Wakira (feast on finishing a house, fiqh)

وَكيرة

The wakira is, in the language, from wakr, a bird's nest; a wakira is a meal that a man makes when he finishes building a house, to which people are invited. In the technical sense it is the meal made on finishing the building of houses and called to. ¹²

The walima, in the language, is the wedding feast or any food made for a gathering; in the technical sense it is the food made for a happy occasion, such as a wedding or a betrothal. In its wider sense it covers invitations to particular occasions, such as the shindakhiyya, the i'adhar, the khurs, the 'aqiqa, the wakira, the naqi'a, the tuhfa, the hadhdhaq, the shindakh and the 'atira. ²

Making a wakira. The Shafi'is hold that it is recommended, not obligatory, on the school view, and less emphatic than the wedding feast; some drew a view that all feasts are obligatory. The Hanbalis say that making invitations other than to a wedding is permitted, neither disliked nor recommended; a report from al-Hasan says that 'Uthman ibn Abi al-'As declined a circumcision invitation, since they did not attend such feasts in the Prophet ﷺ's time. The 'aqiqa is sunna, and an invitation to a mourning gathering is disliked. ²³ Ibn Qudama says that an invitation other than to a wedding has no particular merit, since the law does not mention it, but its maker is rewarded for giving thanks and feeding his brothers. ³

Answering the invitation. The Hanafis, the school view of the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis hold that answering is not obligatory: it is sunna for the Hanafis and recommended for the Shafi'is and Hanbalis, on the report 'we were commanded to answer the caller', and to comfort the host. A Shafi'i view holds that answering is obligatory for the wakira and all feasts, on the report 'whoever is invited to a wedding or the like, let him answer'. The Malikis have one view that it is disliked and another that it is permitted. ³⁴

The purpose of answering is to bring joy to the host and comfort him; the guest should intend to follow the sunna, to visit and honour his brother. ⁴

Eating from the wakira's food. The majority hold that the invited guest who is not fasting is recommended to eat; Ibn Hajar mentions the possibility of obligation, and reports that al-Nawawi preferred the view of obligation. A guest who is fasting by an obligatory fast completes it and does not eat. If the fast is voluntary, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis recommend breaking it if it would distress the host, on the report of Abu Sa'id about the Prophet and his companions eating at a meal prepared for them. ⁴⁵

Ibn Taymiyya says that the host should not press the guest to eat if he refuses to break a voluntary fast, or to eat if he is not fasting; both are permitted, and to oblige him to what is not required is one of the forbidden matters. ⁵ The conditions for answering an invitation to a wakira are set out under walima, and are not repeated here. ⁵