Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpuri
❖ Question:
What is the Islamic ruling on marrying the divorcee or widow of one’s foster (raḍāʿī) father?
❖ Answer:
Such a marriage is not permissible.
🔒 Just as it is prohibited to marry the former wife of one’s biological father,
it is likewise prohibited to marry the former wife (divorcee or widow) of one’s foster father.
✿ Qur’anic Evidence:
﴿وَلَا تَنكِحُوا مَا نَكَحَ آبَاؤُكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاءِ﴾
(Sūrah al-Nisā’, 4:22)
Translation:
“And do not marry those women whom your fathers had married…”
✅ This ruling applies equally to foster fathers, because of the principle:
“Whatever relationships are prohibited due to blood (nasab) are also prohibited due to breastfeeding (raḍāʿah).”
✿ Hadith Evidence:
Sayyidah ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها reported:
“إن الرضاعة تحرّم ما تحرّم الولادة“
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 2646, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1444)
Translation:
“Breastfeeding makes unlawful whatever blood relations make unlawful.”
✅ Final Ruling:
➤ It is ḥarām (strictly forbidden) to marry the divorcee or widow of one’s foster father,
just as it is ḥarām in the case of a biological father.
Such a woman becomes permanently unmarriageable (maḥram) through raḍāʿah.
