Turning mother's milk into powder o...

Egypt's Dar Al-Ifta

Turning mother's milk into powder or mix it with water, does it change the rule of kinship through breastfeeding?

Question

What is your opinion on storing the milk of mothers whose number is not known to nurse infants whose number is likewise not known? Would the legal ruling change if the milk is turned into powder, cheese, or is mixed with water or food?

Answer

The answer to the first part of this question is found in the answer to the first question. The answer to the second part of the question is as follows: It has been established in the jurisprudence of Abu Hanifa that breastfeeding does not establish milk-relations that impede marriage except under specific conditions. One of these is that a woman’s milk must not be mixed with anything else. When it is mixed with another substance, it is mixed with another liquid such as water, medicine, or ewe milk or with solid foodstuff. According to the unanimous opinion of the leading scholars of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, milk that is mixed with solid food and cooked over fire does not create relations that bar marriage, whether or not the amount of the milk exceeds the amount of solid food. Similarly, the prohibition is not established if it is not cooked over fire whether or not the amount of solid food exceeds the amount of milk according to the preponderate opinion of Abu Hanifa. This is because when a solid is mixed with a liquid, the liquid takes the same ruling as the solid (the foodstuff).
Mohammed and Abu Yusuf contended that the institution of milk-kinship that prohibits marriage hinges on quantity. The prohibition that impedes marriage is established when the amount of milk exceeds the amount of the solid foodstuff with which it is mixed, otherwise it does not impede marriage. And if the milk is mixed with a liquid such as water, medicine, or ewe milk, consideration is given to which liquid exceeds the other. The decisive factors for this are the dominant liquid or changes in milk’s color and taste. According to Mohammed (may God be pleased with him) the dominance of a liquid over milk means that the milk [has been modified so much] that it can no longer be considered milk. The same opinion is mentioned in Al-Siraj Al-Wahhaj. Hanafi scholars also argued that rida’ is not established if the milk has turned into buttermilk, curd, or cheese. It was mentioned in Al-Bada`i’ and elsewhere that marriage impediments are not created if an infant is fed [human] milk that has turned into buttermilk, curd, or cheese, because consuming these foodstuff cannot be termed rida’ (suckling). These food items do not help the baby to grow and develop and do not suffice as nourishment for the infant, and thereby do not institute kinship that bars marriage. This is in answer to this part of the question.
 

Share this:

Related Fatwas