What is the ruling on breastfeeding from two women, one of whom breastfed twice and the other three times?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the noblest of the prophets and messengers, the master of all creation, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and all his Companions. The first question: The questioner says, a man was breastfed by two women; he was breastfed twice by one and three times by the other. What is the ruling on that? That is, does it make them forbidden to him?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. This morning, Thursday, the twentieth of the month of Dhul-Hijjah, we meet with our brothers, who may pose questions to us. We ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, to grant us success in answering correctly. So, this first question, as the listener hears it: A child was breastfed by two women for one man; from each of the two women, he was breastfed twice, and from the other, three times. Does this breastfeeding complete the bond? And how is that?
The answer is that this breastfeeding completes the bond with regard to the husband, so the husband becomes the father of this child, and neither of the breastfeeding women becomes his mother. This issue can be posed as a riddle, and it is said: "Four breastfeedings established fatherhood but not motherhood." Based on this, the children of this husband are brothers to the fourth child through the father, and the children of the two women from other than this husband are not brothers to the fourth child, because motherhood was not established in their case.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. Does the mother become forbidden to you?
The Shaykh : Yes. A woman who breastfed him does not become a mother, but she becomes a father’s wife through breastfeeding. The establishment of prohibition through in-laws via breastfeeding is a matter of disagreement among scholars. The majority of scholars hold that prohibition through in-laws is established by breastfeeding just as it is established by blood relation. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) does not hold that view. He cited many proofs, the most extensive of which I have seen is what his student Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in *Zad al-Ma’adin*. According to the Shaykh’s opinion (may Allah have mercy on him), neither of these two women is a mahram to the child, nor is she forbidden to him, should he grow up and wish to marry one of them after the husband’s death.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. This morning, Thursday, the twentieth of the month of Dhul-Hijjah, we meet with our brothers, who may pose questions to us. We ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, to grant us success in answering correctly. So, this first question, as the listener hears it: A child was breastfed by two women for one man; from each of the two women, he was breastfed twice, and from the other, three times. Does this breastfeeding complete the bond? And how is that?
The answer is that this breastfeeding completes the bond with regard to the husband, so the husband becomes the father of this child, and neither of the breastfeeding women becomes his mother. This issue can be posed as a riddle, and it is said: "Four breastfeedings established fatherhood but not motherhood." Based on this, the children of this husband are brothers to the fourth child through the father, and the children of the two women from other than this husband are not brothers to the fourth child, because motherhood was not established in their case.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. Does the mother become forbidden to you?
The Shaykh : Yes. A woman who breastfed him does not become a mother, but she becomes a father’s wife through breastfeeding. The establishment of prohibition through in-laws via breastfeeding is a matter of disagreement among scholars. The majority of scholars hold that prohibition through in-laws is established by breastfeeding just as it is established by blood relation. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) does not hold that view. He cited many proofs, the most extensive of which I have seen is what his student Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in *Zad al-Ma’adin*. According to the Shaykh’s opinion (may Allah have mercy on him), neither of these two women is a mahram to the child, nor is she forbidden to him, should he grow up and wish to marry one of them after the husband’s death.
Source
ابن العثيمين - لقاء مع الشيخ - ربيع المدخلي — archive.org (1:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.