❖ Source:
Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
❖ Question:
If a woman breastfed her stepbrother, is it permissible for the son of that stepbrother to marry the daughter of the woman?
✿ Answer:
Such a marriage is Islamically prohibited.
The son of the stepbrother and the daughter of the woman are considered milk nephew and milk paternal aunt (raḍāʿī phuphī) to each other. Just as marriage with a biological paternal aunt is forbidden, similarly, marriage with a milk paternal aunt is also forbidden.
This is based on the Islamic principle:
“Whatever relationship is made unlawful by lineage (nasab), is also made unlawful by breastfeeding (raḍāʿah).”
❖ Quranic Evidence:
وَعَمَّاتُكُمْ
﴿النساء: 23﴾
Translation:
“And your paternal aunts are also forbidden to you (for marriage).”
[Surah An-Nisā’: 23]
This includes both biological and milk paternal aunts.
❖ Hadith Evidence:
عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا، قَالَتْ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ:
«إِنَّ الرَّضَاعَةَ تُحَرِّمُ مَا تُحَرِّمُ الْوِلَادَةُ»
(صحيح البخاري: 2646، صحيح مسلم: 1444)
Translation:
Sayyidah ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Breastfeeding makes unlawful (for marriage) what is made unlawful by birth.”
Summary:
- The marriage between the son of a breastfed stepbrother and the daughter of the woman who breastfed him is ḥarām (prohibited).
- They are considered raḍāʿī maḥram, like paternal aunt and nephew.
- Milk-kinship (raḍāʿah) carries the same legal rulings in marriage prohibitions as blood relations (nasab).
