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What is the strong evidence that can be presented to invalidate the fatwa permitting a female employee to breastfeed her male colleague in the office, which is based on hadiths from Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim to avoid unlawful seclusion (khalwa), and what are the conditions for this fatwa if it is permissible, and what are the conditions for its invalidation?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

One should not seek out the anomalous or erroneous statements of scholars. The Islamic Research Academy and the scholars of Al-Azhar have denounced the fatwa in question, and its proponent has retracted it. The majority of scholars hold that the nursing of an adult does not establish a prohibitory relationship (mahramiyya), and that the hadith of Sahla bint Suhail is a special dispensation. Furthermore, it is not permissible for a woman to work if it involves seclusion (khalwa) or unlawful mixing (ikhtilat) with men.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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