He replied:

There is well-known disagreement on this issue within al-Shāfi‘ī’s school. According to the well-known position reported from Ahmad, nothing short of five breastfeedings establishes a marriage prohibition. This is based on the aforementioned hadith of ‘Ā’ishah and the hadith concerning Sālim, the freedman of Abū Hudhayfah, in which:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed the wife of Abū Hudhayfah ibn ‘Utbah ibn Abī Rabī‘ah to breastfeed him five times.”

This is also recorded in the Sahīh. Thus, fewer than five breastfeedings do not establish a marriage prohibition; five are required.

Another view holds that three or more establish a marriage prohibition. This is the position of a group of scholars, including Abū Thawr and others, and is also one position reported from Ahmad. They cite the following report in the Sahīh:

“Neither one suck nor two, nor one suckling nor two, establishes a marriage prohibition.”

They say that this implies that three establish a marriage prohibition. These scholars did not rely on the hadith of ‘Ā’ishah, explaining: “A passage can only be established as Quran through mass transmission, and this report has not been transmitted in that manner.”

The proponents of the first view responded: “We have two authentic hadiths affirming this ruling. One of them conveys two things: a ruling and its status as Quran. The ruling can be established through authentic reports. As for its status as Quran, we neither establish that nor regard it as Quran; rather, its text was abrogated while its ruling remained in force.”

The others replied: “This is inconsistent, and according to al-Shāfi‘ī it is a non-canonical reading. He holds that a non-canonical reading cannot be used as evidence because it has not been established through mass transmission, such as the reading of