Is it permissible to prepare food as charity for the deceased? And is it permissible to gather people in a specific place?
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The questioner : We said: Charity for the deceased is permissible. There are some people who, when a person dies...
The Shaykh : And how is charity for a deceased person?
The questioner : That is, giving charity on behalf of a deceased person, meaning...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : When a person dies, people offer condolences at a specific time and in a designated place. After a month or after a week, they slaughter animals, give charity, and cite the hadith that I mentioned regarding this?
The Shaykh : And what else?
The questioner : And they cite the hadith that I mentioned regarding this?
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : The hadith regarding the permissibility of charity for the deceased.
The Shaykh : No, this is a mistake. Charity for the deceased, as you heard, is charity where a person takes dirhams and gives them to the poor. It is not preparing food and gathering people around it, which involves wailing, and wailing is forbidden. Therefore, you find that these people who prepare food, thinking that they are giving charity with it, have the rich, the poor, the open sinner, the just, the wicked, and the chaste attending them, and they do not care. This is a religious innovation and it is part of wailing, as Jarir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Bajali said:Sunan Ibn Majah 1612Da’if (Darussalam).
The questioner : May Allah reward you. His saying (peace and blessings be upon him)...
The Shaykh : Do you see the truth for the guests? If anyone has a question, good.
The questioner : Stop.
The Shaykh : Very well.
The Shaykh : And how is charity for a deceased person?
The questioner : That is, giving charity on behalf of a deceased person, meaning...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : When a person dies, people offer condolences at a specific time and in a designated place. After a month or after a week, they slaughter animals, give charity, and cite the hadith that I mentioned regarding this?
The Shaykh : And what else?
The questioner : And they cite the hadith that I mentioned regarding this?
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : The hadith regarding the permissibility of charity for the deceased.
The Shaykh : No, this is a mistake. Charity for the deceased, as you heard, is charity where a person takes dirhams and gives them to the poor. It is not preparing food and gathering people around it, which involves wailing, and wailing is forbidden. Therefore, you find that these people who prepare food, thinking that they are giving charity with it, have the rich, the poor, the open sinner, the just, the wicked, and the chaste attending them, and they do not care. This is a religious innovation and it is part of wailing, as Jarir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Bajali said:
We used to think that gathering with the family of the deceased and preparing food was a form of wailing.
كنا نعد الاجتماع إلى أهل الميت وصنع الطعام من النياحةThe questioner : May Allah reward you. His saying (peace and blessings be upon him)...
The Shaykh : Do you see the truth for the guests? If anyone has a question, good.
The questioner : Stop.
The Shaykh : Very well.