Prohibition of marriage because of breastfeeding in the Holy Quran vs the experimental science

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a reason for the prohibition of marriage in Islamic law. The Holy Quran stated this prohibition, then the noble Prophet’s Sunnah explained the precise rules, which explained who is forbidden by breastfeeding, the prohibition conditions related to the age of the infant, and the amount of breastfeeding.

The current research aims to explain the points of agreement and disagreement between the noble verse and the noble hadiths that stated the prohibition and explained its reason and conditions, and what experimental science has discovered about the importance of the prohibition of marriage because of breastfeeding. This aim was achieved by reviewing the interpretation of the related noble Quranic verse, in addition to reviewing the most important and latest results of experimental scientific research

The results showed that experimental science was initially incapable to detect the relationship between breastfeeding and the formation of the newborn and his characteristics. Then in recent decades, the scientific discoveries have categorically demonstrated the role of breastfeeding in the formation of the newborn and confirmed the richness of milk with many factors and components that participate in the formation of the newborn's various organs. Consequently, those researches and scientific discoveries clarified the wisdom of the prohibition of marriage, the accuracy of its conditions, and the validity of the causes that the noble Sunnah revealed and the preceding commentators mentioned.