987 – ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he married Umm Yaḥyā bint Abī Ihāb. A woman then came forward and said, “I nursed both of you.” So he consulted the Prophet ﷺ, who said, “How can you stay with her when it has been said (that she is your milk-sister)?” ʿUqbah therefore separated from her, and she later married another man. Recorded by al-Bukhārī (1).
Vocabulary Notes
• ʿUqbah: with ḍammah on the initial ʿayn, sukrūn on the qāf, and fatḥah on the bāʾ; he is ʿUqbah ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿĀmir ibn ʿAdī ibn Nawfal ibn ʿAbd Manāf, of Quraysh.
• Abī Ihāb: with kasrah on the hamzah. The woman’s name was Ghunayyah bint Abī Ihāb.
• arḍaʿtukumā (“I nursed both of you”): from the verb raḍaʿa, “to breastfeed.” The Quran says, “to complete the term of suckling.” The nursing child is called a rāḍiʿ or raḍīʿ; the plural is ruḍḍaʿ, like rākʿ and rukkaʿ, or ruḍḍāʿ, like kāfir and kuffār.
• kayfa (“how”): an adverb, here expressing astonishment and disapproval.
• wa-qad qīla (“when it has been said”): a circumstantial clause; the implied sense is, “How can you remain her husband when it has been said that you are her brother?”—meaning the matter is remote and impermissible.
Lessons Drawn from the Ḥadīth
- Suckling renders the same persons unlawful for marriage as blood-kinship does, as stated in the authentic narration, “Whatever is forbidden because of lineage is likewise forbidden because of suckling.”