Malik reported (14), [from al-Zuhri] (15), from 'Urwah, from Aisha, from Sahlah bint Suhayl: "Suckle Salim five times, and he will be prohibited by her milk." The Sunnah has interpreted the verse and clarified the suckling that causes prohibition, and the explicit nature of what we have reported specifies the implications of what they have reported. Thus, we reconcile the reports and interpret them based on the explicit text we have reported.

Section: If there is doubt regarding the occurrence of suckling, or the number of sucklings that cause prohibition—whether they were completed or not—prohibition is not established. This is because the original state is non-existence, and we do not depart from certainty due to doubt, just as if one were to doubt the occurrence of divorce or its count (16).

The second issue: The sucklings must be separate. This is the view of al-Shafi'i. The reference for defining a 'suckling' is custom, because the Lawgiver mentioned it in general terms without limiting it to a specific time or quantity, which indicates that He referred it back to custom. Therefore, when the child sucks and then stops clearly by his own choice, that is one suckling; when he returns, it is another suckling. However, if he stops due to shortness of breath, or to move from one breast to another, or due to something that distracted him, or if the nursing woman stops him, we must consider: if he does not return soon, it is one suckling. If he returns immediately, there are two views. The first is that the first part is one suckling, and if he returns, it is another suckling. This is the preference of Abu Bakr and the apparent view of Ahmad in the narration of Hanbal; for he said: Do you not see the child nursing from the breast, and when breath catches him, he stops from the breast to breathe or rest? If he does that, it is one suckling. This is because the first part would have been one suckling had he not returned, so it remains one suckling even if he does return, just as if he had stopped by his own choice. The other view is that all of it constitutes one suckling. This is the school of al-Shafi'i, except in cases where the nursing woman stops him, regarding which there are two views; because if one were to swear, "I will not eat today except for one meal," and he prolonged the eating over a period, or stopped to drink water (17) or move...