Breastfeeding Prohibits What Birth Prohibits, and the Conditions and Regulations Thereof

Question:
Following this, a message was received by the program from Aleppo, the Syrian Arab Republic, from the listener Abdul Salam al-Salim. Brother Abdul Salam says: I want to ask about a matter that has been confusing me for years, which is that a young man wants to marry a girl he desires, and she also desires him, but the problem is that this young man breastfed from that girl’s mother a full breastfeed. What do you see, Honorable Shaykh? May Allah reward you with good. I have read in some references hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that one or two breastfeeds do not prohibit, according to the scholars’ statement. And from Aisha that they used to recite in the Qur’an ten [breastfeeds], and after the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), it became five. before weaning. And the hadith of Suhaib, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: “Breastfeed him five times.” Guide us, may Allah benefit you, and may He reward us with good.

Answer:
Yes, the matter is as the questioner mentioned, and as the noble hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) indicate, that breastfeeding prohibits what birth prohibits. However, two conditions are necessary. The first condition is that the breastfeeding must be before weaning. As for breastfeeding after the two years, after the child has been weaned, it does not prohibit. The second condition is that the breastfeeding must be five known breastfeeds. If it is less than five, it does not prohibit. But we must know the limit of a single breastfeed, for some people believe that a breastfeed is satiety, the child’s satiety, and that is not the case. Rather, a breastfeed is the suckling: that he sucks the breast and then leaves it to breathe or to move to another breast, and then returns. If he returns and sucks it a second time, it becomes a second breastfeed, and so on until he completes five suckles, even if in one sitting. These are the five that prohibit: five suckles where he sucks the breast and milk reaches him from it, then he leaves it to breathe or to sneeze or to move to another breast, and then returns. If this is repeated by him five times, whether in one sitting or in multiple sittings, it becomes five prohibiting breastfeeds. And the breastfeeding mentioned by the questioner, that he wants to marry a girl, but he breastfed from her grandmother, he says, or from her mother, the point is that he breastfed from her mother or from her grandmother, it is not permissible for him to marry her if the breastfeeds were five and were within the two years; because if she breastfed from his mother, he is her brother, and if he breastfed from her grandmother, he is her maternal uncle, so she is not permissible for him. It should be noted that he erred in the wording of the hadith that says “after the death of the Messenger it became five breastfeeds.” That is not the case. Rather, it became five breastfeeds at the end of the life of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he passed away with the matter being so, meaning it was not abrogated. Yes.