Is offering condolences obligatory, and what is the ruling on serving food to those offering condolences and their gathering in the house of mourning, and what is the ruling on refusing food offered by neighbors to the family of the deceased on the first day due to their belief that the family of the deceased must provide them with food for a week, and how can one follow what Allah has commanded in times of calamity, and is it permissible to expel relatives and neighbors if advice is not effective with them regarding the innovations they practice?

Offering condolences and preparing food for the family of the deceased is commendable (mustahabb). However, providing food for the mourners and their gathering at the house of mourning is impermissible (lā yajūz) because it is an innovated practice (bid‘ah muḥdathah) and falls under the category of wailing (niyāḥah). As narrated by Jarir ibn Abdullah al-Bajali, may Allah be pleased with him, "We used to consider gathering at the deceased's family's home and preparing food as wailing." This was reported by Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah. This innovation should be removed by enjoining good and forbidding evil with wisdom and good example.