If two people are milk siblings, are their own siblings regarded as milk siblings with their milk sibling’s siblings; and is hijab fard in their presence?

Dear Brother / Sister,

When a child of breastfeeding age sucks milk from a woman’s breast, he becomes a milk brother to her children. Even if it is just a drop of milk, the siblingship is established because of it.

The age of breastfeeding is thirty months (two and a half years) according to Imam Abu Hanifa. According to Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad, it is twenty-four months (two years). After this period, no matter how much a child sucks, no milk siblingship occurs.

Suppose that a mother has a new baby boy. Another mother has a baby girl. If this girl sucks the other woman’s milk, will she be a milk sister only to the boy she sucked at the same time, or will her older children also be milk sisters?

There is a general rule regarding the issue: “The one who sucks the milk becomes haram to the offspring of the suckler.” In other words, the child who sucks the milk becomes haram for all the descendants of the woman who has breastfed him.

Accordingly, the other siblings of the milk child can marry the children of the nursing woman because only the sucking child is the milk son of the woman. Since the other siblings of the sucking child are not her milk sons, it is permissible for them to marry her children.

“Those who are haram due to the kinship also become haram due to sucking milk.” 1

As it is stated in the hadith above, those who are mahram due to kinship are also mahram due to milk kinship. Accordingly, the relatives of the milk mother and the milk father are also relatives of the milk child.

The basic decrees regarding the issue are as follows:

- Being mahram due to breastfeeding occurs due to both the mother’s and the father’s relatives. The husband of the milk mother becomes the milk father of the sucking child. Similarly, the parents and children of the milk mother and the milk father become mahram for the sucking child.

- A child who is breastfed by a mother is the milk sibling of all the children of that mother, both from her previous and subsequent husbands. It does not matter whether those children are older or younger than the breastfed child.

- Similarly, the children born to the milk father’s wives before and after the milk mother also become milk siblings of the breastfed child. Their children also become the milk nephews of the sucking child.

The milk father’s brother becomes the sucking child’s milk uncle.
The milk father’s sister becomes the milk aunt of the sucking child.
The milk mother’s brother becomes the milk uncle of the sucking child.
The milk mother’s sister becomes the milk aunt of the sucking child.
The decrees related to the grandparents are also the same.

On the other hand, the wife of the milk son is mahram for the milk father, and the other wife of the milk father is also mahram for the milk son. 2

Those are the main issues of being mahram, but for the other relatives and kins that are encountered, it is necessary to refer to fiqh books that deal with this issue extensively.

References:

1 Tirmidhi, Rada: 1.
2 Al-Fatawal-Hindiyya Translation, 2: 485-487.

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