Islamic Manual

Who you cannot marry: fosterage (breastfeeding)

Breastfeeding within the first two years creates a family bond that prohibits marriage in the same way blood kinship does.

When a baby drinks a woman's milk, called breastfeeding, called rada'ah, it creates a family bond almost like being born into that family, even though there is no blood relation.

Who becomes family through breastfeeding

  1. The woman who breastfeeds the baby becomes its foster mother.
  2. Her husband, whose marriage to her led to the milk, becomes the baby's foster father.
  3. Any other children who drank milk from the same woman become the baby's foster brothers and sisters.
  4. The foster mother and father's own parents become the baby's foster grandparents.

Because of this bond, the same people a child cannot marry because of blood (a mother, sister, daughter, aunt, niece), a child also cannot marry if the same relationship exists through breastfeeding instead.

The Third Cause: Radha'ah (breastfeeding). A child drinking a woman's milk within the prescribed time frame establishes a kinship similar to lineage. The woman becomes the child's foster mother; her husband, on whose account the milk was produced, becomes the foster father; other children who drank her milk (before, with, or after the child) become foster siblings; and the parents of the foster parents become foster grandparents.

Wherever fosterage creates the same relationship that lineage prohibits, marriage is prohibited on the same terms.

Prohibited by fosterage (radha'ah)
By blood, prohibited as Prohibited foster equivalent
Mother, grandmother Foster mother, foster maternal and paternal grandmothers
Daughter, granddaughter Foster daughter, foster granddaughters (maternal or paternal)
Sister Foster sister
Paternal aunt Foster paternal aunt
Maternal aunt Foster maternal aunt
Niece (brother's or sister's daughter) Foster niece

The foster father's own wife, and the foster in-laws and foster ascendants or descendants of a spouse created through fosterage, are prohibited on the same basis as their blood equivalents. Relations with no fosterage connection at all (such as the breastfed child's biological father and the foster mother) remain unprohibited, as does anyone whose relation to the child is only as permissible in lineage as a cousin.

Some foster relationships that would be prohibited if they existed by blood are, by exception, permitted: for example, the foster mother of one's biological siblings, the foster sister of one's own sons or daughters, and the foster paternal or maternal aunt of one's siblings or of one's own children. Nikah with all such foster relatives is permissible.

Conditions for the prohibition to be established

  1. The child must be two years old or younger at the time of the feeding; nothing drunk after that age creates the bond.
  2. At least one drop of milk must pass down the throat; if the milk is vomited straight back up afterwards, the bond is still established.
  3. The milk must reach the stomach through the mouth or nose; an injection, an enema, or milk entering through the ears does not count.
  4. The milk must come from a woman of any age, living or deceased; milk from a man's chest, or from an animal, never creates this bond.
  5. The nursing woman must be at least nine years old, and the milk must not be yellowish; whether it came from childbirth or appeared on its own does not matter.
  6. If the milk is mixed with something else, such as medicine or water, the milk must still be the larger part of the mixture; mixed into food in any proportion, it no longer creates the bond.
  7. The milk must be given in its natural state, direct from the breast or expressed unchanged; turned into curd or another derivative first, it no longer creates the bond.

The Third Cause (Raḍāʿah): a child drinking a woman's milk within the prescribed period establishes a kinship (qarābah) parallel to nasab. The nursing woman becomes the child's foster mother (umm min ar-raḍāʿah); her husband, on whose account the milk was produced, becomes the foster father; every other child who drank that milk (whether contemporaneously, before, or after) becomes a foster sibling; and the ascendants of the foster parents become foster grandparents.

Prohibited by fosterage (raḍāʿah)
Prohibited by qarābah as Prohibited foster equivalent
Mother, grandmother (uṣūl) Umm raḍāʿī, and foster maternal and paternal grandmothers up to the last link
Daughter, granddaughter (furūʿ) Bint raḍāʿī, and foster granddaughters (maternal or paternal) up to the last link
Sister Ukht raḍāʿiyyah
Paternal aunt ʿAmmah raḍāʿiyyah
Maternal aunt Khālah raḍāʿiyyah
Niece (brother's or sister's daughter) Foster niece and her descendants

Muṣāharah created through raḍāʿah is likewise recognised: a foster father's own wife, and the foster in-laws or foster uṣūl/furūʿ of a spouse arising from raḍāʿah, are prohibited on the same terms as their blood equivalents. Where no foster relation is created at all (the breastfed child's biological father and the foster mother, for instance), no prohibition arises, and offspring of a foster aunt or uncle remain as unprohibited as their nasab counterparts.

Conditions for the prohibition of raḍāʿah to be established

  1. The rāḍiʿ (nursing child) must be two years of age or under at the time of the feeding; beyond that age no foster relation is established, and nursing beyond the prescribed period is itself discouraged, milk being the child's exclusive right within that period.
  2. At least a single drop of milk must reach the throat and be swallowed; sucking without any milk reaching the throat establishes nothing. Where the milk is swallowed and then vomited immediately after, the relation is nonetheless established.
  3. The milk must reach the stomach via the mouth or nose; introduction through the ear, by injection, or by enema does not establish the relation.
  4. The milk must come from a woman of any age, living or deceased (a deceased woman's milk still establishes the relation); milk from a man's chest establishes nothing even if drunk.
  5. The nursing woman must be at least nine years old, and the milk must not be yellowish; whether the milk resulted from childbirth or appeared spontaneously makes no difference.
  6. Animal milk (cow, buffalo, goat) establishes no relation, even where both a boy and a girl drink it within the raḍāʿah period.
  7. Where the milk is mixed with another substance such as medicine or water, the milk must remain the ghālib (predominant) component. Mixed into any food, in any proportion, it establishes nothing.
  8. The milk must be consumed in its unaltered state: directly from the breast, or expressed without modification. Turned into curd or another derivative before being fed, it establishes nothing even if consumed.

Terms on this page

radhaah

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