through mistaken assumption, and she subsequently bears a child, the milk is attributed to whichever man the child is traced back to—whether that paternity is established by a lineage expert (qāʾif) or by any other means. The milk-relation is not severed from a husband who has died or divorced her, no matter how much time has passed, even if the milk once stopped and later returned. If she later marries another man and bears his child, the milk that appears after that delivery is attributed to the second husband, while anything that appeared before the birth remains the first husband’s—regardless of whether the second husband had or had not consummated the marriage when the milk of the second pregnancy first appeared. One opinion, however, attaches the milk entirely to the second husband; another divides it between both men.

Section

If a man is married to a minor girl and she is breast-fed by his mother, sister, or another of his wives, the marriage is annulled. The minor receives half of her named dower, and the husband may reclaim from the wet-nurse half of an equivalent mahr; another opinion entitles him to the full amount. Should the girl suckle from a woman who is asleep, the nurse owes neither indemnity nor dower.

If he is married at the same time to an adult and a minor, and the adult’s mother nurses the minor, the minor’s marriage is dissolved, and so—according to the more evident view—is that of the adult wife. The husband may then remarry whichever of the two he wishes. The ruling on the minor’s mahr and the nurse’s liability is as stated above, and the same applies to the adult wife if he has not cohabited with her; if he has, the stronger view is that he may claim from the nurse a mahr equivalent to hers.

If the adult wife’s daughter nurses the minor, the adult wife becomes forever forbidden to him, and so does the minor if the adult wife had already been cohabited with.

If he was married to a minor, divorced her, and then some woman breast-fed the girl, that woman becomes the mother of his (former) wife. Should his divorcee marry a young boy and breast-feed him with milk attributable to the former husband, she becomes permanently unlawful to both the former husband and the boy.

If a man marries the mother of his child (an umm walad) to his own young slave, and she breast-feeds the slave with the master’s milk, she becomes forbidden both to the slave and to the master. Likewise, if a slave-girl with whom the master has had intercourse breast-feeds one of his minor wives—whether with milk attributable to him or to someone else—both the slave-girl and the minor wife become forbidden to him.

If a man is married to both a minor and an adult, and the adult breast-feeds the minor, both marriages are annulled; the adult becomes permanently forbidden to him, and so does the minor if the milk is attributed to him—otherwise she is merely a step-daughter.

If he is married to an adult and three minors, and the adult breast-feeds all three, she becomes permanently forbidden, and so do the minors if the nursing occurred with milk attributed to him or to someone else while she had already been cohabited with. If, however, she nursed them all simultaneously during their fifth suckling, the minors’ marriages are dissolved but they are not permanently forbidden; if she nursed them one after another, they are neither permanently forbidden nor does dissolution occur.