The Obligation of Verification in Matters of Breastfeeding
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner: Your Eminence, many people, when they get married and perhaps have a child or two or more or fewer, are surprised when a woman comes and says: "There is a breastfeeding relationship between you and so-and-so." She believes that if this breastfeeding is valid, it will cause the separation of the family. What do you advise women regarding the topics of breastfeeding, verification, and scrupulousness in this matter?
May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
This is a reality that occurs. It happened to 'Uqbah ibn al-Harith during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He married a woman, and then a slave woman came to him and said: "I have breastfed you both." He went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sought his ruling on the matter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:Sahih al-Bukhari 2660 He then ordered him—(peace and blessings be upon him)—to divorce her. According to the scholars, this is understood to mean that the woman was trustworthy, and that she had breastfed them both five times in total.
The point is: this does happen, just as it happened to 'Uqbah ibn al-Harith. It happens. However, it is obligatory to verify matters; because a woman may have reasons that lead her to give false testimony: either because she has a dispute with the husband and wants to separate him from his daughter, or for other reasons that lead her to give testimony that separates him from his family. Or she may not be considered credible due to her open sinfulness or disbelief, such as abandoning prayer, or attaching oneself to the dead and calling upon the dead for aid, or insulting the religion, or for other reasons that indicate a lack of religion or weakness in her religion. In such cases, her testimony is not accepted. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
The questioner: Your Eminence, many people, when they get married and perhaps have a child or two or more or fewer, are surprised when a woman comes and says: "There is a breastfeeding relationship between you and so-and-so." She believes that if this breastfeeding is valid, it will cause the separation of the family. What do you advise women regarding the topics of breastfeeding, verification, and scrupulousness in this matter?
May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
This is a reality that occurs. It happened to 'Uqbah ibn al-Harith during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He married a woman, and then a slave woman came to him and said: "I have breastfed you both." He went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sought his ruling on the matter. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:
How can you (keep her as a wife) when it has been said (that you were foster brother and sister)? Leave (divorce) her.
كيف وقد قيل، دعها عنكThe point is: this does happen, just as it happened to 'Uqbah ibn al-Harith. It happens. However, it is obligatory to verify matters; because a woman may have reasons that lead her to give false testimony: either because she has a dispute with the husband and wants to separate him from his daughter, or for other reasons that lead her to give testimony that separates him from his family. Or she may not be considered credible due to her open sinfulness or disbelief, such as abandoning prayer, or attaching oneself to the dead and calling upon the dead for aid, or insulting the religion, or for other reasons that indicate a lack of religion or weakness in her religion. In such cases, her testimony is not accepted. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.