Preparing Food and Designating Days for Condolences
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, it is well known that preparing food for the family of the deceased is a form of charity, but in this time, people are entitled to return the food to the family of the deceased for three days or months until the time of dinner comes, and he comes to them. Does this count as success? And if you mention, may Allah preserve you, that this is not obligatory? And it is not permissible to leave the condolence gathering, so did you leave those who come from the relatives and are told, "This is from the charity"?
The Shaykh:
If the relatives and people sit for specific days and it is announced in the newspaper that the place of condolence is at such and such a location, they will come. And if you do not arrange this arrangement, they will not come. And if they do not come, no food is prepared and nothing happens. You should leave these arrangements and these designated days. Whoever comes to you to offer condolences, accept his condolence in the market, or in the house, or in the mosque, without a gathering. If people were to leave this arrangement, these afflictions and these foods that are prepared would be removed from them, and the root that caused this would be left behind, which is the arrangement and designating days and designating a place and location for the gathering and for condolences. This is what Allah has not sent down as charity. This is what must be understood regarding what follows from it.
Honorable Shaykh, it is well known that preparing food for the family of the deceased is a form of charity, but in this time, people are entitled to return the food to the family of the deceased for three days or months until the time of dinner comes, and he comes to them. Does this count as success? And if you mention, may Allah preserve you, that this is not obligatory? And it is not permissible to leave the condolence gathering, so did you leave those who come from the relatives and are told, "This is from the charity"?
The Shaykh:
If the relatives and people sit for specific days and it is announced in the newspaper that the place of condolence is at such and such a location, they will come. And if you do not arrange this arrangement, they will not come. And if they do not come, no food is prepared and nothing happens. You should leave these arrangements and these designated days. Whoever comes to you to offer condolences, accept his condolence in the market, or in the house, or in the mosque, without a gathering. If people were to leave this arrangement, these afflictions and these foods that are prepared would be removed from them, and the root that caused this would be left behind, which is the arrangement and designating days and designating a place and location for the gathering and for condolences. This is what Allah has not sent down as charity. This is what must be understood regarding what follows from it.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب من الإيمان بالله الصبر على أقدار الله — islamhouse.com (1:10:17)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.