“Malj means sucking: one says that a child malaja his mother—that is, he suckles from her; and malija-hā likewise means that he suckled from her.

“A maljah is one instance, and an imlājah likewise is one instance, from the expression, ‘His mother amlajat-hu’—that is, she breastfed him. This means that one suck or two do not establish the prohibition established by complete nursing.”

I say: This hadith is one of the many proofs that a small amount of nursing does not establish a prohibitive foster relationship. Given their authenticity, these reports are valid for qualifying the purport of Allah’s saying:

“And your mothers who nursed you, and your sisters through nursing.”
[al-Nisāʾ 4:23]

Just as the verse is qualified by the Sunnah to mean that nursing has legal effect only within the first two years, it is likewise qualified by this hadith and others. So do not be misled by what the Hanafis have explicitly stated—especially Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ in Aḥkām al-Qurʾān (2/124):

“In our view, it is not permissible to accept non-mutawātir reports to qualify the ruling of the verse that establishes prohibition on the basis of a small amount of nursing ...”

For they do not consistently adhere to this in many of their subsidiary rulings—and rightly so. For example, they prohibit silver, gold, and silk for men, despite this conflicting with the general meaning of Allah’s saying:

“Say, ‘Who has forbidden Allah’s adornment, which He has brought forth for His servants, and the wholesome provisions?’”
[al-Aʿrāf 7:32]

There are many such examples, but this is not the place to discuss them. A perceptive person needs only a hint. *

Examples of the Heroism of the Female Companions

3260—(“O Umm Sulaym, Allah has spared us and dealt graciously with us.”)

Aḥmad (3/286) and Isḥāq ibn Rāhūyah in his Musnad (4/15/1) both narrated it, saying: ʿAffān narrated to us; Ḥammād narrated to us; Ḥammād said: Thābit informed us, from Anas: