautious of this and be moderate in his feasts, occasions, and all his affairs. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Q: I am sending this letter to your eminence, hoping that Allah will reach you in good health and well-being, and that He will prolong the life of your honor. Your Eminence: We testify to Allah regarding your love for us, and I ask Allah to gather us in the highest level of Paradise with our Muslim brothers. Your Eminence: In the spirit of cooperation in righteousness and piety, and in gratitude to Allah for His abundant blessings—specifically the blessing of Islam, and then the blessing of food and drink that He, the Exalted, has bestowed upon us—there are some people who do not restrict themselves to these blessings and spend them in places other than where they are due. There are customs among the tribes in the southern region where, during the arrival of guests on the day of the wedding, and after finishing the lunch meal, the guests proceed to the groom’s place—meaning, after two or three hours—then the groom and his neighbors divide the guests between the groom’s place and the neighbors’ place. Then they prepare new food, such as making bread, ghee, and honey, and what they call al-'arrik, and all varieties of wheat food and others. Another group prepares fruit, and the cost of these foods can reach two or three thousand riyals.
and the addition to the beverages, then only a bite or two is taken from it, then it is thrown away, and after this food, two hours later, there is the dinner meal, so the phenomenon that is sought to be addressed is the phenomenon of preparing food two or three hours after the lunch meal, then this food is thrown away, and this phenomenon, that is, preparing these foods, fruits, and beverages a few hours after the lunch meal, is called in the tribal concept (al-wasl) and this situation occurs in weddings and occasions. So the question is: Why are these foods prepared two or three hours after the lunch meal, then not eaten and thrown in the trash? Is this not a waste of blessings and extravagance, and something that causes the removal of blessings? Therefore, I have raised to your honor the matter of this phenomenon that occurs a few hours after the lunch meal, then only a little is eaten from it, then it is thrown away, so why not suffice with the dinner meal after the lunch meal, we ask your honor to issue a fatwa to address this phenomenon and print your fatwa through bulletins distributed to the people in this region and distributed in the mosques and through the preachers on Friday and explain the danger of wasting blessings and abandoning this phenomenon. May Allah guide them all.
A: Holding a wedding feast in the marriage contract is a prescribed matter, and numerous hadiths have come encouraging it, and that it is counted among the announcement of
Marriage, for it is established in the two Sahihs that
the Prophet held a wedding-feast for
النبي - صلى الله عليه وسلم - أولم على بعض نسائهHold a feast, even if it is only with a sheep
أولم ولو بشاةand do not spend wastefully. (27) Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful.
وَلاَ تُبَذِّرْ تَبْذِيرًا (26) إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ لِرَبِّهِ كَفُورًا
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.