Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, Volume 1, Page 743
My mother mistakenly breastfed her niece (my cousin). Now, a marriage proposal has been arranged between me and that same cousin. There is an age difference of two years between us.
Is this marriage valid according to Islamic law? Kindly explain this issue in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah. The date of the marriage has been fixed for 30th November.
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
If the question has been stated correctly, then the issue is as follows:
◈ Just as marriage with one’s real (biological) sister is permanently prohibited,
◈ likewise, marriage with a foster sister (رضاعی بہن)—a woman who has drunk milk from one’s mother—is also strictly forbidden in Islam.
Since, according to your own statement, your intended cousin (the niece) has drunk your mother’s milk, she thereby becomes your foster sister (raḍāʿī sister).
It is not necessary that the suckling (رضاعت) occurs together with another child; any child who suckles milk from the same woman becomes a foster child, and thus a foster relationship is established.
وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمُ اللَّاتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُم مِّنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ
(Surah al-Nisā’, Verse 23)
Translation:
“And your mothers who suckled you and your foster sisters (through suckling) have been made unlawful to you (for marriage).”
In Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr it is narrated:
وعن عائشة أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال:
يَحرُم من الرضاعة ما يَحرُم من الولادة
“Foster relationships prohibit (marriage) just as birth relationships do.”
(Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, Vol. 1, p. 469; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Vol. 2, p. 764)
Sayyidah ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها, the Mother of the Believers, reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed, fosterage (through breastfeeding) makes unlawful those relationships that are unlawful through lineage.”
Based on the Qur’ānic verse and authentic hadith, the ruling is absolutely clear that:
✿ Marriage with a foster sister is permanently forbidden in Islam.
Hence:
◈ Since your cousin (the niece) has drunk your mother’s milk,
◈ she has become your foster sister,
◈ therefore, marriage between you and her is ḥarām (forbidden) and invalid,
provided that she has suckled at least three times, i.e., three separate occasions in which she put the breast in her mouth and drank milk.
However,
✿ If she drank milk less than three times, then fosterage is not legally established, and in that case, the marriage will be permissible.
هَذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I hold to be correct, and Allah knows best.
❖ Question:
My mother mistakenly breastfed her niece (my cousin). Now, a marriage proposal has been arranged between me and that same cousin. There is an age difference of two years between us.
Is this marriage valid according to Islamic law? Kindly explain this issue in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah. The date of the marriage has been fixed for 30th November.
❖ Answer:
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
If the question has been stated correctly, then the issue is as follows:
◈ Just as marriage with one’s real (biological) sister is permanently prohibited,
◈ likewise, marriage with a foster sister (رضاعی بہن)—a woman who has drunk milk from one’s mother—is also strictly forbidden in Islam.
Since, according to your own statement, your intended cousin (the niece) has drunk your mother’s milk, she thereby becomes your foster sister (raḍāʿī sister).
It is not necessary that the suckling (رضاعت) occurs together with another child; any child who suckles milk from the same woman becomes a foster child, and thus a foster relationship is established.
❖ Evidence from the Qur’an:
وَأُمَّهَاتُكُمُ اللَّاتِي أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُم مِّنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ
(Surah al-Nisā’, Verse 23)
Translation:
“And your mothers who suckled you and your foster sisters (through suckling) have been made unlawful to you (for marriage).”
❖ Evidence from the Hadith:
In Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr it is narrated:
وعن عائشة أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال:
يَحرُم من الرضاعة ما يَحرُم من الولادة
“Foster relationships prohibit (marriage) just as birth relationships do.”
(Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, Vol. 1, p. 469; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Vol. 2, p. 764)
Sayyidah ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها, the Mother of the Believers, reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed, fosterage (through breastfeeding) makes unlawful those relationships that are unlawful through lineage.”
❖ Conclusion:
Based on the Qur’ānic verse and authentic hadith, the ruling is absolutely clear that:
✿ Marriage with a foster sister is permanently forbidden in Islam.
Hence:
◈ Since your cousin (the niece) has drunk your mother’s milk,
◈ she has become your foster sister,
◈ therefore, marriage between you and her is ḥarām (forbidden) and invalid,
provided that she has suckled at least three times, i.e., three separate occasions in which she put the breast in her mouth and drank milk.
However,
✿ If she drank milk less than three times, then fosterage is not legally established, and in that case, the marriage will be permissible.
هَذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I hold to be correct, and Allah knows best.
