Excerpt from the book: Ahkām wa Masā’il Kitāb o Sunnat ki Roshni Mein by Shaykh Mubashshir Ahmad Rabbani
❖ Question:
My paternal aunt (father’s sister) has breastfed from my mother. Can I or my brother marry her daughter? Kindly explain in light of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
❖ Answer:
Allah Almighty has declared seven relationships haram (prohibited) due to blood ties:
① Mother, ② Daughter, ③ Sister, ④ Maternal aunt, ⑤ Paternal aunt, ⑥ Niece (sister’s daughter), and ⑦ Niece (brother’s daughter).
And the same relationships that are forbidden due to lineage (nasab) also become forbidden due to breastfeeding (raḍāʿah) — that is:
✿ Foster-mother,
✿ Foster-daughter,
✿ Foster-sister,
✿ Foster-maternal aunt,
✿ Foster-paternal aunt,
✿ Foster-niece (through sister),
✿ Foster-niece (through brother).
❖ Prophetic Evidence
There are clear and authentic narrations from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on this matter:
① Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما narrates:
أن رسول الله صلی اللہ عليه وسلم أريد عليه ابنة حمزة أن يتزوجها فقال: “إنها ابنة أخي من الرضاعة، وإنه يحرم من الرضاعة ما يحرم من النسب“
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was proposed the daughter of Hamzah (for marriage), and he said:
‘She is the daughter of my brother through breastfeeding, and whatever is prohibited by lineage is also prohibited by breastfeeding.’”
📚 [Musnad Aḥmad: 270/1: 249; Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Nikāḥ: 5100; Muslim: 1447]
② Sayyidunā ʿAlī رضي الله عنه narrates:
قلت يا رسول الله! مالي أراك تنوق في قريش وتدعنا أن تزوج إلينا؟ قال: وعندك شيء؟ قلت: ابنة حمزة. قال: إنها ابنة أخي من الرضاعة
“I said: O Messenger of Allah! I see that you incline towards (marrying into) the Quraysh and avoid us. Will you not marry among us?
He ﷺ replied: ‘Do you have someone?’
I said: ‘The daughter of Ḥamzah.’
He said: ‘She is the daughter of my brother through breastfeeding.’”
📚 [Musnad Aḥmad: 129/1, 115, 132, 126; Muslim: 1446]
③ Sayyidah ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها reports:
That while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in her house, she heard a man seeking permission to enter the house of Ḥafṣah رضي الله عنها.
She said:
“O Messenger of Allah! This man is asking permission to enter your house.”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“I think it is so-and-so, the foster-uncle of Ḥafṣah.”
ʿĀʾishah then asked:
“If so-and-so (my foster-uncle) had been alive, could he have come to me?”
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“نعم، الرضاعة تحرم ما تحرم الولادة“
“Yes, breastfeeding makes unlawful what birth makes unlawful.”
📚 [Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Nikāḥ: 5099; Muslim: 1464]
④ ʿUrwah narrates from ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها:
Her foster-uncle asked for permission to enter upon her, and she prevented him.
When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard of this, he said:
“لا تحتجبي منه، فإنه يحرم من الرضاع ما يحرم من النسب“
“Do not veil yourself from him, for what is forbidden by lineage is also forbidden by breastfeeding.”
📚 [Muslim, Kitāb al-Raḍāʿah: 1445/9; al-Nasā’ī: 3303]
❖ Legal Principle:
These authentic narrations clearly establish that breastfeeding (raḍāʿah) makes the same relationships unlawful as lineage (nasab).
✅ However, note that for breastfeeding to be established, the child must have consumed enough milk to fill the stomach, and it must occur five times, as recorded in:
📚 Sunan al-Nasā’ī, Bāb al-Qadr alladhī Yuḥarrim al-Raḍāʿah: 3309
❖ Ruling for This Case:
If, in the questioner’s situation, the paternal aunt (phuphi) has breastfed from his mother the number of times and amount that fulfills the legal requirements of raḍāʿah, then:
❖ The aunt becomes his foster-sister,
❖ And her daughter becomes his foster-niece.
❌ Marriage with a foster-niece is prohibited — just as with a niece through lineage.
