offer him condolences can meet him in the marketplace or in the mosque, as far as the men are concerned. As for the women, there is no need to open the door for them or for them to gather inside.

The essential point is that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “Lamenting over the dead is an act of unbelief; two traits found among people are acts of unbelief: disparaging lineage and wailing over the deceased.” Therefore, do not be taken in by what people do, for Allah says, “If you obey most of those on earth, they will lead you away from the path of Allah,” and He also says, “Yet most people, though you strive, will not believe.”

The criterion, then, is not what people have adopted as a custom; the criterion is the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs, and the practice of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). None of them ever opened his door for mourners, nor did they gather to eat; rather, they regarded that as a form of wailing and kept well away from it, because wailing, as you have heard, is one of the characteristics of disbelief.

Secondly, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the woman who wails and the one who listens to her.

Allah is the One who grants success.