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Is it permissible for a Christian woman to temporarily nurse an infant whose mother died during his birth?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is disliked for a Muslim to employ a non-Muslim wet nurse for his child due to the Sharia-related prohibitions that result from it. The scholars have explicitly stated that this is disliked, among them Imam Malik, because they drink wine and eat pork. Among those who also disliked it was Abu Abdullah, due to the possibility that the milk of a dissolute woman might lead to the child resembling the wet nurse in dissoluteness, and because suckling from a polytheist woman makes her a mother who has the sanctity of a mother despite her polytheism, and perhaps the child might incline towards her in loving her religion. Suckling from the milk of a foolish woman is also disliked, lest the child resemble her in foolishness, for suckling changes temperaments. Suckling from a non-Muslim woman is disliked, not forbidden, and the dislike ceases if the child needs to be nursed by her.

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

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