Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications (Islamic History and Civilization) [Hardcover]

Avner Giladi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Islamic History and Civilization | Publication Date: January 1999

This volume examines early Islamic theories and practices of breastfeeding, their long-term social implications and their impact on the lives of women and children. In the light of the impediments to marriage created, according to Islamic law, by nonmaternal breastfeeding, the author also explores the role they have played in wider circles of social life: how they influenced the way relations between different families were established, reduced the occurence of endogamous marriages, and created semiprivate spaces. This is the first comprehensive research, within western Islamology, devoted to the subject, serving as it were as a link between Women's History and History of Childhood. It is based on a wide range of religious sources - from Qur'an, Qur'an exegesis, through "hadith" to legal writings - as well as on medieval Arabic medical compilations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'..".Giladi has provided a very useful introduction to an important topic in Islamic law which will be essential reading for anyone interested in legal aspects of Muslim family relationship.'
Ulrike Freitag, "Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 2000.
'"On the whole, Giladi has brought to us a work not only of value to the specialist in classical Islamic law, but also for those interested in how the discourse of motherhood has developed since then...Giladi's book provides a wealth of material.'
Hina Azam, "Journal of Islamic Studies '.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9004112235
• ISBN-13: 978-9004112230
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,878,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Unforseen impacts of Islamic breastfeeding, December 4, 2010

By 

William Garrison Jr. (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications (Islamic History and Civilization) (Hardcover)

"Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications" by Avner Giladi, 1999, hardback, 191 pgs. Chapter contents: The foundations of an Islamic `Ethics of Breastfeeding', Breastfeeding in the Quran and in Quran commentaries; Breastfeeding in early `Oral Tradition'; Breastfeeding in Arabic-Islamic medicine; By the Mother or a West Nurse?; Wet nursing; The Nurse and her milk; When and how to wean; Islamic legal views on breastfeeding; Breastfeeding as a legal theme; Laban al-fahl; Sifat al-rada'; Adad al-rada al-muharrim; Rada al-kabir [suckling an adult]; Rada min al-mayyita [whether or not absorbing the milk of a dead woman creates an impediment to marriage]; The nursling; The parents; The father and his responsibilities; The nursing Mother; The wet nurse; Theories of Breastfeeding in practice: past and present; Glossary of Arabic terms designating child feeding. The reason for my researching this book is that I understand that a Muslim woman should always be escorted by a male relative while otherwise out alone in public, at least in Saudi Arabia. In 2009 a religious theologian in Cairo, Egypt issued a fatwa regarding his concept that if a woman was in a hurry to go shopping and a male relative was unavailable to escort her, she could allow any taxi driver (or store clerk, etc.) to suckle her, then, thereby, a woman could `trust' [through the newly established `milk kinship'] that unrelated male cab-driver to drive her unescorted to a shopping mall (I'm summarizing his fatwa). The underpinnings of this fatwa are referred to, starting about page 26 - does the unrelated male have to suckle between 5 to 10 times, or will 3 suffice to break the social ice? Umm Kulthum thought only three. And then there is the problem how atomic parts of the sperm of the woman's husband might enter her blood stream, and thereby her milk, and thereby how that might impact as to which taxi drivers a woman should be allowed to suckle. However, `milk kinship' creates numerous marital problems, depending whether or not the husband playfully suckles all four of his wives - and how that might cause him to have to divorce a couple of his wives if they have been rented out to wet nurse some unrelated baby (p. 74-77). If you have ANY interest in understanding Islamic thoughts regarding how breastfeeding and `milk kinship' impacts upon Muslim society, then this book is certainly one you want to wean on for intellectual sustenance.