979 – ʿĀ’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “Consider carefully who your (foster) brothers are, for the breastfeeding that counts is only that which satisfies hunger.” Agreed upon (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
– unẓurna: the verb “to look” here means to think, ponder, and reflect; it is a command to investigate thoroughly and verify with the utmost care the issue of nursing—does it establish the legal prohibition?
– man: an interrogative pronoun in the accusative position, functioning as the direct object.
– fa-innamā al-raḍāʿah: the prefixed fāʾ is causal, linked to the statement “unẓurna man ikhwanukunna,” meaning that not everyone who nursed alongside you automatically becomes a brother; the condition is that the suckling be “from hunger.”
– al-raḍāʿah: derived from raḍaʿa – yarḍaʿu, raḍāʿan; it is the act of drawing milk that reappears after pregnancy from the breast of the wet nurse.
– al-majāʿah: with a fatḥah on both the mīm and jīm, signifying an empty stomach. Abū ʿUbayd explained that the prohibition applies to the child whose food, when hungry, is milk obtained through nursing; such suckling establishes the kinship barrier.