BOOK OF MARRIAGE · 9 – CHAPTER ON BREASTFEEDING AN ADULT
– In another narration with the same meaning from ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her): The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) entered upon ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her). There was a man with her. Ḥafṣa says: This situation was hard on the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he was saddened, and the color of his face changed. Then the narrators agreed: ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said, “O Messenger of Allah, that man is my milk-brother.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Consider who your milk-brothers are. The ruling of milk (fosterage) is established only by breastfeeding due to hunger.” [88]
EXPLANATION
This noble hadith is not about determining the duration of breastfeeding. For a child to become a milk-child, it is a condition that the woman is breastfed during the period of suckling. That period is when the child cannot live without milk. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that milk-brotherhood only results from suckling that occurs during the period of hunger. The jurists have differed regarding the duration of suckling. Imām al-Aʿẓam (Abū Ḥanīfa) said: “The period of suckling occurs within two and a half years of the child.” Imām Zufar said, “three years”; Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and Isḥāq ibn Rāhwayh said, “two years.” If a child suckles from a woman within two years, the ruling of milk (fosterage) is established. That woman becomes the child’s mother, and the child becomes her milk-son. The woman’s children are also the milk-siblings of the suckling child. It is thought that this milk-brother of ʿĀʾisha was Ibn Abī al-Qays. (Bazl al-Majhūd, vol. 10, p. 32)
2059 – It is narrated from Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him): He said, “Radaʿ (the establishment of prohibition through suckling) is only established by suckling that strengthens the bone and produces blood and flesh.” Abū Mūsā al-Ḥilālī said: This scholar (Ibn Masʿūd) said, “Do not ask us about radaʿ while he is among you.” In this hadith, instead of the word “shadd al-ʿaẓm” (strengthening the bone), in hadith no. 260, it is narrated as “anshaza al-ʿaẓm” (increasing the size of the bone).
EXPLANATION
Shadda: means to intensify and strengthen. Anshaza: means to increase its size in length and width. The intent is to explain that for “radaʿ” to be established by a child’s suckling, this suckling must occur during the period when milk is essential for the child. If the child suckles after two years of age, “radaʿ” is not established.
2060 – From Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him): In the previous narration with the same meaning, it is narrated from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as “increasing the size of the bone” instead of “strengthening the bone.” [89]