Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalaam Waaleykum,

I would like to ask you a strange question. What would be the consequences for a husband if he intentionally drinks the breast milk of his wife during sex with permission of wife to enjoy sex with her or after the child has satisfied himself? Does Quran or any authentic hadith prohibit directly husband from performing this act and would this act void his nikah? I have read your previous answers as well as other websites on Islam for similar questions but it seemed that none of them confirmed this act as a sin or invalidating nikah. But what would be the consequence if such acts are performed with each others consent which is not a part of the prohibited sex as stated clearly by ALLAH (swt) in Quran like forbidden to have sexual intercourse during her menstrual cycle or having anal sex.

Moreover I read that the ruling for breast feeding is that the effect of breastfeeding prohibits marriage and creates the relationship of mahram, and permits seeing and being alone (with the people to whom one is related through radaa’). For breastfeeding to have the effect of transmitting its benefits from the nursing woman to the child suckled, it must meet certain conditions, which are: The breastfeeding must happen within the first two years of the child’s life. The number of breastfeedings must total the known five feeds, in which the child eats his fill as if eating and drinking.

Also as per one hadith in al-Muwatta’ (2/603), Maalik reported that Ibn ‘Umar said: “There is no breastfeeding except for the one who is breastfed in infancy (Does this mean that breast feeding is prohibited for husbands?); there is no breastfeeding for one who is grown up.” (Does it means that the term breastfeeding is used only for babies to relieve their hunger and not for husbands to depend on breastfeeding for their hunger?).

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen was asked about this matter, and he replied: Breastfeeding a grown-up has no effect, because the breastfeeding which has an effect (of creating the relationship of mahram) is that which consists of five feedings or more within the first two years, before weaning. On this basis, if it happened that someone breastfed from his wife or drank her milk, he does not become her son. Fataawa Islamiyah, 3/338.

This means that husband is no longer mahram because at this point of time he is already married to his wife, therefore this ruling cannot be implemented on the husband. I feel this can be imposed on someone who is not married and wants to marry the one whose milk he drank and the foster relations which have automatically come into effect due to the milk.

Also I feel that during sex, a woman enjoys being touched, fondled, kissed and sucked her body, so whats harm if the couple enjoys this activity if it leads them to come more closer and love each other. There may be some cases (ALLAH knows the best) wherein some women who wouldnt allow this activity due to lack of knowledge or fear about invalidation of nikah may have infuriated their husband leading to distance in relations because a husband tends to be more frustated and loses interest in his wife if she doesn’t permit something during sex. Moreover, some things are unstoppable and natural in during sex and a person hardly cares but if limits are known to us, both husband and wife can enjoy sexual pleasures to their extreme. Also as per one hadith I read, if a husband satisfies his wife and vice-versa in a halaal way, then it is also a sawab for both of them.

Although these are my mere assumptions and findings which still need more explanation in the light of Quran and Hadith, I would appreciate if you would be crystal clear while answering yes or no or if some conditions are involved for my above question.

I would beg apology from ALLAH (swt) for me as well as for all my muslim brothers who have committed, if this were a sin in front of Him. If not, then may ALLAH help us all to love our wife, be loyal to them and enjoy all the pleasures within the boundary set in Islam to maintain close relation between husband and wife.

Jazaak-ALLAH

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Sucking Wife breast

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: What would be the consequences for a husband if he intentionally drinks the breast milk of his wife during sex with permission of wife to enjoy sex with her

There is absolutely no harm or restriction in Islam if the husband wishes to touch, play, kiss, or suck the breasts of his wife. If the husband happens to taste the milk from his wife’s breast accidentally or voluntary, there is absolutely no harm and does not effect their relationship in the least.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 3173 Narrated by Umm Salamah

Allah's Messenger (saws) said, "The only suckling which makes marriage unlawful is that which is taken from the breast and enters the bowels, and is taken before the time of weaning."

Your Question: Does Quran or any authentic hadith prohibit directly husband from performing this act and would this act void his nikah?

Al-Muwatta Hadith 30.11

Yahya related from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said that he heard Said ibn al-Musayyab say, "Suckling is only while the child is in the cradle. If not, it does not cause flesh and blood relations."

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "Suckling, however little or much when it is in the first two years, makes haram. As for what is after the first two years, little or much, it does not make anything haram. It is like food."

Al-Muwatta Hadith Hadith 30.14

Yahya related from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Abdullah ibn Masud said, "There is only kinship by suckling in the first two years."

The noble companions of the Prophet (saws) and the early generation of scholars in Islam were unanimous in their opinion that if the husband accidentally or voluntarily tastes the milk of his wife, it has absolutely no bearing on the validity of their Nikaah. Drinking of a woman’s milk forms foster-relations only when an infant sucks the breast of a woman in its age of weaning, which in Shairah is upto two years.

Your Question: I have read your previous answers as well as other websites on Islam for similar questions but it seemed that none of them confirmed this act as a sin or invalidating nikah.

The scholars of all the major schools of thought are unanimous in their opinion that regardless of whether the husbands tastes the milk of his wife voluntarily or unintentionally, there is absolutely no harm, no sin, and this act does not invalidate the nikah of the couple in any way whatsoever.

Your Statement: Moreover I read that the ruling for breast feeding is that the effect of breastfeeding prohibits marriage and creates the relationship of mahram, and permits seeing and being alone (with the people to whom one is related through radaa’).

