980 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: Sahlah bint Suhayl came and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Salim, the freedman of Abū Hudhayfah, lives with us in our house, and he has reached the age of men.” He ﷺ replied, “Breast-feed him; you will then be forbidden to him.” Narrated by Muslim (1).

• What is taken from the two ḥadiths:
  1 – The Prophet ﷺ instructs that one must investigate thoroughly in matters of suckling: is it the valid, legally effective nursing that occurs within the stipulated period? The ruling applies only to the kind of suckling through which flesh grows, bones develop, and the prohibition is established—namely, when the nursling is still a child whose hunger is satisfied by milk so that his flesh grows on it, becoming, as it were, part of the wet-nurse and sharing the same prohibition as her own children.
  2 – Hadith no. 980 indicates that nursing an adult is effective, that it has consequences, and that it produces the same degree of maḥram relationship and the same legal rulings that result from nursing a child. The detailed treatment of the scholarly disagreement on this point will follow, Allah willing.

• Scholarly disagreement:
  The scholars differed about the period of nursing that entails the prohibition. Their opinions are numerous, but those worthy of examination, discussion, and that are supported by evidence, amount to four views:
  The first: the nursing that is considered valid is only that which occurs within the first two lunar years.