Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:233
Mothers may breastfeed their children two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the nursing [period]. Upon the father is the mothers' provision and their clothing according to what is acceptable. No person is charged with more than his capacity. No mother should be harmed through her child, and no father through his child. And upon the [father's] heir is [a duty] like that [of the father]. And if they both desire weaning through mutual consent from both of them and consultation, there is no blame upon either of them. And if you wish to have your children nursed by a substitute, there is no blame upon you as long as you give payment according to what is acceptable. And fear Allah and know that Allah is Seeing of what you do.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
وَالْوَالِدَاتُ يُرْضِعْنَ أَوْلَادَهُنَّ حَوْلَيْنِ كَامِلَيْنِ لِمَنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يُتِمَّ الرَّضَاعَةَ
(And the mothers shall suckle their children for two complete years, for whoever wishes to complete the suckling.)
## The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة
The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, means thereby the following: and the women who are separated from their husbands and who have children whom they bore from their husbands before their separation from them by a divorce (ṭalāq), or whom they bore from them after their separation from them as a result of sexual intercourse that took place between them before the separation — they shall suckle their children. He means thereby that they have a greater right to the suckling of their children than others. This, however, is not an obligation that Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, imposes upon them to suckle their children, when the father of the child is alive and of means. For Allah, the Exalted, has said in the shorter Sūrat al-Nisāʾ [that is, Sūrat al-Ṭalāq]: وَإِنْ تَعَاسَرْتُمْ فَسَتُرْضِعُ لَهُ أُخْرَى (And if you make difficulties for one another, then another woman will suckle for him) (65:6). He, the Exalted, has informed that if the mother and the father make difficulties for one another concerning the wage for which the woman suckles her child, then another than she will suckle it for him. Thus He has not imposed upon her as an obligation that she suckle her child. From this, then, it is known that His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين is an indication of the utmost limit of the suckling, which — when the two parents disagree about the suckling of the child after its expiry — is made into a limit by which it is decided between them; it is not an indication that it is obligatory for the mothers to suckle their children.
As for His saying حولين : thereby He means two years, as in:
3907 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين — two years. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
The origin of the word ḥawl (year) comes from someone's saying: "this thing ḥāla" — when it shifts; and from that it is said: "so-and-so taḥawwala (moved) from that place" — when he shifted from it.
If someone were to say to us: What is the meaning of mentioning "kāmilayn" (complete) in His saying والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين after His saying يرضعن حولين , when the mention of "the two years" makes the mention of "complete" superfluous? For it is not unclear to a listener who hears His saying والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين what is meant thereby. What, then, is the reason why the mention of "complete" was added?
To this it is answered: The Arabs sometimes say: "so-and-so resided in that place two years, or two days, or two months," while he resided there only one day and a part of a second, or one month and a part of a second, or one year and a part of a second. So it was said "two complete years," so that the listener thereof would know that what is meant thereby is two complete years, not one year and a part of a second. That is like Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has said: وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْدُودَاتٍ فَمَنْ تَعَجَّلَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ تَأَخَّرَ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ (And remember Allah on a numbered count of days; whoever hastens in two days, no sin is upon him, and whoever delays, no sin is upon him) (2:203). It is known that the one who hastens hastens only in a day and a half; so too with the third day of the tashrīq days, that nothing of it is complete. But the Arabs do this specifically with indications of time, and say: "Today it is two days since I saw him," whereby they mean only one day and a part of a second. Sometimes they also relate the action that they perform in an hour or an instant to the year, the era, and the day, and say: "I visited him in such-and-such year," and "so-and-so killed so-and-so at the time of Ṣiffīn." They do that because by that statement they do not intend to inform about the number of days and years, but only intend to inform about the time in which that which is being reported occurred. Therefore it was permissible to speak of "the two years" and "the two days" in the manner I described earlier, because the meaning of the saying therein is: "I did it then, and at that point in time." So too with His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين : since the suckling was permissible within the two years, while these are not two [complete] years — for if the saying herein had been left indefinite without clothing the two years with completeness, and it had been said: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين , then it would be possible that thereby one year and a part of a second was meant — He has removed the confusion among His listeners by His saying: كاملين , so that one year and a part of a second would not be meant. And He has, by His saying كاملين , clarified the point in time of the completion of the limit of the suckling, namely that it is the completion of the two years upon their elapsing, and not the elapsing of one of them and a part of the other.
Then the scholars of the interpretation disagreed about that to which this verse points concerning the utmost limit of the suckling of the children: is it a limit for every child, or is it a limit for some and not for others?
Some of them said: it is a limit for some and not for others. The mention of who said that:
3908 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning her who gives birth after six months: that she suckles two complete years; and when she gives birth after seven months, she suckles twenty-three [months] to the completion of thirty months; and when she gives birth after nine months, she suckles twenty-one months.