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 23:

23 Prohibited to you (for marriage) are: your mother, daughters, sisters, father's sisters, mother's sisters, brother's daughters, sister's daughters, foster-mothers (who gave you suck), foster-sisters, your wives' mothers, your step-daughters under your guardianship born of your wives to whom ye have gone in no prohibition if ye have not gone in, (those who have been) wives of your sons proceeding from your loins, and two sisters in wedlock at one and the same time except for what is past; for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

All who are born or have shared suck from a common woman during their age of infancy will be bonded in a foster-relationship with each other according to Shariah Law, and they will be considered ‘mehrams’ to each other. All the Shariah laws that apply to mehrams related by blood will also apply to the mehrams related by suck.

Your Statement: For breastfeeding to have the effect of transmitting its benefits from the nursing woman to the child suckled, it must meet certain conditions, which are:

The breastfeeding must happen within the first two years of the child’s life.

The number of breastfeedings must total the known five feeds, in which the child eats his fill as if eating and drinking.

The foster relationships are only formed if an infant is given suck during its age of weaning or before two years of age; and there is absolutely no condition that the infant must have had five feeds or has had its full. Even a drop of milk which reaches the bowel of the infant will be enough to form a foster relationship.

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "Suckling, however little or much when it is in the first two years, makes haram.”

Your Question: Also as per one hadith in al-Muwatta’ (2/603), Maalik reported that Ibn ‘Umar said: “There is no breastfeeding except for the one who is breastfed in infancy (Does this mean that breast feeding is prohibited for husbands?); there is no breastfeeding for one who is grown up.” (Does it means that the term breastfeeding is used only for babies to relieve their hunger and not for husbands to depend on breastfeeding for their hunger?).

The statement of Hadrat Ibn Umar (r.a.) ‘there is no breastfeeding except for the one who is breastfed in infancy’ only means to imply and clarify that there is no forster relation or kinship formed by suck, except for the one who is given suck in its infancy. Under no circumstances does this statement imply any prohibition for a husband to suck his wife’s breasts, if he wishes to do so.

The second statement “there is no breastfeeding for one who is grown up” is a further clarification of the law that if any above the age of weaning is given suck, it would not form a foster relationship with the woman giving the suck.

The implications of these statements of Hadrat Ibn Umar (r.a.) were only to clarify the age for formation of a foster relationship; and never to declare what food is lawful/unlawful to whom! To declare whether any food as haraam or halaal is the sole right of Allah and His Messenger (saws) alone!

Your Statement: Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen was asked about this matter, and he replied: Breastfeeding a grown-up has no effect, because the breastfeeding which has an effect (of creating the relationship of mahram) is that which consists of five feedings or more within the first two years, before weaning. On this basis, if it happened that someone breastfed from his wife or drank her milk, he does not become her son. Fataawa Islamiyah, 3/338.

I am neither qualified nor anywhere near the same league of knowledge and ‘taqwa’ of the eminent and acknowledged scholar of Islamic Law, Shaikh Muhammad al-Uthaymeen. Allah Alone Knows best on what evidence from the Quran or Sunnah did the eminent and knowledgeable Shaikh base his opinion in his ruling that one is required five feedings or more to form a foster relationship.

There is enough evidence in the recorded hadiths of eminent companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws) and especially the opinion of Imam Malik, on whose opinions and rulings one of the four major madhabs (the ‘Maliki’ school of thought) of Islam is based, who recorded in his collection of ‘Muwatta’ that:

Al-Muwatta Hadith 30.11 (part)

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "Suckling, however little or much when it is in the first two years, makes haram. As for what is after the first two years, little or much, it does not make anything haram. It is like food."

We reiterate again that we have immense respect for the works and opinions of our brother, teacher and a truly eminent scholar of Islam, Shaikh Muhammad al-Uthaymeen; and the only reason we humbly differ from his opinion that one is required at least five feeds to form a foster relationship is because we do not have knowledge of the evidence which prompted the eminent Shaikh to declare this ruling.

It may be that Shaykh al-Uthaymeen based his ruling on this report from Hadrat Aisha which is recorded in the ‘Muwatta’ of Imam Malik, but Imam Malik himself states in his commentary that this ruling is one which is not acted upon.

Al-Muwatta Hadith 30.17

Yahya related from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr ibn Hazm from Amra bint Abd ar-Rahman that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet (saws) 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 (saws) died, it was what is now recited of the Qur'an."

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

And Allah Subhanah Alone Knows Best.

Your Question: but if limits are known to us, both husband and wife can enjoy sexual pleasures to their extreme.

In light of clear guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah, Islam has allowed the husband and the wife in marriage every possible liberty to enjoy conjugal relations with each other, except three:

1. It is strictly prohibited to have sexual intercourse with one’s wife during her period of menstruation.
2. It is strictly prohibited to enter the woman through her anus.
3. Although there is no specific prohibition mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, the majority of the scholars in Islam have voiced their opinion against ‘oral’ sex, whereby one touches the other’s private organs with their mouth.

Other than the above three restrictions, one may enjoy conjugal relations with one’s wife any place, any time, and any way their heart’s desire.

Your Statement: Also as per one hadith I read, if a husband satisfies his wife and vice-versa in a halaal way, then it is also a sawab for both of them.

Abu Dhar al-Ghafari reported: ‘The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “there is a reward for you [even] in sex with your wife."’ The companions asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah (saws) is there a reward if one satisfies his passion?" He (saws) said: "Do you know that if he satisfies it unlawfully he has taken a sin upon himself? Likewise, if he satisfies it lawfully, he is rewarded."

Related by Ahmad and Muslim.

Indeed, if one satisfies his/her passion lawfully, they shall have their due and full reward from their Lord Most Gracious, Most Generous from staying within His Declared Boundaries.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan