What is the ruling on whistling and clapping at parties?

Question:
May Allah reward you with good. The sender is a woman from Unaizah. She says: At wedding parties, we often see some women whistling and clapping to encourage the dancers, whether the dancing is permissible or not. Is this considered permissible? What is the ruling on it? Do you have any guidance? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
It is obligatory for Muslims to conduct themselves with the manners of Islam at wedding parties and elsewhere, because they are Muslims. It is not permissible for them to adopt bad customs from non-Muslim lands or from the practices of non-Muslims. Whistling and clapping are matters of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah); they are matters of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. A woman is only granted a dispensation to clap out of necessity, such as if she is praying behind an imam and the imam makes a mistake in his prayer, she may clap to alert him, or if she needs to do so to alert someone, or if someone asks for permission to enter while she is in prayer, she may clap to alert him. Clapping is permissible for women out of necessity. As for clapping at parties, this is not a necessity, and it is among the traditions and customs of the disbelievers. Yes.