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Wadima (funeral food)
وَضِيمة
Wadima, lexically, is the food of a funeral gathering, the food made at a calamity, gathered pasture, and a visit in which a few people come down on a people and are treated well and honoured. For the jurists it is the food made at a calamity. 1
Related words: khurs, the food at a birth or for a woman after childbirth, and hadhdhaq, the feast at a boy's completion of the Qur'an. All three are feasts; wadima is at a calamity and death, khurs at the joy of a birth, and hadhdhaq at the memorising of the Qur'an. 12
Ruling on making a wadima when the family of the dead makes it: the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis dislike it, since it adds to their grief, distracts them, imitates the custom of the pre-Islamic age, and food is not made for sorrow. Jarir ibn Abd Allah is reported to have said that gathering to the family of the dead and making food was counted as wailing. 23 A Hanafi view allows the family to make food, citing the account of a man of the Ansar who, after a burial, received a meal from a woman, which the book says al-Nawawi graded as sound in its chain. 3 The Malikis: food for the recitation of the Qur'an or similar good for the dead is acceptable; otherwise disliked; if the dead person bequeathed it, it comes from the third and must be carried out. The Shafi'is forbid it if it is taken from the estate when the dead man has debts or heirs are minors, absent or under restraint. The Hanbalis add that where mourners are guests who come from far away, making food for them is not disliked, since it may be needed. 3
Food from people other than the family: the jurists agree that it is recommended for the neighbours and distant relatives of the dead to prepare food for the family, enough for a day and a night, citing the saying to make food for the family of Ja'far, since it is righteousness and kindness. 34 The Hanbalis urge the family to eat; the Shafi'is add that pressing them is acceptable where it is known that they will be pleased. 4 The Malikis and Shafi'is hold that if the family gathers for forbidden acts such as lamenting, wailing or striking the face, the gathering is not lawful; the text continues beyond p.17481. 4
The Malikis and Shafi'is hold that it is not recommended to make food for a family that gathers for forbidden acts such as the excessive lament, striking and wailing, and to send food to them is forbidden, since they are sinners. 4
Answering the invitation to a wadima: the Hanafis hold it recommended; the Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Malikis hold it disliked; Ibn Rushd of the Malikis holds it permitted. 4
Eating from the wadima food: the Hanafis say there is no harm in eating it. The Malikis say that no one should eat from food the family makes and invites people to, unless the one who made it is an adult heir of sound judgement. The Hanbalis say it is disliked for those who are not guests to eat it, and forbidden where the food is taken from the estate while one of its heirs is under restraint, or from another's property without permission. 45
Slaughter at the grave and carrying food to it: the Hanafis, Malikis, the Shafi'is (as al-Haytami favoured) and the Hanbalis count it a disliked innovation, as a pre-Islamic practice, against the saying 'there is no slaughter in Islam', and because it invites show. Ibn Taymiyya holds slaughter at a grave forbidden, and a vow to do it is not to be kept. The Hanbalis call placing food or drink on a grave to be taken by people reprehensible, and forbidden where the estate includes a restrained or absent heir. 5
