Adult Suckling

Adult suckling (Arabic: رَضَاعَةُ الْكَبِيرِ), or the act of breastfeeding a male adult, is mentioned in several relied-upon collections of hadiths. According to five hadiths in Sahih Muslim, Muhammad once plainly instructed the daughter of a companion named Suhail to suckle a "grown-up" freedman named Salim so that Salim would become the daughter's mahram, or a relation whom the daughter could no longer marry, and thus render Salim's cohabitation with the family appropriate and legal.^[1] Reports in the Muwatta of Imam Malik^[2] and Sunan Abu Dawud^[3] add that this instruction was reified by a verse in the Qur'an, Islam's holy scripture, which was still present in the Qur'an after Muhammad's death, indicating that it had not been abrogated by Muhammad while he was alive. The report in Sunan Abu Dawud continues with Aisha, Muhammad's favorite wife, reporting that while she was "preoccupied with [Muhammad's] death", "a tame sheep came in and ate" the scrap of paper upon which the verse of "breastfeeding an adult" was written.

Translated literally, "mahram" means "that which is prohibited (haram)", which explains the phrasing used in the hadiths (e.g. "[he] would become unlawful for [her]"). The word mahram is used to refer to relations who one cannot marry. As a result of mahrams not being permitted to conceive of each other as marital/sexual prospects (e.g. a brother and sister), the female does not have to observe all the requirements of hijab and is permitted to be alone with a male.

Adult suckling in scripture

In the hadiths

An entire chapter in Sahih Muslim, containing six hadiths, is dedicated to the topic of "Breastfeeding an adult" (باب رَضَاعَةِ الْكَبِيرِ).^[4] The hadiths describes how, via suckling, an adult male can become a female's mahram and thus be allowed to accompany her in private.

Hadiths regarding adult suckling are also found in the Muwatta of Imam Malik, the Sunan of Ibn Majah, and the Musnad of Imam Ahmad.

Aisha's opinion vs. that of her co-wives

One of the six hadiths on adult suckling in Sahih Muslim describes Aisha as the individual who instructed Muhammad's companions to implement the practice sanctioned by Muhammad.

An account described in the Umm of Imam Shafi'i provides further detail, stating that Aisha in fact enforced the suckling requirement on all those who wanted to meet with her. Imam Shafi'i also describes how Aisha, presumably being quite busy after Muhammad's death, would have her sister Umm Kulthum suckle men who wanted to meet with Aisha in her place, since being the mahram of one person renders one the mahram of all of that person's sibling.

Against Aisha's view, Umm Salama and the remaining wives of Muhammad seemed to have considered the ruling given by Muhammad to be a special dispensation just for Salim and Suhail's daughter.^[8]

In the Qur'an

Accounts provided in the hadith agree that a verse requiring ten sucklings was revealed, followed by a verse requiring just five sucklings. The same hadiths detailing these verses state that the verse, having been written only upon a scrap of paper stored under Aisha's pillow, was lost after the death of Muhammad when a goat ate it.

al-Azhar fatwas

In 2007, Dr. Izzat Atiyya, the head of the hadith department at al-Azhar university (one of if the highest authorities in Sunni Islam today and the world's most renowned Islamic university - often described as the "Harvard of Islam"), issued a fatwa empowering Muslims to implement the practice of adult suckling to avoid the social and professional inconveniences generated by the requirements of female hijab. He encouraged that one should be breastfed by a woman's sisters or mother in order to attain mahram status if it was not possible for whatever reason to suckle the woman directly. He also encouraged that women who adopt children, since there is no legal recognition for adoption in Islamic law, ought to breastfeed their adopted sons, no matter their age, so that they can establish a legal mother-son relationship. The fatwa was published in al-Watani al-Yawm, a weekly newspaper published by Egypt's ruling National Democratic Front party, and explained by Dr. Atiyya in person during an interview with the publication. Dr. Atiyya repeatedly declared that the sources he quoted belonged to the Islamic holy texts with the highest possible authority. According to him no less than 90,000 contemporary scholars confirmed that the hadith referred to is authentic. Dr. Abd Al-Mahdi Abd Al-Qadir, another scholar at al-Azhar, wrote and published a book rendering similar ideas based on the same Islamic sources.

According to the Institut für Islamfragen in Germany there has been 60 books covering this subject published in Egypt alone. They are also stating that there were already foreign women renouncing Islam because of this discussion.

The Muslim Brotherhood criticized the fatwa harshly and took the matter to parliament, thus putting pressure on the Egyptian government. The leaders of Al-Azhar University rejected the fatwa as well and suspended Dr. Atiyya.

There are also discussions about the hadith quoted by Dr. Atiyya. Most scholars still regard it as authentic, but there are a few who are voicing their opinions that it may be fake. There has been increased efforts by political and religious authorities to stop the debate. However, this is not going to be an easy task since the quoted sources belong to the holiest texts of Islam. Therefore most political and religious leaders are calling for a thoughtful approach to the holy texts. They say that fatwas should agree with logic and common sense and ancient texts should not be “misused” for thrilling headlines.

Responses and criticisms thereof

Non-generalizable, case-specific instructions

Islam at its most basic form is the Qur'an and Sunnah of Muhammad. Islamic rules and regulations pertaining to all things originate from studying these texts and seeing how Muhammad dealt with them. Islamic jurists then apply these to modern-day situations. Here we find a woman came to Muhammad with a problem and he gave her instructions on how to solve it, i.e. how to make a non-mahram male into a mahram. There is absolutely nothing in the Sahih Muslim narration that would suggest this instruction was only limited to her, or to women in the exact same situation. The fact that the non-mahram was a freed slave who lived in the same house as her (as a foster member of the family) is inconsequential. And even if it were not, that would still mean it is permissible for a foster parent to suckle her adult foster child to make him a mahram. This in itself is disturbing.

External links

• Breastfeeding adults in Islam
• The Middle East Media Research Institute on Dr. Atiyyas Suspension and related matters (with many links)
• Islamic ‘Adult Breastfeeding’ Fatwas Return - , April 13, 2012 (archived), http://frontpagemag.com/2012/04/13/islamic-‘adult-breastfeeding’-fatwas-return/ 
• New Fatwa Calls on Men to Drink Women's Breast-Milk - June 4, 2010
• Blog with an article in Spanish
• Article in Arabic on Al Arabia online with more than 2400 comments
• Article about the matter on BBC
• A German article about the subject at the Institut für Islamfragen
• Another German article stating that many Muslimas leave Islam because of the fatwa

References