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Breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...
is highly regarded in Islam. The Qur'an regards it as a sign of love between the mother and child. In
Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
, breastfeeding creates ties of
milk kinship Milk kinship, formed during nursing by a non-biological mother, was a form of fostering allegiance with fellow community members. This particular form of kinship did not exclude particular groups, such that Social class, class and other hierarcha ...
(known as ''raḍāʿ'' or ''riḍāʿa'' ( ar, رضاع, رضاعة  ) that has implications in
family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage ...
. Muslims throughout the world have varied breastfeeding traditions.


Quran and hadith

Several Qur'anic verses, all dating from the Medinan period, lay down the Islamic ethic of breastfeeding and refer to the nursing of Islamic prophet Moses to emphasize the loving bond between baby Moses and his mother. Breastfeeding is implied as a basic
Maternal bond A maternal bond is the relationship between a mother and her child. While typically associated with pregnancy and childbirth, a maternal bond may also develop in cases where the child is unrelated, such as an adoption. Both physical and emoti ...
in , which considers a mother neglecting nursing of her child as an unusual sign. Breastfeeding is considered a basic right of every infant, according to the Qur'an. calls on fathers to sponsor the child's nursing by providing food and clothing for the child's mother for two years, although it allows for earlier weaning of the child by mutual consent of both mother and father. The same verse also allows for motherly breastfeeding to be substituted by
wet nursing A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...
. expects the father of the child to be generous towards the wet nurse. The Quran regards ties due to milk kinship similar to ties due to blood kinship. Therefore prohibits a man from having sexual relations with his "milk mother" or "milk sister"; hadith explain that the wet-nurse's husband is also included as a milk kin, eg. a woman may not marry her wet-nurse's husband. According to scholars, this prohibition is not found in the Jewish and Christian tradition, though it is found in
matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
groups.


In Islamic law

Breastfeeding is considered one of the most fundamental rights of a child in Islamic law. Muslim jurists have given extensive treatment to this topic, for example
Al-Mawardi Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Muḥammad al-Māwardī (), known in Latin as Alboacen (972–1058 CE), was an Islamic jurist of the Shafi'i school most remembered for his works on religion, government, the caliphate, and public and constitutional law ...
(d. 1058) wrote an entire treatise ''Kitab al-rada'' on the topic of breastfeeding. This includes the specifics related to the right of being breastfed, as well as implications of breastfeeding on prohibiting marriage between individuals related by milk kinship.


Right to breastfeeding

The right to be breastfed is considered one of the most important rights of a child in Islamic law. If the mother is unable to breastfeed the child, then the father must pay a wet nurse to do so. If the parents of the child are divorced, the father must compensate his former wife with payments during breastfeeding. The Jafaris further opine that a mother has the right to compensation for breastfeeding even if the parents are married. However, the Sunni schools of thought disagree, arguing the father is not obligated to pay the mother if the two are divorced; the wife already has the right to maintenance (food and clothing) under Islamic law. Some opinions hold that a mother has the right to breastfeed her children, but can choose not to if she wishes. This is an extension of the general principle, in Islamic law, that a mother has the right to raise her children, but she may renounce this right as it is not her duty.


Milk kinship for infants

The Qur'an regards breastfeeding to establish milk kinship which has implications for marriage. Islamic jurisprudence extensively discusses the precise delineation of which relationships are subject to prohibition once the milk relationship is established. Shi'ite Islam also prohibits marriage to the consanguineous kin of a milk-parent as per the Qur'an. In Shi'ite societies, the wet nurse was always from a subordinate group, so that marriage to her kin would not have been likely. Texts mentioned that
Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
, founder of the
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
school of jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
, also dealt with similar questions. The minimum number of sucklings necessary to establish the milk-kinship, has been the subject of extensive debate. For the adherents of older schools of law, such as the
Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
s and
Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named aft ...
s, one suckling was enough. Others, such as the
Shafiʿi The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
s, maintain that the minimum number was five or ten, arguing that a
Qur'ān The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sin ...
ic verse had once stipulated this number until had been abrogated from the Qur'ānic text, but the ruling was still in place. Imam Malik, however, believed that the ruling was abrogated along with the wording.


