The Ruling on Slaughtered Animals and Bringing Them to the Family of the Deceased

His Eminence the Shaykh: What is the ruling on slaughtering animals and bringing them to the family of the deceased? And does this fall under the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): (Prepare food for the family of Ja'far) , and that people do this on a rotating basis among themselves, for lunch and dinner?

This is not included in the hadith of Ja'far for two reasons: The first aspect: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Prepare food for the family of Ja'far, for something has come to them that occupies them) . The reason is that something came to them that occupied them. Most people today, and praise be to Allah, are not occupied by grief; because restaurants exist, the youngest of the children is sent to bring what they want, so there is no occupation.

The second: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not gather with the family of Ja'far, nor did their relatives gather with them, nor did their companions gather with them. It was only food prepared for them, for lunch or dinner, according to the circumstances, only if something came to them that occupied them.
But Shaytan makes things that are ambiguous in the Shari'ah a ladder for the people of innovation,As He made His saying, the Exalted: [Surat al-Shura: 11] . He made it a ladder for those who deny the attributes, so they deny the attributes on the pretext that if the attribute were established, Allah would be similar to creation. So these people cited this hadith as evidence, but there is no evidence for them in it; rather, it is evidence against them in reality. Did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) gather with them, and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, his cousin? Did any of their relatives gather with them? Never. Rather, Jarir ibn Abdullah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: [We considered gathering with the family of the deceased and preparing food to be wailing] , and wailing is a cause of punishment for the deceased in his grave,As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Indeed, the deceased is punished for what is wailed over him) . And due to the lack of alerting the common people to this, they came to think that there is no harm in it,But any person you tell: Your companion whose father, or brother, or mother, or uncle died, you are being punished for what you did. I do not think anyone would dare to do this thing ever. Then these things became like a wedding feast,Meaning: In some countries, if you pass by a funeral, you find many lights, chairs, and tents, and this enters and that exits, and it is like a wedding feast, and I seek refuge in Allah. And some contemporary scholars, may Allah guide them, said: The origin of this is taken from the Christians. They are the ones who work to make a person forget this calamity by what distracts him from the world, not by the prescribed condolence; the prescribed condolence is that a person is admonished and it is said as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Indeed, to Allah belongs what He takes and what He gives, and everything with Him is by a specified term, so be patient and seek reward) , not that this commotion and these tents are set up.

And therefore I see: That the people of knowledge and students of knowledge have a great responsibility regarding this issue. It is obligatory to devote efforts to eliminating this religious innovation.