Ruling on Marriage and Breastfeeding – Condition of Five Sucklings
📚 Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, Vol. 1, Pg. 737
❖ Question:
Respected Mufti,
Our honourable mother, at the age of seventy, once breastfed my niece Shamim Akhtar bint Shams al-Dīn to calm her down when she was crying. My mother was a widow for two years at that time. While the child was crying and her mother busy with household work, our mother placed her breast in the child’s mouth for a short moment.
Now we (two brothers) wish to arrange a marriage between our children — specifically, my son Ḥāfiẓ Idrīs with Shamim Akhtar.
The question is: Did this single breastfeeding make Shamim Akhtar his foster (milk) aunt (raḍāʿī phūphī)?
Please provide a ruling in light of the Qur’an, Sunnah, and fiqh.
❖ Answer:
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh. Ammā baʿd:
❖ Clarification:
The question does not specify how many times Shamim Akhtar was breastfed.
Therefore, the issue is addressed under two possible scenarios:
◈ First Scenario:
If the child breastfed only three or four times,
➡ She does not become a milk-aunt (raḍāʿī phūphī) to Ḥāfiẓ Idrīs.
➡ Hence, the marriage is valid and permissible.
This is because, according to Islamic law, ḥurmat al-riḍāʿah (prohibition due to breastfeeding) is established only when five full sucklings occur.
❖ Evidence from Ḥadīth:
❶ ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrated:
“The Prophet ﷺ said: A single or two sucklings do not establish prohibition.”
📚 Narrated by al-Jamāʿah except al-Bukhārī; Nayl al-Awṭār, Vol. 6, Pg. 347
❷ Umm al-Faḍl رضي الله عنها reported:
A man asked the Prophet ﷺ: “Does one suckling cause prohibition?”
He ﷺ replied: “No, not one or two.”
📚 Musnad Aḥmad & Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim; Nayl al-Awṭār, Vol. 6, Pg. 247
❸ ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها said:
“Initially, the Qur’ān declared ten sucklings as the basis of prohibition. This was later abrogated to five known sucklings.”
📚 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim & Abū Dāwūd; Nayl al-Awṭār, Vol. 6, Pg. 348; Sabil al-Salām
❖ Opinions of Scholars:
◈ According to Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and many other scholars, even one or two sucklings (whether small or large) can establish prohibition.
📚 (Fatāwā Naẓīriyyah, Vol. 3, Pg. 152)
◈ However, Imām al-Shāfiʿī, Imām Aḥmad, Imām Isḥāq, Ibn Ḥazm, and many companions such as Ibn Masʿūd, Ibn al-Zubayr, and ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنهم, state that:
➤ Only five full, known sucklings establish ḥurmat al-riḍāʿah.
Imām al-Shawkānī said:
“The most correct view is that of those who consider five sucklings to be the minimum requirement for prohibition.”
📚 Nayl al-Awṭār, Vol. 6, Pgs. 350–351
✅ Verdict on the First Scenario:
➤ If Shamim Akhtar did not breastfeed five times,
➡ Then the marriage between Ḥāfiẓ Idrīs and Shamim Akhtar is valid in Sharīʿah.
◈ Second Scenario:
If Shamim Akhtar breastfed five times or more from her grandmother,
➡ Then she becomes raḍāʿī phūphī (milk-aunt) to Ḥāfiẓ Idrīs,
➡ And marriage becomes permanently ḥarām.
As per the ḥadīth:
“What is made ḥarām by lineage is also made ḥarām by breastfeeding.”
📚 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Vol. 2, Pg. 764
✅ Final Summary:
➊ If less than five sucklings occurred → Marriage is permissible.
➋ If five or more sucklings occurred → Marriage is prohibited.
وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
