What is the ruling on marriage when there is doubt about breastfeeding, and is the default to avoid it?
If there is mere doubt about whether the father was suckled by his paternal aunt, or about the number of sucklings, then prohibitory kinship is not established by this, and the marriage remains valid and the children legitimate, because the default assumption is the absence of suckling. Ibn Qudamah said: "If doubt arises concerning the existence of suckling, or the number of prohibitory sucklings... prohibition is not established, because the default assumption is its absence, and certainty is not abandoned due to doubt." However, if certainty is achieved regarding the suckling and five satisfying sucklings, then, according to the majority of scholars, prohibition is not established by the testimony of a single woman, and the marriage remains valid. Whereas the Hanbalis hold that prohibition is established and the marriage is annulled, but the children are attributed to the husband in any case, because it is a doubtful marriage ( ).
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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