The final response to the suspicion of breastfeeding an adult

 Praise be to Allah and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. Whenever the misguided Christians are unable to argue and strike argument with argument, they throw in our faces the suspicion of breastfeeding an adult... The problem with this suspicion - in my humble opinion - is the misguided Christians’ flawed understanding of the words of the Noble Messenger... I am now in the process of refuting that suspicion briefly and collecting the responses of scholars and preachers to that suspicion so that it will be, by the will and power of the Lord, a crushing response that leaves no room for further comment.

The hadith in question
in Sahih Muslim and others is on the authority of Aisha, who said: Sahla bint Suhayl came to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and said: O Messenger of God, I see on the face of Abu Hudhayfah the appearance of Salim, who is his ally. The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: Breastfeed him. She said: How can I breastfeed him when he is an old man? The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, smiled and said: I knew that he was an old man.

Why did Islam make breastfeeding an adult permissible?


The story in detail
is from Aisha, the wife of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - and Umm Salamah, that Abu Hudhayfah ibn Utbah ibn Rabi’ah ibn Abd Shams had adopted Salim and married him to his brother’s daughter Hind bint al-Walid ibn Utbah ibn Rabi’ah, and he was a freed slave of a woman from the Ansar, just as the Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace - had adopted Zayd, and he was one of those who He adopted a man in the pre-Islamic era, and people called him to him, and he inherited his inheritance until Allah, the Most High, the Most Great, revealed in that regard: (Call them by the names of their fathers ) to His saying: (Then they are your brothers in religion and your clients) so they were returned to their fathers, and whoever had no known father was a client and a brother in religion. Then came Sahlah bint Suhayl ibn Amr al-Qurashi, then al-Amiri - She was the wife of Abu Hudhayfah. She said, “O Messenger of God, we used to see Salim as a child, and he used to live with me and Abu Hudhayfah in one house, and he used to see me as superior. God Almighty has revealed about them what you know, so what do you think of him? ” The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said to her, “Breastfeed him.” So she breastfed him five times, so he was like her own foster son (Sunan Abi Dawud 2063)

The order of events:
1- Sahla bint Suhayl and her husband Hudhayfah adopted Salem when he was a child and raised him until he grew up.
2- Islam forbade adoption and denied that it is forbidden like kinship and breastfeeding without two years.
3- Hudhayfah’s heart changed towards Salem.
4- To solve the problem of this household that was harmed by the prohibition of adoption, a transitional phase was necessary. Salem would have been deprived of his mother who adopted him and raised him, which would have broken the heart of this mother who loved Salem as if he were her real son. Here the Messenger granted this concession to Salem and his mother.


We have two basic points:
First: Is this ruling general or specific... In other words, does a woman breastfeed her driver and cook as the backward people say, or does a woman who sponsors an orphan breastfeed him when he grows up at the age of twenty!! Or was the ruling specific to Salem only, and therefore there is no such thing as breastfeeding an adult now?
Second: Does breastfeeding mean that she will breastfeed him by having him take her breast and suck it?


First: Is the ruling general or specific to a certain group, or specific to Salem?

Quoting from an article by Sheikh Al-Khatib in response to the doubt, he says:
The majority of scholars have stated that this ruling is specific to Salem and does not extend to others, and this in itself raises a problem that is indicated by this question:

Why is there specificity, and is there specificity in legislation? And why does the ruling not proceed in connection with its cause, existence and nonexistence, so that it exists where it exists and disappears where it disappears?

I say: The specificity here is justified by the fact that it is the only case that arose from the ruling on adoption that the Qur’an decided to prohibit, as this case was existing and occurring, so the prohibition was revealed as an emergency, and then what happened to Abu Hudhayfah happened from jealousy because Salim entered his house and became a stranger to him, and to Abu Hudhayfah’s wife from being sad because of Salim’s separation. As for the others, it is inconceivable why? Because by the decision to prohibit adoption, the door was closed from the beginning, so it is inconceivable that a woman would be attached to a stranger, as Abu Hudhayfah’s wife was attached to Salim, due to the lack of approval of the reason that produced this type of relationship, which is the adoption system.

So it is a case that will not be repeated due to the lack of approval of its reason, which is adoption, or to put it more professionally, it will not need a ruling because the reason for prohibiting adoption did not occur . (1)

What about the fatwa of Lady Aisha?

