Nurse المرضعة

The Quran defines the period of human nursing as a specific two-year term, framing it not just as early nourishment but as an arrangement carrying strict financial rights and permanent legal consequences. Across six verses, breastfeeding appears as a shared parental duty, a pivotal plot device in the life of a prophet, and a biological bond so absolute that its rupture serves as the ultimate measure of cosmic terror.

What are the rules and costs of nursing?

The Quran establishes that mothers may suckle their children for two whole years if they wish to complete the term, placing the burden of their clothing and maintenance entirely on the father in a fair manner (2:233). This financial duty holds even during or after divorce; if a divorced woman suckles the infant, the father is commanded to house her according to his means, not harass her, and pay her for the nursing (65:6). The verses repeatedly emphasize mutual consent and consultation, insisting that neither parent should be made to suffer harm on account of their child, a duty that falls to the father's heir if he passes away (2:233). If the parents agree to wean the child early, or if they decide to hire a wet nurse, they incur no blame, provided the wet nurse is paid her agreed wages fairly. If divorced parents create difficulties for one another regarding this arrangement, the text dictates that another woman may step in and suckle the child for the father (65:6).

Does a wet nurse become family?

Nursing establishes a permanent legal kinship that dictates who a person can marry. When listing the women forbidden for a man to take as wives—alongside biological mothers, daughters, and sisters—the Quran explicitly includes "your milk-mothers and milk-sisters" (4:23). Classical scholars detail how deeply this principle extends. As Al-Zamakhshari explains (Tafsir al-Kashshaf, 1/494), God elevates nursing to the status of blood lineage, making the wet nurse a true mother to the infant and her husband the child's father. Abu Hayyan further notes (Al-Bahr al-Muhit, 3/579) that this milk kinship expands outward: the wet nurse's husband’s parents become the infant's grandparents, his sister becomes a paternal aunt, and any children born to him from other wives become the infant's half-siblings.

How does nursing appear in the story of Moses?

The physical dependence of an infant on a nurse features prominently in the early life of Moses. When his mother feared for his safety, God instructed her to suckle him first before placing him into the river, promising his safe return and future prophethood (28:7). The fulfillment of this promise hinged on a biological refusal: God ordained that the infant Moses would reject all Egyptian wet nurses (28:12). This refusal allowed his sister to approach the authorities and offer a household that could rear him, safely reuniting the child with his own mother.

The bond between a nursing mother and her infant stands as the Quran's strongest example of human attachment. To illustrate the unimaginable severity of God's torment on the Day of Judgment, the text does not point first to collapsing mountains, but rather to a psychological impossibility: the moment when every nursing mother will think no more of her baby (22:2).