Responding to a wedding banquet is obligatory—as stated earlier—whereas accepting any other lawful invitation is recommended.

Third: “If he asks your counsel, then advise him.” The Exalted says, “The believers are but brothers” ⦗49:10⦘, and He quotes the prophets—peace be upon them—as saying, “I am to you a sincere and trustworthy adviser” ⦗7:68⦘.

Al-Bukhārī (57) and Muslim (56) relate from Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh: “I pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to establish the prayer, pay the zakāt, and offer sincere advice to every Muslim.”

Al-Bukhārī (13) and Muslim (45) record from Anas that the Prophet ﷺ said, “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

Muslim transmits in his Ṣaḥīḥ (55) from Tamīm al-Dārī that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Religion is sincere counsel.” We asked, “To whom, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “To Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the leaders of the Muslims, and the general body of Muslims.”

Sincere counsel is the pillar and mainstay of the religion.

Counseling the general body of Muslims means guiding them to what benefits them in their Hereafter and worldly life, helping them attain it, concealing their faults, fulfilling their needs, shielding them from harm and bringing them benefit, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong with gentleness and sincerity, showing compassion toward them, honoring their elders, having mercy on their young, visiting them periodically with good admonition, refraining from deceiving or envying them, loving for them the good one loves for oneself, and disliking for them what one dislikes for oneself of harm.

Offering such counsel is a communal obligation (farḍ kifāyah); if a sufficient number discharge it, the rest are absolved, though it remains binding in proportion to one’s ability.

Thus, the meaning of the ḥadīth is that when someone asks you for advice, you are obliged to give it to him,