QUESTION RELATED TO OUR LAST FIQH CLASS (1):
8 July 2025 • 1.68K views
QUESTION: I understand what has been mentioned in the 2 lines of poetry. The relatives of the person who was breastfed (the child) they are strangers to the breastfeeding mother except the children of the breastfed child. Does that directly mean the relatives of the mother become relatives of the children of the breastfed child? Could you confirm if my understanding is correct?
Example: A mother breastfed child A. He becomes her son through breastfeeding. Since all relatives of the mother become his relatives her blood sons become his brothers through breastfeeding.
Now, child A has got a daughter B. Are the brothers through breastfeeding of child A uncles of the daughter B? So would they become maharim of daughter B? And is there any exception?
ANSWER:
Yes — your understanding is correct. The relationships formed by breastfeeding affect the breastfed child and his descendants.
Explanation with Your Example:
If the woman breastfed Child A (5 times or more while he was under the age of 2) → She becomes his milk-mother, and her biological children become his milk-siblings.
Child A’s daughter (B) → She is the daughter of the milk-son.
Now, the question: Are the milk-brothers of A (i.e., the biological sons of the woman who breastfed A) maḥārim to A's daughter (B)?
Yes, they are maḥārim to her, because the milk-siblings of the breastfed child (Child A) become maḥārim not just to him, but to his descendants as well.
Therefore, Child A’s daughter (B) cannot marry her father’s milk-brother.
And yes, they become her uncles through breastfeeding, just like blood uncles.
The evidence for this is the hadith if Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet ﷺ was asked about marrying the daughter of Hamza, and he ﷺ replied: "She is not lawful for me (to marry)," and then explained why by saying: "She is the daughter of my brother through breastfeeding."
Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib was the Prophet’s ﷺ brother through breastfeeding. So, if Hamza is his brother in that way, then Hamza’s daughter is like his niece — and he is like her uncle.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "She is the daughter of my brother through breastfeeding. What is forbidden through lineage is also forbidden through breastfeeding."