Lady Aisha used to order her sisters and nieces to breastfeed whoever came to her. Lady Aisha is our mother and mistress and is equal to the Muslims filling the earth today. However, she was wrong in this. We do not say this out of personal whims, but because “there is no interpretation with a text.” We have clear texts from the noble Messenger that say that “there is no breastfeeding except in the first two years.” There are even scholars who have confirmed the abrogation of the hadith about breastfeeding an adult, such as Imam al-Tabari and al-Jassas in al-Ahkam, and there are many evidences for this, not to mention the consensus of all the companions that breastfeeding an adult does not make a marriage forbidden. So,

the common Christians must know, before they judge Islam based on a doubt that does not exist, what are the sources of legislation for Muslims?
They should know that we are not like them.. followers of rabbis and monks. Whenever they make something permissible we follow them, and whenever they make something forbidden we follow them. “They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God. There is no god but Him. Glory be to Him above what they associate with Him.” (31 At-Tawbah). Rather, we Muslims’ source is the heavenly revelation, whether it is the Holy Quran or what is authentically transmitted from the Noble Messenger in the famous books of hadiths... those are our main sources.. and after that comes analogy and independent reasoning... but “there is no independent reasoning with a text” ... and this principle is agreed upon by all Muslims.

We have clear texts from the Quran and Sunnah that say: Frankly speaking, the prohibited breastfeeding is from the time of famine, that is, what produces flesh, that is, during the period of childhood before weaning.

1- The saying of God Almighty: ((Mothers shall breastfeed their children for two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the breastfeeding.) )
2- The Messenger of God said in the agreed upon hadith : “Breastfeeding is only from hunger,” and its meaning is that “breastfeeding is that which produces flesh and blood.” This is the breastfeeding by which sonship and brotherhood are established, because by doing so she has participated in building his flesh, blood, and body with her milk, so she is a mother to him like his mother from whose nourishment his flesh and blood grew in her womb.
3- In Al-Tirmidhi and he authenticated it on the authority of Umm Salamah, with a chain of transmission traceable to the Prophet: ((Nothing is forbidden from breastfeeding except what opens the intestines and is before weaning)
4- And Al-Darqutni on the authority of Ibn Abbas, with a chain of transmission traceable to the Prophet: ((There is no breastfeeding except in the two years))
5- And in Abu Dawud on the authority of Ibn Masoud, with a chain of transmission traceable to the Prophet : ((There is no breastfeeding except that which causes the flesh to grow and the bones to develop)).


The main problem in this doubt is not denying the disagreement among Muslims about it, but the problem is giving preference to the stronger and more correct opinion and abandoning the weak opinion. We all stand before the legal evidence and follow it. The legal evidence says that the breastfeeding that forbids, like lineage, is what is under the age of two years, according to the Qur’an and the opinion of the majority of the Companions.

(Muwatta Malik Muhammad bin Al-Hasan) Breastfeeding does not forbid except what was in the two years. Whatever breastfeeding was in it, even if it was one suck, it forbids, as Abdullah bin Abbas, Saeed bin Al-Musayyab, and Urwah bin Al-Zubayr said. Whatever is after the two years does not forbid anything because Allah Almighty said: {Mothers may breastfeed their children two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the nursing} The completion of breastfeeding is two years, so breastfeeding after their completion does not prohibit anything. Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, used to be cautious about six months after the two years, saying: What is during the two years and after them until the completion of six months, which is thirty months, is prohibited, and what is after that is not prohibited . We do not see that it is prohibited, and we see that what is after the two years is not prohibited . (Muwatta Malik, narrated by Muhammad bin Al-Hasan)

But let us take the opinions of the companions, who were present at the revelation and are the best of Allah’s creation after the prophets...?
The consensus of the companions that breastfeeding an adult was a matter specific to Salim, and the statements of the followers do not concern us in comparison to these imams because they are followers of either the majority of the companions or the few who took the opinion of Sayyida Aisha.

What is the opinion of the mothers of the believers?

In the hadith, they said to Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, “They said, ‘By Allah, we do not see what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded as easy except for a concession in breastfeeding Salim alone.’” Sahih Muslim and others.

What is the opinion of Omar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him?

On the authority of Ibn Omar, may God be pleased with him, he said: A woman from the Ansar took her husband’s slave girl and breastfed her. When her husband came back, she said: This slave girl of yours has become your daughter. The man went to Omar, may God be pleased with him, and mentioned that to him. Omar, may God be pleased with him, said to him: I adjure you when you return and have intercourse with your slave girl and hurt your wife’s back. In the narration of Abdullah bin Dinar on the authority of Ibn Omar, on the authority of Omar, may God be pleased with him: Breastfeeding is the breastfeeding of the young. (Sunan Al-Bayhaqi)

On the authority of Jabir bin Abdullah, he said: A man came to Omar bin Al-Khattab and said: My wife breastfed my concubine to make her forbidden to me. Omar ordered the woman to be flogged and that he should come to his concubine after breastfeeding. (Musannaf Abd Al-Razzaq)


What did Ali bin Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him, think
about Ali, who used to say: His wife gave him milk from his concubine or his concubine gave him milk from his wife to make her forbidden to him, but that did not make her forbidden to him. (Musannaf Abd Al-Razzaq)


What did the scholar of the nation, Ibn Omar, may God be pleased with him, think?
On the authority of Ibn Umar, may God be pleased with him, who said: Nothing is forbidden from breastfeeding except what is done in childhood (Sunan Al-Bayhaqi, No. 15439).

