Ruling on the deceased's family providing food to the condolence visitors

Question:
The listener Ahmad Hamed, Abu Hudayb, sent a message saying: Please give us a ruling on what is happening with us regarding condolences. The custom with us is this: people come to the deceased's family immediately. Some of these people come with slaughtered animals ready to eat, and the deceased's family, in turn, serves them to the condolence visitors who came to offer their condolences as lunch or dinner. Others come with live sheep, and the deceased's family does what is necessary to serve them as well, as lunch or dinner. A few, who are the minority, leave the sheep or money they brought for the deceased's family, and they do not eat, nor do they sit except for a short time, and then they leave. Is this practice correct, or is it obligatory for them to sit in the house to receive the condolences of the deceased's family?
Direct us, may Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
There is no harm in this, if they give them charity, and bring them some of the sheep, or some of the meat, there is no harm in that. And if the family of the deceased prepares it for them, because they are guests and they honor them with what they brought of meat, or of slaughtered animals, there is no harm on them in that. And if they give them money, or sheep, or something else, and they leave without sitting to help the family of the deceased, there is nothing wrong with that. It is established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that when the news of the death of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) came, and he was his cousin, when he was killed at Mu'tah in the Levant, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his family: So the best for these people is to send prepared food rather than slaughtered animals, which would burden the family of the deceased. But as long as they brought them and gave them to the family of the deceased, the family of the deceased must host their guests, be good to them, and be generous, not stingy. So if they prepare food for them from it, and feed them lunch or dinner, there is no harm in that.
The only thing that is disliked, and that one should not do, and the evil that is from the practice of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, is for the family of the deceased to prepare food from their own money for people, making this a mourning gathering for the deceased, preparing food for people. This is what should not be done, and it is from the practice of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. Jarir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Meaning: if the family of the deceased does it from their own money.
As for if they do it for the guests who stayed with them, or if they do it from the slaughtered animals that the guests brought, then there is nothing wrong with that; because they are bound by this. Honoring the guest is a necessary matter, and there is no harm in honoring the guest, rather it is obligatory. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So if guests come to them, whether they brought food with them or did not bring food, if guests come to them and stay with them, and sit until the time of lunch or dinner, and they host them, there is nothing wrong. And if they had sheep with them, if they had sheep or meats with them, the matter is more emphatic and stronger. But they, the deceased's family, should not start by preparing food and making it a funeral gathering for people and a custom. This is what is blameworthy for them, and they are forbidden from it.
And the best for those who visit them is to prepare the food in their own houses and send it to them fully prepared, so that they do not burden them with the preparation of food; because they are occupied with the calamity. So what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did and established as a way for the community is that their neighbors or relatives send prepared food to them so that they may relieve them of the burden. This is the best. And if food comes to them, and they serve it to the guests to eat from it, or they invite the neighbors or their relatives to eat, there is no harm in that; because if the food is left, it will be wasted without benefit. Yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.