Rada' (suckling): who nurses, the wage of the nurse, the bars of marriage by milk kinship, and how suckling is proved

الرضاع

Rada' is the sucking of the breast and drinking of milk; in law it is the arrival of a woman's milk, or what comes of it, into the belly of an infant under conditions. ^{1 2} Nursing is a duty on the mother, in the Hanafi view a duty of religion and not of law; for the Shafi'is and Hanbalis the father must arrange it if the mother is not fit, and the nurse is paid the usual wage. ^{2 3 4} The bar of kinship comes from a woman's milk and not a man's or an animal's; from the milk of a dead woman by the majority; and from a mixed milk where its effect shows. ^{5 6} The schools differ on the number of sucks: the Hanafis and Malikis count any number, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis five. ^{7 8} The period of suckling that bars marriage is two years by the Shafi'is, the Hanbalis, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad, and two and a half years in Abu Hanifa's view. ^{8 9} By suckling the nurse and her line are barred to the child, and the nurse's children are his milk-siblings; the milk of the stallion (the husband of the nurse) bars by the majority. ^{9 10 11} Suckling is proved by admission or evidence, and the schools differ on the number of witnesses. ^{12 13 14} The nurse has a claim on the one she nursed, and it is recommended to reward her. ^{15 16}