an indication of the reasoning underlying the imams’ positions on this issue. A full discussion would require more space than this sheet affords. This is among the best-known disputed issues. Disagreement over it dates back to the Companions: they—may Allah be pleased with them—differed over it, as did the Successors after them.

If, however, there is doubt whether the milk entered the child’s stomach, then undoubtedly we do not rule that a marriage prohibition has been established, even if it is known that the milk entered his mouth. By the agreement of the Muslims, milk merely entering the mouth does not establish a marriage prohibition.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

“Two sisters each have daughters and sons. If each sister breastfeeds the other’s daughters, do those daughters become forbidden in marriage to the sons?”

He replied:

If a woman breastfeeds a little girl five times within the girl’s first two years, the girl becomes her daughter. All the nursing woman’s children thus become siblings of the nursed girl, male and female alike, whether born before or after the breastfeeding. None of the nursing woman’s sons may therefore marry the nursed girl. The nursed girl’s brothers, however, may marry the nursing woman’s daughters, provided those daughters were not breastfed by the brothers’ mother. The marriage prohibition applies only to the nursed girl, not to