Short answer
Donor milk from a known woman is allowed, but it creates milk kinship, so the families must record who gave it. In the Hanafi school even one feed of pumped milk counts. Pooled milk banks with anonymous donors are not allowed except in real medical need, because a child could later marry a milk sibling without knowing.
Human milk that reaches a baby's stomach within the first two years creates milk kinship, whether from the breast, a cup, a bottle or a tube. Using milk from a known, recorded donor is permissible. Anonymous pooled milk is to be avoided; if a doctor says it is needed to save a baby's health, it may be used, and the family should try to learn the donor.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Kinship needs five separate, certain feeds. Where the number or the donor is unknown, no kinship is established, though caution is advised.
- Hanbali
- Also requires five feeds in the relied-upon view, so doubtful or mixed donations may not create kinship, though caution is advised.
Explanation
Many hospitals now give premature babies donor milk, and some parents buy or swap milk online. The Islamic question is not whether the milk is clean: human milk is pure. The question is kinship. The Prophet ﷺ said that nursing makes unlawful what blood kinship makes unlawful, so a baby who drinks a woman's milk becomes her milk child and her children's milk sibling.
In the Hanafi school:
- Pumped milk counts the same as nursing at the breast, even if given by bottle or tube.
- One feed is enough, so even a single donation matters.
- Milk mixed with water or formula still counts if the milk is the larger part.
- Milk from two women mixed together: the Hanafi scholars differ on whether both or only the larger share create kinship, so treat both donors as milk mothers to be safe.
Milk banks. Most banks pool milk from many anonymous women. A child fed this way may have dozens of unknown milk siblings and could marry one of them. For this reason the International Islamic Fiqh Academy and most Hanafi muftis do not allow Muslim families to use such banks by choice. A few contemporary scholars allowed them, relying on the five-feed view and the doubt about donors.
Practical steps:
- Prefer milk from a relative or a known friend, and write down her name, her husband's name and the dates.
- If a hospital uses bank milk for a sick or premature baby, accept the medical care, ask whether the donor can be traced, and record what you know.
- Formula is a fully permissible alternative.
See milk kinship and nursing someone else's baby.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:23
حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَٰتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُمْ وَعَمَّٰتُكُمْ وَخَٰلَٰتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلْأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ ٱلْأُخْتِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِىٓ أَرْضَعْنَكُمْ وَأَخَوَٰتُكُم مِّنَ ٱلرَّضَٰعَةِ وَأُمَّهَٰتُ نِسَآئِكُمْ وَرَبَٰٓئِبُكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِى فِى حُجُورِكُم مِّن نِّسَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّٰتِى دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَّمْ تَكُونُوا۟ دَخَلْتُم بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَٰٓئِلُ أَبْنَآئِكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَٰبِكُمْ وَأَن تَجْمَعُوا۟ بَيْنَ ٱلْأُخْتَيْنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا ﴿٢٣﴾
Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters, your mother's sisters, your brother's daughters, your sister's daughters, your [milk] mothers who nursed you, your sisters through nursing, your wives' mothers, and your step-daughters under your guardianship [born] of your wives unto whom you have gone in. But if you have not gone in unto them, there is no sin upon you. And [also prohibited are] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins, and that you take [in marriage] two sisters simultaneously, except for what has already occurred. Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.
Milk mothers and milk sisters are forbidden in marriage, so donors must be known.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2645
Sahih... يحرم من الرضاع ما يحرم من النسب ...
"Nursing makes unlawful what blood kinship makes unlawful."
Any donor becomes a milk mother, with all the marriage rules that follow.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Rada'. Milk given by the mouth or nose (wajur and sa'ut) creates kinship, as does milk mixed with something else when the milk dominates.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Rada'. The difference between Abu Yusuf and Muhammad on milk of two women mixed together.
- al-Majmu' (Nawawi), Kitab al-Rada'. The Shafi'i condition of five certain feeds.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.