Does a Single Breastfeeding Establish Milk Kinship (Rada')? هل تحرّم الرضعة الواحدة؟

Questioner: (audio unclear) does a single breastfeeding establish prohibition [of marriage]?

It does not establish prohibition; a single breastfeeding does not establish prohibition. Nothing establishes prohibition except five satisfying breastfeedings. In the Sahih of Imam Muslim, from the hadith of 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, she said: "Among what was revealed of the Qur'an was: ten breastfeedings establish prohibition; then they were abrogated by five."

So the breastfeeding must be one that grows the flesh and strengthens the bone. As for the child merely sucking the breast and then letting go, this is not called a breastfeeding, because the purpose [of milk kinship (rada')] is to create ties between the one nursed and the one who nursed him, when there is real nourishment in it — he mixes [with her], is nourished, and grows on the milk of the wet nurse. Then the ties mentioned in his statement ﷺ come into being: "What is prohibited by lineage is prohibited by milk kinship," agreed upon as authentic from the hadith of 'A'ishah. So one breastfeeding, two, and three do not establish prohibition; nothing establishes prohibition except five breastfeedings. If the woman nursed [a child] a single time, it does not establish prohibition.

But there is a contemporary issue that occurs frequently — old and new, in truth. Some women are sure; she says, "I nursed so-and-so together with so-and-so," and she is certain, but she is not certain — she does not know the number of breastfeedings. In this case we take precaution in two directions: we do not establish brotherhood between this one and this one, and at the same time we prevent them from marrying each other. We take precaution in two directions: we do not establish brotherhood between the two nursed children, and at the same time we prevent them from marrying each other. So the precaution is in two directions.

النص العربي الأصلي