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Breastfeeding the Child
A) The Virtue of Breastfeeding the Infant:
184. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “When a woman becomes pregnant, her station will be like a person who fasts during the day and is vigilant by night, and she is like a struggler who strives with her soul and wealth in the path of Allah. When she delivers her child, she has such a reward that you do not know what it is because of its magnitude. When she breastfeeds, for every suckle made, she will receive the reward of emancipating one of the children of Isma‘il; and when the time of weaning comes an angel will say: “Resume your act [of breastfeeding], for you have been forgiven.”1
185. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “If it were not for hurting their husbands, no pregnant, wet-nursing and compassionate woman who perform prayers, would enter Hellfire.”2
B) The Blessing of the Mother’s Milk:
186. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “There is no milk better for an infant than its mother’s milk.”3
187. Imām ‘Ali (a.s.) said: “There is no milk that the infant feeds on more blessing than its mother’s milk.”4
1.. al-Amāli, by al-Saduq, p. ۴۹۶, h. ۶۷۸, narrating from Abu Khālid al-Ka‘bi from Imām al-Sādiq (a.s.). Bihār al-Anwār, vol. ۱۰۴, p. ۱۰۶, h. ۱.
2.. al-Kāfi, vol. ۵, p. ۵۱۴, h. ۲, narrating from Abu Basir from Imām al-Sādiq (a.s.). Bihār al-Anwār, vol. ۲۲, p. ۱۴۶, h. ۱۳۸. al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir, vol. ۸, p. ۲۵۳, h. ۷۹۸۹, narrating from Abu Umāmah. Kanz al-‘Ummāl, vol. ۱۶, p. ۴۰۷, h. ۴۵۱۳۳.
3.. ‘Uyun Akhbār al-Ridā (a.s.), vol. ۲, p. ۳۴, h. ۶۹. Sahifah al-Imām al-Ridā (a.s.), p. ۱۰۱, h. ۴۲. Both narrating from Ahmad ibn ‘Amir ibn Sulaymān al-Tā'i from Imām al-Ridā (a.s.) from his forefathers (a.s.).
4.. al-Kāfi, vol. ۶, p. ۴۰, h. ۱. Tahdhib al-Ahkām, vol. ۸, p. ۱۰۸, h. ۳۶۵. Both narrating from Talhah ibn Zaid from Imām al-Sādiq (a.s.). Kitāb Man lā Yahdarhu al-Faqih, vol. ۳, p. ۴۷۵, h. ۴۶۶۳.
