MEDICAL SECTION · 16 – ENGAGING IN INTERCOURSE WITH A NURSING WOMAN
3881 – It is narrated from Asmāʾ bint Yazīd ibn Sakan (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said: I heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “Do not kill your children secretly. Truly, the effect of engaging in intercourse with a woman while she is nursing is so great that it would catch up with a mounted rider from behind and throw him from his horse.” [490]
EXPLANATION
If a woman is nursing and her master (i.e., husband) approaches her and she becomes pregnant, the mother’s milk will cease, and the child who is nursing will become ill. Sometimes, the child may even die from hunger. This, then, is tantamount to secretly killing the child.
3882 – It is narrated from Judāmah al-Asadiyya (may Allah be pleased with her) that she heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “By Allah, I wanted to prohibit a man from approaching his wife while she is nursing, but then I remembered that the Byzantines and Persians do this and it does not harm their children.” Mālik, one of the narrators, said: “The word ‘gayl’ means for a man to have sexual intercourse with his nursing wife.” [491]