Breastfeeding Prohibits Marriage

Aishah to narrated, "The Prophet said,
"Whoever is unmarriageable due to birth (blood relations) is also unmarriageable due to breastfeeding. "I Ibn 'Abbâs de narrated, "The Messenger of Allah was asked to marry the daughter of Hamzah (his cousin and foster brother), he said,
“She is unmarriageable to me because she is the daughter of my foster brother. Whoever is unmarriageable because of blood relations is also unmarriageable because of breastfeeding. ' Reported by Muslim, hadîth no. 3569. 2 Reported by al-Bukhârî, hadîth no. 2451.

Explanation of the Hadith

And the hadîth saying,
"Whoever is unmarriageable due to birth (blood relations), is also The Messenger of Allah determined the period of breastfeeding to be the first two years of age, as he said,
"Prohibition of marriage due to breastfeeding only applies to infants during the first two years of age."
That is why Muslim scholars said that the only breastfeeding, which prohibits marriage, is only that which takes place in the first two years.
This is emphasized by other ahâdîth of the Prophet as he said,
“The only breastfeeding which makes marriage unlawful is that which strengthens the bones and lets the flesh grow."

In another narration, "and was before feeding." Proper food is normally given to children after weaning, i.e. two years after birth, as Allah the Almighty says,
(And mothers should suckle their children for two complete years for those who desire to complete the suckling [period] ...) (Al-Baqarah: 233)
As for the quantity of a breastfeed, which prohibits marriage, some say that one complete breastfeed is sufficient to prohibit marriage. This opinion is based on the generality of the verse saying,
(Forbidden to you (in marriage) are: your mothers, your daughters...your foster mothers who breastfed you... ) (An-Nisâ': 23)
Other scholars said that prohibition is established only when the child is fed completely five separate times, as 'Â'ishah said,
"It was revealed in the Qur'ân, 'Ten breastfeeds make the child forbidden (from marrying his foster sister or brother),' and then it was abrogated to five times and the Prophet died and that what was recited of the Qurân."

Others said that a child must be breastfed for three times or more in order for the relationship to be established and marriage between the two to be prohibited. Their evidence is the hadîth saying, "One or two sucks would not prohibit..."
It seems though that one satiating breastfeed is the one, which prohibits marriage. The Qur'ân stated those are prohibited through blood relations,
(Forbidden to you (in marriage) are: your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters, your mother's sisters, your brother's daughters, your sister's daughters, your foster mothers who breastfed you, your foster sisters, your mother in law, your step daughters under your guardianship born of your wives with, whom you have consummated marriage, but there is no sin (i.e. prohibition to marry) if you have not consummated marriage with...) (An-Nisa': 23)
' Reported by Muslim, Abû Dawûd and an-Nasâ'i.
That is why the foster mother is exactly in the status of one's mother and is unmarriageable for the one she breastfed. It is not only the foster mother who is unmarriageable, but all of those who are in same degree of her relation as of the true mother, i.e. the foster mothers' mother, sisters (foster aunts), daughters (foster sisters), grandchildren (foster nieces) and her mother in law.

The foster mother is any woman who has milk in her breast, whether she has reached the age of puberty or not, married, divorced or a widow, whether she is pregnant or not and whether she is still menstruating or not.
Prohibition is applied as long as breastfeeding takes place within the first two years after birth. If this breastfeeding was after two years, it does not prohibit any marriage, whether it was one or more breastfeeds.

The specific determination for the breastfeeding period to be the first two years of the child's birth, is due to the vital effect which it has on the child's health and body, an effect which goes on to the end of life, and hence the marriage prohibition due to fostering.

Medical studies proved a definite relation between breastfeeding in the first two years of the child's birth and the efficiency of his immune system and hence his ability to resist diseases.
The infant acquires this immunity in the form of antibodies, which are transferred to him through the mother's milk, and could not be acquired through any other milk. After two years of age, the body is able to produce these antibodies by itself.

