Question: I nursed a child—does that make him a mahram for my sister, so that she may appear before him uncovered?
Answer: If the nursing took place during the child’s first two lunar years and amounted to five distinct, clearly-known feedings, as mentioned in the prophetic reports, then he becomes a son to the wet-nurse, and her sister becomes his maternal aunt through milk-kinship. Accordingly, he is a mahram for both his milk-mother and his milk-aunt. These rulings, however, are conditional on the two requirements we have just stated:
- The nursing must be within the first two years, for the Prophet ﷺ said, “Breast-feeding is only valid during the hunger period,” and he ﷺ also said, “Nothing becomes unlawful through suckling except what fills the stomach and occurs before weaning.”
- It must consist of five separate feedings, as related by ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her): “Five known feedings render [marriage] unlawful, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away while that was still the ruling.”
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Question: My husband has a daughter from another wife, and that daughter has a son. Does the daughter’s son count as my mahram, so that I may uncover in his presence?
Answer: There is no objection to that, for you are his father’s wife—in fact, the wife of his maternal grandfather. Concerning such relations Allah the Exalted says, “And do not marry those women whom your fathers married” (Qurʾān 4:22). You are therefore the wife of one of his ascendants, and he is your mahram.