What is the opinion of the scholar of the nation, Ibn Masoud, may God be pleased with him, on the subject of breastfeeding an adult?

Before we mention the opinion of Ibn Masoud, may God be pleased with him, we must mention the Prophet’s recommendation of him. In the hadith about the miracle of the Prophet milking the sheep that had not given birth before, Ibn Masoud asked him to teach him what he was saying, so he said, “You are a young boy who must be taught.” Musnad of Imam Ahmad No. 4504

This Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, calls for him and praises his knowledge, and therefore his opinion is the correct and preferred one.
On the authority of Abu Atiyah al-Wadi’i, he said: A man came to Ibn Mas’ud and said: “My wife was with me and her milk was stuck in her breast, so I started sucking it and then spitting it out.” So I went to Abu Musa and asked him, and he said: “It is forbidden for you.” He said: So he stood up and we stood with him until he reached Abu Musa, and he said: “What is your fatwa on this?” So he told him what he had said, and Ibn Mas’ud took the man’s hand and said: “ Do you see this as a wet nurse?! Breastfeeding is what produces flesh and blood. ” Abu Musa said: “Do not ask me about anything while this scholar is among you. ”
The hadith is in Musannaf ‘Abd al-Razzaq and the wording is his, and in Sunan al-Bayhaqi No. 16071 and Sunan al-Darqutni No. 4410.

Note here that the wording of the hadith is clear: “suck it” from the breast, because the word “breastfeeding” does not necessarily mean taking hold of the breast and sucking it.

From the book Ahkam al-Qur’an by al-Jassas
: “It was narrated on the authority of Ali Ibn Abbas, Abdullah, Umm Salamah, Jabir bin Abdullah and Ibn Umar said that breastfeeding an adult does not make a marriage forbidden, and we do not know of any of the jurists who said that breastfeeding an adult does not make a marriage forbidden, except for something narrated from Al-Layth bin Saad narrated from Abu Salih that breastfeeding an adult makes a marriage forbidden, and this is an odd statement because it has been narrated from Aisha that which indicates that it does not make a marriage forbidden, and this is what Al-Hajjaj narrated from Al-Hakam from Abu Al-Shatha’ from Aisha, she said: What makes flesh and blood grow is forbidden from breastfeeding. And Haram bin Othman narrated from Ibn Jabir from their father, he said: The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: There is no orphanhood after a dream, nor breastfeeding after weaning. And it was narrated from the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, in the hadith of Aisha that we presented, breastfeeding is only from famine, and in another hadith, what makes flesh grow and bones grow. This negates breastfeeding in an adult. And the hadith of Aisha that we presented regarding breastfeeding an adult was narrated in another way, and it is what Abd Al-Rahman bin Al-Qasim narrated from his father that Aisha used to order the daughter of Abd Al-Rahman bin Abi Bakr to breastfeed boys until they entered upon her when they became men. So if the odd statement of those who made breastfeeding obligatory is proven, The elder, so it was agreed that the breastfeeding of an elder is not forbidden, and Allah is the Grantor of success. The jurists of the countries differed regarding the duration of that. Abu Hanifa said: Whatever breastfeeding occurred during the two years and six months after them, and whether he was weaned or not, it is forbidden, and after that it is not forbidden, whether he was weaned or not. Zafar bin Al-Hudhayl ​​said: As long as milk is sufficient and he was not weaned, it is breastfeeding even if three years have passed. Abu Yusuf, Muhammad, Al-Thawri, Al-Hasan bin Salih, and Al-Shafi’i said: It is forbidden during the two years and it is not forbidden after them, and weaning is not considered, but rather the time is considered. Ibn Wahb said on the authority of Malik: Little or much breastfeeding is forbidden during the two years, and whatever occurred after the two years, it is not forbidden, little or much (Ahkam Al-Qur’an by Al-Jassas). Al-Jassas,
Al-Shafi’i, Al-Tabari, and many of the scholars of the nation see the abrogation of the ruling on breastfeeding an elder, as he says: “ It has been proven with us and with Al-Shafi’i that the breastfeeding of an elder has been abrogated .”

