The Proof Required to Establish Suckling

Question

A man married (by nikah) his maternal cousin — the daughter of his maternal uncle — and after the nikah the spouses lived together for about eight or nine years; during that time a son was born to them, who also died. Now it has become known that during her mother’s illness she used to drink the milk of the husband’s mother, and only the wife’s mother and the husband’s mother know of this. Now, as soon as this incident became known, the wife’s family have kept the woman back at their home.

Answer

To establish suckling, as in other financial matters, the condition is the testimony of two upright men, or of one upright man and two upright women. In the case asked about this full quorum (nisab) of testimony is not present, so separation cannot be ordered judicially (qada’an).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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