This day  i perfected your religion for you and  com-pleted my favour over you and I have chosen Islam as religion {o mankind}” Q5:3.

This verse was revealed to our noble prophet Muhammed on the month of Arafat on the occasion of the Hajj performed at the tail end of revelation. when the few listen to the recitation of the verse,  they said to Umar bin Khatab the second caliph, if this particular verse had been revealed unto us, we would have made the day of its revelation a day of our festival.

The sociology of islam encourages giving thanks to Allah at the descent of his mercy on his servant. Life is not only a spiritual sojourn but that which provides the opportunity to rejoice at the blessings of Allah when descend.

Allah(swt) says he is the one who has subjected the earth to your use so tranverse its nooks and unto him is your final return Q67:15. Islam allows that we use part of what Allah has provided for us to thank Him, express our gratitude to Him and extend His grace to other fellow beings. In the light of of this, the following kind of feasts are permissible in Islam.

Al-Maadihah-This is a kind of food provided for someone we invited to our home to come and visit us. This can be done when we considered it mostly convenient. This kind of visitation is best extended to the righteous scholars and believers in our community whether far or near . When this happens, the host are expected to provide a loveable environment for invited guest and provide the best meal according to his means.

Another kind of feast is called At-tuhfah: This refers to the food provided for a visitor i.e somebody who voluntarily out of love visit our home even without invitation. This kind of gesture can be from members of our family (extended), friends, business partnera and neighbours. This second kind of feast is very close to the third permissible kind of feast which is termed Al-Qura’ which translates to mean guests’ dinner (lunch).with whatever Allah provides for us (through this is not compulsory).

The very popular feast among the Muslims the world over is Al-Walimah. Unfortunately, the word (Walimoh) has been taken to mean all other forms of feasts organised by the Muslims. But, specically, it applies to the feast organised by the groom on the occassion of his marriage solemnisation. This is popularly known as wedding feast. Wedding feast in Islam is basically the prerogative of the groom or his family as opposed to the common practise where all marriage programmes are conducted and completed at the bride’s family quarters. The Holy Prophet organised wedding feast for his companions on the occassion of his marriage and enjoined AbdurRahman bn Auf to organise Waleemah even if with an ordinary “Ewe”

It must be noted here that the “offering” made when an clerics prays for us should not be taken to mean walimah but sadaaqah. This misconception has become rampant among Muslims who blindly obey many incapable scholars that parade themselves as religious leaders.

It has also been misconceived that the feast organised when a learner (young or old) completes the recitation of the Glorious Quran, a feast should be organised and this feast is called Waleematul Quran or Waleematul-khatmil-Quran. This misconception also needs be corrected because it  has no basis in Islamic history. As mentioned earlier, Waleemah is “Tohaamul-’urs- Wedding feast.

Also in some communities where they gather to recite a whole (complete) Quran either to seek Allah’s blessing (or favour) or to ward off calamities, it is common for the organisers to round it off with the slaughtering of either a ram or a cow as Waleemah. This is another act of ignorance bequeathed by our predecessors which need be thrown into the dust bin because it is closer to shirk (associating partners to Almighty Allah) than ‘Imaan.