one suck or two,” according to the wording in al-Mudawwana. These conflicting versions therefore require that the report be rejected; hence al-Bukhārī did not include it, and Allah knows best. Ibn al-Zubayr likewise varied in his transmission of this hadith: sometimes he related it directly from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), sometimes through his father from the Prophet, and sometimes through ʿĀʾisha from the Prophet. It was therefore also rejected because of this discrepancy.

Likewise, ʿĀʾisha’s hadith cannot serve as valid proof:

“Among what Allah revealed in the Quran were ten specified nursing sessions that established a marriage prohibition. These were then abrogated by five specified nursing sessions, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) died while this was still among what was recited in the Quran.”

This is because she referred to the Quran regarding the five nursing sessions, yet they are not found in it. Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—therefore said: “This is not what is followed in practice.” Those who adopted the requirement of five nursing sessions said that this was among the passages whose text was abrogated while their ruling remained in force, like the verse concerning stoning.

This is not sound, however, because the Quran can only be abrogated by Allah Most High’s command, and abrogation can only occur during the Prophet’s lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him). After his death, nothing of the Quran could cease to be retained in people’s memories, for Allah Most High has declared that He preserves His mighty Book, saying:

“Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will preserve it.” [Al-Hijr: 9]

She herself reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) died while the five nursing sessions were still recited in the Quran. Had that been so, they would not have disappeared from the Quran. Perhaps, then, she meant that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) died while this was still recited among the abrogated portions of the Quran—that is, it was known to have been Quran whose text was subsequently abrogated while its ruling remained in force, like the verse concerning stoning, and like the other passages whose text and ruling were abrogated and which ceased to be retained in memory. This is a possible interpretation, since she did not say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) died while it was Quran. Rather, she said that he died while it was among what was recited in the Quran. She may therefore have meant that it was mentioned among the Quranic passages whose text had been abrogated. And Allah knows best.

Section

Breastfeeding establishes a marriage prohibition through the milk of Muslim or polytheist women, free women or slave women, whether dead or alive. This prohibition extends through both the mother and the man through whom the milk was produced, provided that the intercourse was lawful or took place under circumstances of legal uncertainty in which the child’s paternity is recognized. Scholars differed, however, where the intercourse was unlawful without any such uncertainty—as in fornication, or when a man knowingly marries a woman whom he may not lawfully marry. There are two views on whether a marriage prohibition is established through the man in such cases. Mālik—may Allah have mercy on him—used to