Is it permissible to give a wedding banquet with food but without slaughtering an animal (i.e. a goat, sheep, or a camel, and so on)?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

According to the majority of scholars, giving a wedding banquet is a Sunnah (Prophetic tradition) and not an obligation. Imaam An-Nawawi related in his explanation of Saheeh Muslim, “Scholars held different opinions regarding the wedding banquet and whether it is obligatory or recommended. The correct opinion of our school of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) is that the wedding banquet is a recommended voluntary act of worship, and this was the opinion of Imaam Maalik and others; Abu Daawood, however, considered it obligatory.”

It is better to slaughter a sheep for the wedding banquet for a financially able Muslim; for Anas reported that ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf got married for a dowry of a piece of gold about the weight of a date stone. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, told him: “Give a Waleemah (wedding banquet) even if with one sheep.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

There is no harm if you give a wedding banquet with ordinary food i.e., without slaughtering a sheep, especially if you are financially unable to afford a sheep. Anas narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, freed Safiyyah and married her making her freedom as her dowry and gave a wedding banquet with Hays. Ibn Hajar said, “Al-Hays is stoneless dates that are mixed with Al-Aqit (dried yoghurt) or flour or butter.”

Allaah Knows best.