What is the ruling on traveling for a funeral and to console the deceased's family?

The questioner : His EminenceThe Shaykh : What is the ruling on traveling to attend the funeral prayer and to console the deceased's family?

The Shaykh : If the deceased is someone who has a general or specific right, there is no harm in a person traveling for it, and this is not of the kind of traveling to graves. Likewise, there is no harm in consoling them, but traveling specifically for the consolation will necessitate the deceased's family gathering in the house and receiving people, and this is a religious innovation. Jariyy ibn 'Abd Allah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: And people in some areas today do something even greater than this; they gather, arrange chairs, and turn on the lights, and when you pass by their house, it is as if you are passing by a wedding house. This is undoubtedly a religious innovation, and the deceased does not benefit from it, nor do they benefit, because they increase the waste of time and money and the contradiction of the guidance of the Salaf. Therefore, we advise our Muslim brothers to say to them: Leave this custom, for there is no good in what the Salaf did not do.