I drank milk from my aunt, can I marry my cousin?
Abû `Abd Allah al-Nu`mân b. Bashîr relates that he heard Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) say: “That which is lawful is clear and that which is unlawful is clear. Between the two are doubtful matters that few people have knowledge about. Whoever avoids these doubtful matters absolves himself of blame with respect to his religion and his honor. Whoever falls into doubtful things will fall into what is unlawful, just like the shepherd who grazes his flock too close to a private pasture is liable to have some of his flock stray into it. Every king has a private pasture, and Allah’s private pasture is what he has prohibited. Verily, in the body is a small piece of flesh that if it is healthy, the whole body is healthy and if it is sick, the whole body is sick. This small piece of flesh is the heart.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim
I want to marry a cousin because we are very deeply in love. But we heard that I got some milk from her mother. According to her she gave me milk from 9am to 3-4pm for one single day only.. Then we wondered how many times she gave me milk during that time period. She does not remember how many times she may have given me milk. I do not know what I should do in such a situation.
Chill
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Salaams,
This question has been brought by readers before. I am copying directly below a response given by our senior editor Wael on this matter. The direct link to the post below is: http://www.zawaj.com/askbilqis/we-shared-breast-milk/
"If you drank your aunt's breast milk more than five times under the age of two, then her children (your cousins) are your milk brothers and sisters, and you cannot marry your cousin.
If it happened less than five times then it does not meet the conditions for making your cousin your milk sister, and you can marry her.
The fact that your mother breastfed your male cousin is irrelevant.
I answered this question in detail previously, see it here:
Is my Cousin My Milk Sister? Can I Marry Her?"
-Amy
IslamicAnswers.com Editor
She is your foster suckling sister. It is very unfortunate that you two are in 'love'...islamically, you are seen as brother and sister and nikah between you two would be prohibited.
A whole day of breastfeeding you is more than enough bro to make you your auntys son and cousins brother.
What is a shame is that you were obviously not brought up as brothers and sisters, or told of the issue in order for such a situation not to ever occur - where u have feelings for each other.
Ask Allah for help to remove your feelings for each other as they are of no use and marriage between teh two of you is prohibited. It's like you marrying your blood sister.
Was salaamu alaikum
As salam
(Remainder of comment deleted. Please log in and write your question as a separate post, thank you. - IslamicAnswers.com Editor)
Brother, unfortunately you cannot marry your cousin if you were breast fed by her mother that makes you 2 brother and sister.
This is most interesting for me. My dear cousin Annie's husband recently passed away. She is eight days younger than me. We are both 69.5 years old now. We love each other dearly and always have. I know she wants to be as close to me as possible. I am the male who is closest to her in her life now.
Not only is she my "cousin-sister", but she is also my milk sister. Her Mom, my Aunt Jean, nursed me quite often. Aunt Jean was a co-mother to me growing up. She and Mom were great friends. The Islam aspect enters in because Aunt Jean was born and raised in Sidi bel Abes, Algeria.
I don't want to marry Annie, but I want to be as close to her as possible now that her husband passed away after a long illness. We are both financially independent so she does not need me for that, mostly just the emotional comfort and knowing she is loved.