through breastfeeding to marry those whom one is forbidden to marry through birth.’”

If he marries her and consummates the marriage, they must be separated, without any disagreement among the imams. Allah knows best.

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

“A man has a female companion. He and her father were not breastfed together, but their younger siblings were. Is he permitted to marry her? If he consummates the marriage and is blessed with a child by her, what is the ruling concerning them? What do the scholars say about their situation?”

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. If he was not breastfed by her mother, nor she by his mother, but rather his siblings were breastfed by her mother and her siblings by his mother, then she is lawful for him to marry, by agreement of the Muslims. She is in the same position as the sister of his paternal half-brother.

Breastfeeding extends the prohibition of marriage to the breastfed child and his descendants, to the wet nurse, and to her husband whose intercourse with her caused her to produce milk. The wet nurse is his wife, and her children, whether born before or after the breastfeeding, become siblings of the breastfed child. The man becomes his father, and his children, whether born before or after the breastfeeding, become siblings of the breastfed child. As for the breastfed child’s biological siblings and parents, they have no kinship through breastfeeding with his parents or siblings through breastfeeding.

All of this is agreed upon among the Muslims, including the extension of the prohibition of marriage to the man. This is known as “the question of milk attributed to the husband.” What we have stated is the position of the four imams and the majority of the Companions and their successors.

Some of the early scholars held that milk attributed to the husband does not establish a prohibition of marriage. The authentic texts, however, confirm the position of the majority.