Is it permissible to play a part in establishing a venue for condolence gatherings and other occasions?
Question

                In our city there is a venue for special occasions; most of what takes place there is condolence gatherings in which a shaykh comes to read Qur’aan for the deceased and the people listen to him. They oblige everyone in the neighbourhood to give a specific amount of money so that they all take part in setting it up. Can I pay this money or should I avoid it?.
Praise be to Allah.
      It is not prescribed in sharee‘ah for people to gather with 
      the family of the deceased to offer condolences. At the very least this 
      kind of gathering is makrooh, whether they gather in the house of the 
      family of the deceased or in these tents that they set up, or in a venue 
      for special occasions which is set aside for this purpose, and so on, 
      because that is an innovation that was not done by the earlier 
      generations. Ibn Maajah narrated that Jareer ibn ‘Abd-Allah al-Bajali (may 
      Allah be pleased with him) said: We used to think that gathering with the 
      family of the deceased and making food was a kind of wailing (for the 
      deceased).” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah. 

    If they add to that bringing a reciter to read the Qur’aan, 
    it is even more prohibited. 

    The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas 
    said: 

    What some people do of setting up large tents and bringing 
    reciters to read Qur’aan, whether that is in return for payment or not, and 
    offering food on the forty-day anniversary of the death -- all of these are 
    things for which we know of no basis in sharee‘ah; rather they are 
    innovations that have been introduced into the religion. And the Prophet 
    (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever introduces into 
    this matter of ours anything that is not part of it will have it rejected.” 
    End quote. 

    Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 
    9/136. 

    It also says (9/73): 

    Gathering when forty days have passed since the death of the 
    deceased is an innovation (bid‘ah), and reading Qur’aan or what is called a 
    khatmah for the deceased is a further innovation. It is haraam for the 
    reciters to eat the food that is offered to them or to take any fee for 
    their reading. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah narrated that there was 
    consensus among the scholars that taking a fee for merely reading Qur’aan is 
    haraam according to all the scholars, and there was no difference of opinion 
    among them concerning that. End quote. 

    It also says (8/352): 

    Spending on food that is made for those who come to offer 
    condolences and spending on setting up tents and the like is not 
    permissible, whether it is paid for from the wealth of the deceased or from 
    the wealth of anyone else. End quote. 

    So it is not permissible to do any of these things or to help 
    in them, because it is a kind of cooperating in sin and transgression, and 
    Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

    “Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, 
    righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and 
    transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe in punishment”

    [al-Maa’idah 5:2]. 

    Their imposing a certain amount of money to be paid by every 
    individual in order to set up this venue is something that is not 
    permissible according to sharee‘ah. It is an objectionable action that 
    should be opposed and it is not permissible to help them in that. 

    For more information please see the answer to question no.
    14396 

    And Allah knows best.