2553. The recommended precaution is that a woman should not suckle every child, because it is possible that she may forget exactly who she has suckled, and later two persons who are ma¦ram to each other, may contract marriage.
2554. It is good for those who by means of suckling have developed a familial relationship to one another to respect one another. However they will not inherit from one another and will not share the family rights that a man shares with his family.
2555. It is recommended to nurse a child for two complete years.
2556. If, due to suckling, the rights of a husband are not violated in any way, his wife can suckle another child without his permission. However, it is not permissible to suckle a child who will become forbidden to her husband due to suckling.
A great number of renowned scholars (may the Lord elevate their status) have stated, “if a man contracts marriage with a girl who is being suckled, his wife should not suckle this girl at all, because if she suckles the girl, the wife will become the mother-in-law of the husband, and therefore becomes haram for him.” This ruling however is problematic. However the girl with whom the man contracted married becomes forbidden for him, regardless of whether the milk belonged to the husband, or it belonged to someone other than her husband but the marriage has been consummated.
2557. A group of the jurisprudents (may the Lord raise their status) have stated, “if someone wants his brother’s wife to become ma¦ram to him, he must contract temporary marriage for—for example—two days with a girl who is being suckled, and for those two days, given the conditions of rule no. 2537, his brother’s wife should suckle this girl, because the woman becomes the nursing mother of his wife.” However this ruling is problematic.
2558. If prior to contracting marriage with a woman, a man says, “due to suckling, this woman is forbidden for me”, or for example he says, “her mother has suckled me,” and if it is possible for his statement to be true, he cannot marry this woman. If he says this after the marriage, and the woman also accepts his statement, the marriage is void. Thus if a man has not yet consummated his marriage with her, or has done so but at the time of intercourse the woman knew that she was forbidden for him, she is not entitled to any mahr. However if she realizes after consummating the marriage with him that she was forbidden for him, the husband should pay her the mahr according to the usual amount that is given to women like her.
2559. If before the marriage, a woman claims to be forbidden for the man due to suckling, then, if it is possible to verify her statement, she cannot marry that man. If, however she claims this after the marriage, it is similar to the case where the man states after marriage that the woman is forbidden for him, and the precept for such a case has been elaborated in the previous article.
2560. Suckling a child which becomes the cause of becoming ma¦ram to a child, can be proven through the following two ways:
1. One attains confidence or certainty.
2. The testimony of two just men, or one man and two women, or four just women. It is also necessary for each one of them to describe the circumstances under which the child was suckled. For example they must say, “We have seen so and so child suckling milk from the breasts of so and so woman for twenty four hours and it had not consumed anything else during this period.” Similarly, they should also address all the other conditions which have been mentioned in article 2538.
2561. If one doubts whether or not a child has suckled the required quantity of milk which causes him to become ma¦ram, or he speculates that the child may have suckled that amount or not, the child does not become ma¦ram to anyone. However, it is better to practice precaution.