This fact has been mentioned in the Qur'ân and Prophetic tradition 1400 years ago. The Qur'ân and Sunnah prohibited marriage between those who are breastfed from the same woman, at least five times, in the first two years of birth, and they are considered foster brothers and sisters.

The foster mother is also considered as a real mother to them, having all the rights of the mother except for inheritance rights. This relation prohibits all that is prohibited to the real mother thonunk lnnd relatione Members of the same family would share the inherited immunity system, as well as the other genetic qualities, with each still having his own distinct individual qualities.
That is why there are many sayings of the Prophet's Companions and the followers of the Companions to advising Muslims not to continue imarrying close relatives, especially cousins, one generation after the other for the offspring not to become weak. It was narrated that 'Umar ibn al-Khattâb ile said to the family of Sâ'ib,
"Marry not your relatives to your offspring to continue being strong." He means, marry those who are out of your family circle, otherwise your offspring will get weaker and weaker each generation. Studies proved that weakness occurs due to similarities in genetic qualities.

It is well known that marriage was allowed between brother and sister in the first generation of the sons and daughters of the Prophet Adam and his wife Hawâ' (Eve). But even under these circumstances when they were all relatives, and no strangers were yet there, Allah the Almighty commanded that no marriage should take place between twin brother and sister who were born together.

The wisdom behind this rule is now clear as many genetic diseases continuously appear in families, which observe marriages of close relatives for several generations. The logical explanation for this phenomenon is that the extreme similarity in genetic qualities leads to their disturbance, which causes some of the positive qualities, which were dominant in the genetic code to disappear, while some of the negative qualities, which were not dominant, to become more dominant in next generations. Unity is an attribute of no one but Allah the Almighty, other than that, all qualities have adversities, which may dominate in certain circumstances such as afflictions and punishment.

This is emphasized in cases of organ transfer and transplantation, as the receptor body does not accept the organ unless it is transferred from the mother in particular, and then the father. The acceptance decreases as the degree of kinship gets farther, from the parents, to the brothers, the maternal uncles, the parental uncles, the grandfathers, maternal cousins and then parental cousins and so on. The reason is that the degree of homogeneity of the tissues is stronger in one family, and gets weaker as one reached farther from the parents to the rest of the family members.

Medical research also showed that the degree of the acceptance of the receptor to transplanted organs increases through blood transfer from the donor to the receptor three times before the transplantation. This is justified by an increase in T-Lymphocytes, which suppresses the action of other lymphocytes of the same group, which are responsible for the expulsion of foreign bodies. This is the same process, which makes the body of the pregnant mother not to reject the presence of the fetus inside her womb or to expel it as a foreign body. An immunologic adaptation takes place between them, even though there is a difference between the mother and the fetus. The continuous vomiting in the first trimester and the appearance of toxemia in later stages are due to the action of lymphocytes, which tend to reject foreign bodies. Likewise, the acceptance of the human body to transplanted organs is explained to be a form of immunologic adaptation, which increases as the degree of kinship is close between the donor and the receptor.

Dr. Qays al-Ansârî, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine,said mother changes the immunologic system of a breastfed infant to be closer to that of a foster sister, exactly as what happens in the process of blood transfusion from the donor to the receptor in organ transplantation. Even though there is some difference in tissue homogeneity between them, repeated blood transfusion from the donor to the receptor at least three times, suppresses the work of the lymphocytes, which expel the foreign bodies by the receptor of the transplanted organ. Therefore, there is a similarity between the immunologic adaptation, which occurs between the mother and her fetus, and blood transfusion between the donor and receptor. We can also see that there is a similarity between a mother breastfeeding two children in the first two years of age, and a pregnant mother of twins. That is why Allah the Almighty prohibited marriage due to fosterage,

(...and your foster mothers who breastfed you, and your foster sisters... (An-Nisâ': 23)
The Prophet also said concerning the same issue, "Whoever is unmarriageable due to birth (blood relations), is also unmarriageable due to breastfeeding," And said,
"Prohibition of marriage due to breastfeeding only applies to infants during the first two years of age." Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon the last of Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad .