The General Court of Al Ras has issued a ruling for the divorce of a couple who were found to have been breastfed as children by the same woman.
The couple had been married for 25 years, during which time they had seven children. Islam considers that a woman who breastfeeds children of other women as the children´s mother and her children as their siblings. Therefore, children suckled at the same breast, regardless of birth parents, cannot marry each other in later life. This is because Sunni Islam prohibits marriage between milk-brothers and milk-sisters, or milk-children and milk-parents according to Riyadh Connect.
Sources said the case had been under review for three months and the court sought the opinion of the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Asheikh, who approved the divorce. Nevertheless, breastfeeding is promoted as a healthy choice in Saudi Arabia.
