The Difference between Navid and an Invitation

Question

(1) People in our area consider navid (a wedding invitation to which one comes bearing a gift) necessary. Its procedure is this: on the occasion of a wedding, one sends navid to all one’s relatives; on the appointed date these relatives come to that person’s door together with the barber, bringing rice, curd, a dhoti (a wrap-around loincloth traditionally worn by Hindu men), or just money.

Answer

(1) This procedure and making it binding (iltizam) is a non-Shar‘i custom which it is necessary (lazim) to abandon. It is a loan without need and without being requested: until it is repaid, the claim remains a liability (dhimma).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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