Adult suckling

The following tradition (''
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
'') treats both this topic as well as that of ''radāʿ al-kabīr'', or suckling of an adult or breastfeeding an adult and number of sucklings: For most jurists (
Ibn Hazm Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
being one prominent exception), the bar to marriage was effective only if the nursling was an infant. Yet even these allowed that a new relationship resulted between the two;
Ibn Rushd Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, ...
, for example, ruled that the woman could now comport herself more freely in front of the nursed adult male, such as appearing before him unveiled. The famous traditionist
Muhammad al-Bukhari Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
was forced to resign his position of ''
mufti A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important rol ...
'' and leave the city of
Bukhara Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
after ruling that two nurslings who suckled from the same farm animal became milk-siblings.Giladi, ''Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses'', p. 69 In May 2007, Dr. Izzat Atiyya, lecturer at
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
's Al-Azhar University, issued a '' fatwa'' that suggested that male and female colleagues could use breastfeeding to get around a religious ban on being alone together. The ''fatwa'' said that if a woman fed a male colleague "directly from her breast" at least five times they would establish a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work. "Breast feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage," he ruled. "A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breastfed."
Breastfeeding fatwa causes stir
'. BBC. May 22, 2007.
The ''fatwa'' sparked outrage and embarrassment, with critics deriding the author on
Egyptian television Television in Egypt is mainly received through free satellite, while analog terrestrial represents 41% of total viewers. The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said the average time an Egyptian spends watching televisio ...
. The university suspended the lecturer, who headed the university's ''
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
'' department. The ''fatwa'' was widely publicized by Arabic-language
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
channels and was discussed in the
Egyptian parliament The Parliament of Egypt is the bicameral legislature of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is composed of an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Representatives). The Parliament is located in Cairo, Egypt's capital. Under th ...
.
Lecturer suspended after breastfeeding fatwa
'. Reuters. May 21, 2007.
After being threatened with disciplinary action by the university, Atiyya issued a retraction, saying the ''fatwa'' was "a bad interpretation of a particular case" during the time of Muhammad and that it was based on the opinions of only a minority of scholars. Egypt's minister of religious affairs, Mahmoud Zaqzouq, has called for future ''fatwas'' to "be compatible with logic and human nature". In 2010, a clerical adviser to the Saudi royal court and Ministry of Justice issued a fatwa suggesting that women should provide breast milk to their employed drivers thereby making them relatives. The driver could then be trusted to be alone with the woman. The fatwa was ridiculed by women campaigners.


See also

*
Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
**
Islamic marital jurisprudence In Islamic law (''sharia''), marriage (''nikāḥ'' نکاح) is a legal and social contract between two individuals. Marriage is an act of Islam and is strongly recommended.http://www.onislam.net/english/ask-about-islam/ethics-and-values/muslim-c ...
**
Mahram In Islam, a ''mahram'' is a family member with whom marriage would be considered permanently unlawful (''haram''). One's spouse is also a mahram. A woman does not need to wear hijab around her mahram, and an adult male mahram may escort a woman ...
*
Islam and children The topic of Islam and children includes the rights of children in Islam, the duties of children towards their parents, and the rights of parents over their children, both biological and foster children. Also discussed are some of the differen ...
*
Islamic feminism Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and soci ...
*
Women and Islam The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree a ...
*
Milk kinship Milk kinship, formed during nursing by a non-biological mother, was a form of fostering allegiance with fellow community members. This particular form of kinship did not exclude particular groups, such that Social class, class and other hierarcha ...


References


Further reading

* * * {{cite book , last=Giladi , first=Avner , title=Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications , publisher=
Brill Academic Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...
, year=1999 , isbn=90-04-11223-5 Islamic jurisprudence Fatwas Islam-related controversies Breastfeeding Kinship and descent Islamic terminology Wet nursing