“Among what was revealed of the Quran were ten well-known nursings that made marriage unlawful; they were then abrogated by five well-known nursings, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away while these five were still being recited as part of the Quran.”

Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim likewise relates the story of Sahlah bint Suhayl, the wife of Abū Ḥudhayfah. She said, “We used to regard Sālim as our son. He would stay with me and with Abū Ḥudhayfah in the same house, and he would see me uncovered. Allah has now revealed concerning them what you know, so what is your ruling about him?” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Breastfeed him.” She therefore breastfed him five times, and he thereafter held the status of her son through suckling.

This group then addressed the proofs of the first two groups:

• As for those who say that any amount, small or large, makes marriage unlawful, their position is countered by the sound hadith already cited: “A single suckling or two do not make marriage unlawful.”

• As for the proponents of three nursings, their evidence is based on implication, whereas an explicit text takes precedence over an inferred meaning. Acting on the hadiths that prescribe five nursings reconciles all the reports.

Note

What counts as a single nursing, and how is it measured?

The Lawgiver used the term “nursing” without qualification, leaving it to what people customarily regard as one nursing. Linguistically, a nursing is a single occasion of suckling, just as “a meal” is a single occasion of eating and “a drink” a single occasion of drinking.

People do not call something “a meal” unless it is a complete sitting, even if the eater stands up briefly, becomes slightly occupied, or is momentarily interrupted and then returns to finish—because the meal is not yet complete. The same principle applies to a nursing.

The sound view, therefore, is that a nursing is not counted unless the child nurses and then stops of his own accord, with no external interruption or distraction, satisfied and full. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī, the second narration from Imām Aḥmad, the view championed by Ibn al-Qayyim in Al-Hady, and the choice of our teacher ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Āl Saʿdī.

If, however, the wet-nurse moves the infant from one breast to the other, or something distracts him so that he stops, such a suckling does not count as a separate nursing.

The scholars have differed about the period of suckling that produces the prohibition, and although several opinions exist, four of them merit discussion on evidentiary grounds:

1. The effective suckling is only that which occurs within the first two lunar years.

2. The effective suckling is whatever occurs during infancy, without fixing a specific time limit.