Adult Suckling: Difference between revisions

'''Adult suckling''' (Arabic: '''رَضَاعَةُ الْكَبِيرِ'''), or the act of breastfeeding a male adult, is mentioned in several relied-upon collections of [[Hadith|hadiths]]. According to a hadith narrated five times in Sahih Muslim, [[Muhammad]] once plainly instructed the daughter of a [[Sahabah|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 [[Shari'ah (Islamic Law)|legal]].<ref>[https://quranx.com/Hadith/Muslim/Reference/Hadith-1453 Sahih Muslim, hadiths 3424-3428]</ref> Reports in the Muwatta of Imam Malik<ref>{{Muwatta|30|3|17}}</ref> and Sunan Abu Dawud<ref>{{Ibn Majah|9|3|9|1944}}</ref> 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|Muhammad's death]], indicating that it had not been [[Naskh (Abrogation)|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.

In Islamic societies [[Sex Segregation in Islam|gender segregation]] is a common practice to help avoid any form of fornication or adultery. Thus men and women are not advised to stay in the same room if they are alone, and any adult woman is required to wear a veil in public. Though there are also some Islamic scholars who reject the need to wear a veil in public, it has become common practice in many Islamic countries and societies. In many cases scholars refer to the Surah of the Light:

{{Quote|{{Quran|24|31}}| '''YUSUF ALI''': And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.|}}

Thus, only if men and women are closely related or married is there no need for gender segregation and [[Hijab|hijab]]. However, it is obvious that the strict application of [[Islamic law]] may cause some trouble and difficulties to daily life, particularly concerning business. For example, if there is a small company employing a man and two women there maybe nothing wrong if they all work in the same room. However, if one of the two women happen to not show up for work (e.g, due to sickness) the remaining pair cannot work together any more. In many Islamic societies this would be strictly forbidden, and even if it were not, they could both face severe rebuke, rumours and tittle-tattles from their community.

==The Fatwa of an Al-Azhar scholar==

Here is where the head of the [[Hadith]] Department in Al-Azhar University, Dr. Izzat Atiyya comes into play. Its worth noting, that the Al-Azhar University in Kairo is considered to be the world´s most renowned Islamic university by all [[Sunni]] Muslims.  

Dr. Atiyya published a [[fatwa]]. According to this verdict the Islamic rules of gender segregation and veiling can be circumvented if a woman suckles a man. Alternatively, a man can also be breast-fed by a sister or the mother of a woman. The idea behind this ruling is that there is no law for adoption in many Islamic societies. However, a mother-son-relationship can be established by breast-feeding. The scholar of  Al-Azhar University explained his ruling in an interview given to Al-Watani Al-Yawm, a weekly newspaper published by Egypt's ruling National Democratic Front party. According to this interview it was the prophet himself who confirmed that a man and a woman are allowed to be together in private if the man had been previously breastfed by the woman. It must also be noted that Dr. Abd Al-Mahdi Abd Al-Qadir, another Al-Azhar scholar, wrote and published a book rendering similar ideas based on the same Islamic sources.

Here is a part of the text Dr. Atiyya referred to in an English translation:

{{Quote|{{Muslim|8|3425}}|'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hadhaifa, lived with him and his family in their house. She (i. e. the daughter of Suhail came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and said: Salim has attained (puberty) as men attain, and he understands what they understand, and he enters our house freely, I, however, perceive that something (rankles) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa, whereupon '''Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said to her: Suckle him and you would become unlawful for him''', and (the rankling) which Abu Hudhaifa feels in his heart will disappear. '''She returned and said: So I suckled him, and what (was there) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa disappeared'''.|}}

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. Further related texts:

{{Quote|{{Muslim|8|3424}}|A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Sahla bint Suhail came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be eupon him) and said:

Messengerof Allah, I see on the face of Abu Hudhaifa (signs of disgust) on entering of Salim (who is an ally) into (our house), whereupon Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) said: Suckle him. '''She said: How can I suckle him as he is a grown-up man? Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) smiled and said: I already know that he is a young man.''' 'Amr has made this addition in his narration: that he [Salim] participated in the Battle of Badr and in the narration of Ibn 'Umar (the words are): Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) laughed.}}

{{Quote|{{Muwatta|30|3|17}}|Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr ibn Hazm from Amra bint Abd ar-Rahman that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "'''Amongst what was sent down of the Qur'an was 'ten known sucklings make haram' - then it was abrogated by 'five known sucklings'.''' When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, it was what is now recited of the Qur'an."

Yahya said that Malik said, "One does not act on this."}}

{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah|9|3|9|1944}}|It was narrated that 'Aishah said:

“'''The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, and the paper was with me under my pillow.''' When the Messenger of Allah died, we were preoccupied with his death, and '''a tame sheep came in and ate it'''.” '''These verses were abrogated in recitation but not ruling.''' Other ahadith establish the number for fosterage to be 5.}}

 

{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah|9|3|9|1942}}|It was narrated that 'Aishah said:

“Once of the things that Allah revealed in the the Qur'an and then abrogated [the word translated as "abrogated" is سقط, which means "dropped"<ref>[http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=h496,ll=1426,ls=h5,la=h2037,sg=h517,ha=h337,br=h466,pr=h78,aan=h272,mgf=h431,vi=h193,kz=h1116,mr=h316,mn=h640,uqw=h781,umr=h509,ums=h430,umj=h372,ulq=h938,uqa=h200,uqq=h155,bdw=h435,amr=h309,asb=h460,auh=h756,dhq=h262,mht=h420,msb=h113,tla=h57,amj=h360,ens=h191,mis=h1035 Lane's Lexicon سقط]</ref> and not نسخ, which is the word used to refer to legal [[Abrogation|abrogation]]<ref>[http://ejtaal.net/aa/#hw4=h1141,ll=2886,ls=h54,la=h4406,sg=h1135,ha=h777,br=h958,pr=h155,aan=h662,mgf=h807,vi=h370,kz=h2649,mr=h721,mn=h1412,uqw=h1643,umr=h1073,ums=h905,umj=h842,ulq=h1662,uqa=h417,uqq=h393,bdw=h878,amr=h631,asb=h985,auh=h1607,dhq=h562,mht=h895,msb=h237,tla=h95,amj=h826,ens=h191,mis=h2189 Lane's Lexicon نسخ]</ref>, including by the Qur'an itself<ref>{{quran|2|106}}</ref>] was that '''nothing makes marriage prohibited except ten breastfeedings or five well-known (breastfeedings''').” (Sahih)}}