Fatwa's Insights - Waqf, Mosque dan Funeral Management
Commemorative Feast For The Deceased
THE 36TH MEETING OF THE PERLIS STATE FATWA COMMITTEE / 2018
23-24 JULY 2018
COMMEMORATIVE FEAST FOR THE DECEASED
People gathering at the house of the deceased and food being prepared for them after the deceased has been buried is among the disapproved actions, based on the statement of Jarir bin 'Abdillah (May Allah Be Pleased With Him):
كُنَّا نَعُدُّ الِاجْتِمَاعَ إِلَى أَهْلِ الْمَيِّتِ ، وَصَنِيعَةَ الطَّعَامِ بَعْدَ دَفْنِهِ : مِنْ النِّيَاحَةِ
Translation: "We considered gathering at the family of the deceased and preparing food after burial to be among the prohibited lamentations." (Narrated by Ahmad 6866 and Ibn Majah 1612)
This indicates that the practice of the commemorative feast for the deceased is something contrived and invented. It was never practiced by the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) and his companions and they never gathered at the house of the deceased's family after the burial.
According to the Sunnah, when a death occurs, relatives and neighbors are encouraged to lighten the burden borne by the family of the deceased and strive to alleviate the grief that envelops them.
Relatives and neighbors are encouraged to hasten in preparing food or similar provisions for the family of the deceased that can lighten the burden and sorrow they bear. This is based on the statement of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) immediately upon receiving news of the martyrdom of Ja'far bin Abi Talib (May Allah Be Pleased With Him) in the Battle of Mu'tah:
اصْنَعُوا لِآلِ جَعْفَرٍ طَعَامًا ، فَقَدْ أَتَاهُمْ مَا يَشْغَلُهُمْ
Translation: "Prepare food for the family of Ja'far, for verily there has come to them that which preoccupies them." (Narrated by al-Tirmidhī 998, whom he graded as Ḥasan; Abū Dāwūd 3132, Ibn Majah 1610. This hadith is also graded Ḥasan by Ibn Kathīr and al-Albānī)
Imam al-Shafi'i said:
وَأُحِبُّ لِجِيرَانِ الْمَيِّتِ أَوْ ذِي قَرَابَتِهِ أَنْ يَعْمَلُوا لِأَهْلِ الْمَيِّتِ فِي يَوْمِ يَمُوتُ وَلَيْلَتِهِ طَعَامًا يُشْبِعُهُمْ فَإِنَّ ذَلِكَ سُنَّةٌ، وَذِكْرٌ كَرِيمٌ، وَهُوَ مِنْ فِعْلِ أَهْلِ الْخَيْرِ قَبْلَنَا وَبَعْدَنَا
Translation: "And I prefer that the neighbors of the deceased or his relatives prepare food for the family of the deceased on the day of his death and its night, sufficient to satiate them, for this is a Sunnah and a noble remembrance (of them). This is among the deeds of the righteous people before us and after us." (al-Umm 1/317)