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Is it disliked to have intercourse with a nursing wife to avoid pregnancy or menstruation, which might spoil the infant's food, based on the hadith "Do not kill your children secretly...", and does this contradict the hadith "I had intended to forbid ghilah...", and if so, what is the permissible duration for intercourse, and what is the opinion of doctors on that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"Al-Ghila" refers to a nursing woman having sexual intercourse and a pregnant woman breastfeeding her child. The Arabs used to dislike this, believing that it spoiled the milk and harmed the child. However, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, clarified that it does not harm the child, citing that the Romans and Persians do so without harm to their children. Muslim narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said: "I was about to forbid Al-Ghila, until I remembered that the Romans and Persians do that, and it does not harm their children." As for the hadith: "Do not kill your children secretly, for by the One in whose hand is my soul, it will certainly overtake the horseman and throw him down," it is weak.

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

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