Did Suhaylah bint Suhayl have milk in her breast when the Prophet commanded her to suckle Salim, especially since her son Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfah was born during the first Hijra to Abyssinia, and the incident of suckling Salim occurred in Madinah?
The story of Sahlah suckling Salim is authentic. The majority of scholars hold that suckling an adult does not establish a prohibitive degree of kinship (mahramiyyah). No one has challenged the authenticity of the hadith; rather, they have stated that it was abrogated or that it was an exception specific to Sahlah or to women who need to interact closely with the suckling individual. Sahlah used to express milk into a vessel, and Salim would drink it. As for the claim that there was no milk in Sahlah's breast, it is an baseless assertion. Experience has shown that some women retain milk after weaning, as happened with Umm Salamah and Al-Hasan Al-Basri.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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