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Fatwa CenterIs giving a child to a wet-nurse sunnah?
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh, may Allaah increase HIS goodness upon you, please what is the ruling on Radaa'ah (giving a child to a wetnurse)? is it a sanctioned sunnaah or it is just an arab culture adopted by Islam (such as that of the turban and others)? jazakumullaahu khayran
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Giving a child to a wet-nurse who is other than the mother who gave birth to the child is permissible with the consent of both parents. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And if you wish to have your children nursed by a substitute, there is no blame upon you.}[Quran 2:233]
Al-Qurtubi 
said about the interpretation of this verse, “That is to say, for your children other than the mother (who gave birth to them); this is what was stated by Az-Zajaaj. Besides, An-Nahaas said, ‘The inference in Arabic is to get a non-Mahram nursing mother for your children'. I said, 'Based on this, there is evidence in the verse for taking a wet-nurse if the fathers and mothers agree on this.'”
Therefore, taking a wet-nurse is permissible, and could become obligatory if there is a need for it, but it is not described as a Sunnah (Prophetic tradition) with the meaning that it is undertaken as a means of getting closer to Allaah The Almighty without a need for it. Taking a wet-nurse is among the traditions of the Arabs which Islam approved of, as there are preponderant benefits in it.
Finally, it should be mentioned that there is no contradiction between something being a tradition in the pre-Islamic era of ignorance and then Islam approved of it and made it permissible. If something is approved of in Islam, then it becomes permissible.
Allaah Knows best.
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