And on this statement (Ali bin Abi Talib - Ibn Abbas - Ibn Mas’ud - Jabir - Ibn Umar - Abu Hurairah - Umm Salamah - Sa’id bin Al-Musayyab - Ata’ -Al-Shafi’i - Malik - Ahmad - Ishaq - Al-Thawri)

Therefore, the opinions of those who say that breastfeeding an adult is forbidden like kinship are wrong. The evidence and the majority of the companions, as well as the followers and followers of the followers and the prominent imams, are that the breastfeeding that is forbidden is for those under two years of age. Abu Hanifa said two and a half years as a precaution only... The consensus of the companions is the consensus of the nation. Whoever says that breastfeeding an adult is permissible is an odd statement as the scholars have mentioned.

As for the backward ones who say that the wife of a businessman must breastfeed the driver, the waiter, the cook, and the doorman, and this ridiculous nonsense, and they even try to force you to do this as a principle of the religion, we say to them “Peace” because our Lord said “And when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace.”


Second: Is breastfeeding completed by sucking the breast?
Quoting from a Christian book asking and we answering
: “The ignorant Christians understood from his saying - may God bless him and grant him peace - to Sahla: ((Breastfeed him)) that it is obligatory to touch the breast, so they said: How can this be?! And among the best things that have been said in explaining this is the saying of Imam al-Nawawi, may God have mercy on him, in his commentary on Sahih Muslim (10/31): ( The judge said: Perhaps she milked him and then he drank it, without him touching her breast, nor did their skins meet, since it is not permissible to see the breast, nor to touch it with any of the organs, and what the judge said is good, and it is possible that he was excused from touching it due to necessity, as breastfeeding was made special for an adult. )
Abu Omar said: (( The description of breastfeeding an adult is that milk is milked for him and he drinks it, but as for a woman to feed him her breast, this is not appropriate according to any of the scholars, and this is what the judge and al-Nawawi preferred )) (Sharh al-Zarqani 3/316).
If it is said that Sahla’s saying was mentioned in the hadith: ((And how “I breastfed him while he was a grown man?” We say that this is a relative description in relation to what is known about breastfeeding, that it is usually only for children.
If you refuse, we will narrate to you what Ibn Saad narrated in his Tabaqat on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abdullah, the nephew of Al-Zuhri, on the authority of his father, who said: “ Sahla used to milk a bottle or a vessel the size of a bottle, and Salim would drink it every day until five days had passed. After that, he would enter upon her while she was bareheaded, as a concession from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) for Sahla .” (Al-Tabaqat Al-Kubra 8/271, Al-Isabah by Ibn Hajar 7/716).
Then the text did not state that breastfeeding was by touching the breast. The context of the hadith is related to the embarrassment of entering the house of Abu Hudhayfah, so how could he be satisfied with direct breastfeeding as these people understood?
Have these people forgotten that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade shaking hands? How can he permit touching the breast while he forbade hand to hand?
Then we ask these people: Does the ruling of breastfeeding apply to a child who drinks milk without suckling directly from the breast or not?
The answer, as the majority of scholars have stated, is that it is proven. Therefore, we say that if drinking milk without touching the breast proves the ruling of breastfeeding for a child, then it is more appropriate for an adult, because drinking milk without touching the breast can be considered breastfeeding.
I said: How could it not be, when our Lord, may He be glorified and exalted, says in His perfect Book: “Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do.” (An-Nur: 30)? (2)
Second: Who is Salim and is it right to suspect him of evil?
1- The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “Learn the Qur’an from four: Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah , Ubayy ibn Ka’b, and Mu’adh ibn Jabal.”
3- The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said when he heard him recite the Quran, " Praise be to Allah, who has made in my nation someone like you. " Musnad of Imam Ahmad
. 2- Omar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "If one of two men were to live to see me and I entrusted this matter to him, I would trust him: Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah, and Abu Ubaydah bin Al-Jarrah. " Musnad of Imam Ahmad.

It is enough that the Messenger of Allah praised him and Omar bin Al-Khattab almost appointed him as his successor over the Muslims. So where are the minds of the Christians that they would think ill of him, may Allah be pleased with him and satisfy him?


