Ruling on Waleemah (Wedding Party's).

Q; How about the feast it is something obligatory with nikka?

A; All-Praise is due to Allah,
The Scholars differed in this matter, but the more revised opinion is that it is Mustahab (recommendable 'Sunnah not Fard') The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Announce marriage.” (Narrated by Ahmad, 4/5; classed as saheeh by al-Haakim, 2/200; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 1072).

What is obligatory is excepting the innovation of a Waleemah, The evidence (daleel) that it is obligatory to accept these invitations is the hadeeth narrated by al-Bukhaari (4779) and Muslim (2585) from Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The worst kind of food is the food of a wedding feast that is withheld from those who would come and to which people are invited who mayrefuse it. Whoever does not accept the invitation has disobeyed Allaah and His Messenger.”

The scholars divided the invitations which the Muslim is commanded to accept into two categories:

1 – Invitation to a wedding party (waleemah). The majority of scholars said that it is obligatory to accept such an invitation, unless there is a legitimate shar’i excuse – some such excuses will be mentioned below, in sha Allaah. The evidence (daleel) that it is obligatory to accept these invitations is the hadeeth narrated by al-Bukhaari (4779) and Muslim (2585) from Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The worst kind of food is the food of a wedding feast that is withheld from those who would come and to which people are invited who mayrefuse it. Whoever does not accept the invitation has disobeyed Allaah and His Messenger.”

2 – Invitation to various kinds of gatherings other than wedding-feasts. The majority of scholars say that accepting these invitations is mustahabb, and no one differed from that apart from some of the Shaafa’is and Zaahiris, who said it is obligatory. If we say that it is strongly mustahabb that is close enough. And Allaah knows best.

But the scholars have stipulated conditions for accepting an invitation; if these conditions are not met then it is not obligatory or mustahabb to accept the invitation, rather it may be haraam to attend. These conditions were summed up by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen, who said:

1- There should be nothing objectionable (munkar) in the place where the party etc. is to be held. If there is something objectionable and it is possible to remove it, then it is obligatory to attend for two reasons: to accept the invitation and to change the objectionable thing. If it is not possible to remove it then it is haraam to attend.

2- The person who invited him should not be someone whom it is obligatory or Sunnah to forsake (such as one who openly commits immoral actions or sin, where forsaking him may be of benefit in bringing about his repentance).

3- The person who invited him should be a Muslim. If he is not, then it is not obligatory to accept the invitation, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The rights of a Muslim over his fellow Muslim are five…”

4- The food offered should be permissible for us to eat.

5- Accepting the invitation should not lead to ignoring a more important duty; if that is the case then it is haraam to accept the invitation.

6- It should not cause any trouble to the person who is invited. For example, if he needs to travel or to leave his family who need him there, and so on. (al-Qawl al-Mufeed, 3/111).

Some scholars added:

7- If the host issued a general invitation, saying that everyone is welcome, then it is not obligatory to accept the invitation.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: responding to an invitation to a wedding feast is obligatory does not apply in all cases; rather that refers to the wedding feast that is offered by the husband. Accepting an invitation to this feast is obligatory. Similarly, if it is organised jointly between the husband and the woman's family, accepting the invitation to it is obligatory, because the husband is the one who is enjoined to provide the wedding feast, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf: “Give a wedding feast, even if it is with one sheep.” If the wedding feast is provided by the wife's family only, and the husband is going to offer another feast when his wife comes to join him, it is not obligatory to accept the invitation of the wife's family; rather accepting it is Sunnah.
End of quote (Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb.)

Sheikh Muhammed Saalih Al-Munajid said, From this we may note that it is permissible for the wedding feast to be organised jointly between the husband and wife, or the wife's family may organise it. Similarly, the wedding expenses may be shared as agreed between the two parties, and each of them may offer a wedding feast, as is customary in some countries. If there is some dispute as to who is obliged to provide the wedding feast, it is to be provided by the husband, as stated above. But other wedding expenses, such as having a party in a hotel and so on, should be done according to mutual agreement.
(Islam Q&A Fatwa: 138358)

It is not permissible to attend wedding parties that involve evil actions, such as singing that is accompanied by music or that includes indecent words. The fact that this is widespread among people does not mean that it is permissible and should not be denounced. If a person who is invited to such an event knows that there will be evil things happening and that he is not able to denounce them, it is not permissible for him to attend.
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Mughni (7/214): If a person is invited to a wedding feast in which evil things will take place, such as wine, musical instruments, etc, and he is able to attend and remove those evils, then he must attend and denounce them, because then he will be fulfilling two duties: accepting the invitation of his Muslim brother and removing evil. But if he is not able to denounce them then he should not attend. If he does not know about the evils until he gets there, he should remove them. If he cannot, then he should go away. Something similar was stated by al-Shaafa’i. End of quote.

And Allah knows beat...