🧒 Raising children (tarbiyah) · #41
Can an adopted child be breastfed so as to become a mahram to the adoptive family? What are the conditions?
Yes, and this is widely practised in Malaysia; according to the Shafi'i school the breastfeeding must be at least five filling feeds and take place before the baby reaches two lunar years.
The Quran names foster mothers and foster siblings as mahram (an-Nisa' 4:23), and the full nursing period is two years (al-Baqarah 2:233). ʿAisha r.a. narrated that the verse on five known feeds is the basis of the Shafi'i view (Sahih Muslim, Kitab ar-Radha'). The breastfeeding can be done by the adoptive mother after treatment to induce lactation, or by her sister so the child becomes her foster nephew or niece. Expressed milk that the baby drinks also counts in the Shafi'i school. Record the dates and number of feeds and seek advice from the state religious office. Breastfeeding creates a mahram relationship, but it does not change lineage or give a right to faraid. See Mahram.
The Quran names foster mothers and foster siblings as mahram (an-Nisa' 4:23), and the full nursing period is two years (al-Baqarah 2:233). ʿAisha r.a. narrated that the verse on five known feeds is the basis of the Shafi'i view (Sahih Muslim, Kitab ar-Radha'). The breastfeeding can be done by the adoptive mother after treatment to induce lactation, or by her sister so the child becomes her foster nephew or niece. Expressed milk that the baby drinks also counts in the Shafi'i school. Record the dates and number of feeds and seek advice from the state religious office. Breastfeeding creates a mahram relationship, but it does not change lineage or give a right to faraid. See Mahram.
Difference between schools. The Hanafi and Maliki schools hold that any amount of breastfeeding within the nursing period creates a mahram relationship.
Sources
Surah an-Nisa' 4:23Surah al-Baqarah 2:233Sahih Muslim, Kitab ar-Radha'