Third: The context of the hadith is related to the embarrassment of entering Abu Hudhayfah’s house, so how could he accept direct breastfeeding, as the foolish Christians claim?
And if Abu Hudhayfah’s face changes as soon as Salim enters his house, then what do you think of his condition when his wife uncovered her breast for Salim to breastfeed from him? !!! (3)

Even if it is true – for the sake of argument – ​​that the Christians have a weak understanding that Salim sucked Suhaila’s breast… we ask them who Suhaila is in relation to Salim? She is his mother who adopted him and raised him since he was young, and he is her son who was attached to her as a mother during his childhood and youth… So is the mother considered sexually desirable to these Christians who are backward in nature?
Then what do the Christians have to say about this ruling? Their book (in its Old and New Testaments) does not contain any legal rulings that are suitable for practical application. They organize their lives with their personal minds. Therefore, adoption is permissible for them. When an adopted son grows up, he will certainly see his adoptive mother uncovered and wearing light clothing that reveals some parts of her body. Does it occur to the adopted son that his adoptive mother is sexually desirable? Or does it occur to the mother that her adopted son is sexually desirable? Glory be to God!!!

It is the same for all Muslims, whether - for the sake of argument - she breastfed him or milked him. It is a license for an exceptional case resulting from the prohibition of adoption, so this license was granted to them . We challenge the Christians to come up with a single case like Salem and his mother. A woman adopted a child - before adoption was prohibited more than 1400 years ago - and this child grew up and the woman saw a change in her husband's face. From here, we will be forced to give them a license to breastfeed an adult - whether according to our understanding or the Christians' flawed understanding - and the question is... where is that 1400-year-old woman and her son?

All the hatred of the Christians and their projection of what is in them onto us, and even their attempt to cover Islam with the cloak of nationality that they wear, are failed attempts.
After this extensive explanation, an ignorant fool came out to me with two questions:
1- What about a woman who sponsored an orphan child, and after this child grew up, should she throw him out or breastfeed him?
We say to him think with your mind not your hands (O wise one) because your question is originally contradictory.. What prevents a woman from breastfeeding him when he is a child under two years old so that he becomes her son through breastfeeding? Sponsoring an
orphan in Islam is not adoption but rather sponsoring care, upbringing, education, clothing, food and drink and not adoption in the sense of taking him as a son.

2- Why is the ruling specific to Salem alone - why - does he have a feather on his head? (This is the text of the question!!)
Because Salem's case is the only case that was harmed by the prohibition of adoption, so she has the right to permission.

Conclusion

“And why do you notice the speck of straw in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the great beam that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me pull out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye” (Luke 6:41).
I do not know why Christians’ understanding of the Quran and Sunnah is limited to trying to discover a loophole in our true religion? Why did Christians not look at the hadith, for example, as evidence of prophecy? Just as it was mentioned that the Messenger promised Suhaila bint Suhayl that what was in her husband’s soul would go away, and she came after she did what the Messenger had ordered her to do and said, “By Him who sent you as a prophet with the truth, I have never seen anything more hateful in the face of Abu Hudhayfah after that.” So why did you not look at him with that positive view?
Why do you always try to argue with falsehood and cling to doubts about abrogated Islamic rulings that do not exist now, such as breastfeeding an adult and temporary marriage, for example?!
Why do you insist on distancing yourself from the fundamentals of disagreement, such as monotheism, the Trinity, and the true God, is He the God of the so-called holy book or the God of the Quran? And the alleged divinity of Christ, the alleged sin, the prophethood of the noble Messenger, his miracles, and the prophecies about him in the shadow of the remnants of the Torah, the Gospel, and the books of the prophets? Where are you from all of this, to rant day and night about a doubt resulting from an abrogated jurisprudential ruling, and even understand it according to what your impure minds have suggested to you, and to cling to the fatwas of people and Sheikh so-and-so, leaving the Quran and the words of the infallible one, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him?
Finally, I appeal to all those who still convince themselves that there is something currently called “adult suckling” to read the words of their God and the sexual lust in the Song of Songs and Ezekiel 23 and to think about their God Jesus who came down from heaven – according to them – to suck the breast of the girl Mary when she was 12 years old.. to think about their worshiped God who was told “You who suckled the breast” and was happy about that (Luke 11:27) and while he was saying this, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked .” (SVD) If Salem enjoyed his mother’s breast – according to them – then their Lord enjoyed the breast of a girl who did not know that the one who was sucking her breasts was her Creator. By God, who can deny whom?!!
Let them think with their minds, not their hooves, about what we said about this doubt that no longer exists at all. And our final supplication is that praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.
Whatever success comes from Allah, and whatever error or slip is from me and from Satan, and Allah, His infallible Messenger, and the Muslims are innocent of it.

Footnote:
1- Confronting the rampant evil regarding the issue of breastfeeding an adult - Sheikh Dr. Al-Khatib
2- A Christian book asks and we answer
3- A response from Dr. Hesham Azmy