3909 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, something similar, but he did not raise it up to Ibn ʿAbbās.
3910 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayd, he said: A woman was brought before ʿUthmān who had given birth after six months. He said: "She has been brought; I cannot see her otherwise than that she has committed something evil" — or something similar — "she has given birth after six months." Then Ibn ʿAbbās said: "When she completes the suckling, then the pregnancy lasts six months." And Ibn ʿAbbās recited: وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَاثُونَ شَهْرًا (And his bearing and his weaning are thirty months) (46:15) — "so when she completes the suckling, then the pregnancy lasts six months." Thereupon ʿUthmān released her.
Others said: rather, that is the limit of the suckling of every child about whose suckling its two parents disagree, whereby the one wishes to reach the full term and the other wishes to fall short of it. The mention of who said that:
3911 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين — thus Allah, glorified is He, set the suckling at two years for whoever wishes to complete the suckling. Then He said: فَإِنْ أَرَادَا فِصَالًا عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِنْهُمَا وَتَشَاوُرٍ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا (And if they both desire a weaning, by mutual consent and consultation, then no sin is upon them both) — if they wish to wean him before the two years or after them.
3912 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين . He said: If his mother wishes [to suckle] less than two years, then it is incumbent upon her to reach the full term, not to exceed it — unless he [the father] wishes it.
3913 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us; and ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: Zayd ibn Abī al-Zarqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of al-Thawrī — concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة , and the completion is the two years. He said: If the father wishes to wean him before the two years, while the woman does not consent to it, then he has no right to it; and when the woman says: "I will wean him before the two years," and the father says: "No," then she does not have the right to wean him until the father consents and they agree. If they agree before the two years, then they wean him; if they disagree, then they do not wean him before the two years. That is His saying: فإن أرادا فصالا عن تراض منهما وتشاور .
Others said: rather, Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has by His saying والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين pointed out that there is no [valid] suckling after the two years, for the suckling is only within the two years. The mention of who said that:
3914 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Dhiʾb informed us, saying: al-Zuhrī related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn ʿUmar, that they both said: Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, says: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين , and we are not of the opinion that a suckling after the two years prohibits anything [that is, creates a milk-kinship]. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Yazīd, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, he said: Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: there is no suckling [with legal effect] after the two years.
3915 — Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh [ibn Masʿūd], he said: What of suckling takes place after two years, or within the two years after the weaning, that is no [effective] suckling.
3916 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, they both said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama: that he saw a woman who was suckling after two years, and he said: "Do not suckle him."
3917 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, he said: I heard al-Shaʿbī say: What takes place of pouring [into the mouth], sniffing up [through the nose], or suckling within the two years, that prohibits [creates a milk-kinship]; and what takes place after the two years prohibits nothing.
3918 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he transmitted from ʿAbd Allāh that he said: There is no suckling [with effect] after weaning or after two years.
3919 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: After the completion [of the two years] the suckling prohibits nothing; only that prohibits which causes flesh to grow and bone to come into being.
3920 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, that Ibn ʿAbbās said: There is no suckling [with effect] after the weaning of the two years. Hilāl ibn al-ʿAlāʾ al-Raqqī related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Zayd, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, he said: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين : there is no suckling [with effect] except within these two years.
Others said: rather, His saying والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين was an indication from Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, to His servants that it was obligatory for the mothers of the children to suckle them for two complete years, after which He, the Exalted, lightened that with His saying: لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة . Thus He has left the choice therein to the fathers and the mothers: if they wish the completion, they complete the two years; and if they wish the weaning of the child before that point in time, then that is permitted to them, according to what they judge to be right for the child. The mention of who said that:
3921 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين — then Allah revealed thereafter the lightening and the easing and He, whose praise is proclaimed, said: لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة .
3922 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين — He means: the divorced women suckle their children for two complete years; then He revealed thereafter the permission and the easing and He said: لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة .
The mention of who said that the mothers whom Allah mentions in this place are the women separated from their husbands, in the manner that we described earlier:
3923 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين up to إذا سلمتم ما آتيتم بالمعروف — as for "the mothers shall suckle their children for two complete years": that is the man who divorces his wife while he has a child from her, and she suckles for him his child for the same [wage] for which another would suckle it for him.
3924 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين , he said: that is when the man divorces his wife while she is suckling a child for him. Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, something similar.
The most correct of the sayings about His words والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة is the saying that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa transmitted on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and with which ʿAṭāʾ and al-Thawrī agreed — and the saying that is transmitted on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, Ibn ʿAbbās, and Ibn ʿUmar, namely that it is an indication of the utmost limit to which one comes in the suckling of the child when its two parents disagree; and that there is no suckling after the two years that prohibits anything [creates a milk-kinship]; and that thereby every child is meant, whether its birth occurred after six, after seven, or after nine months.
As for our saying that it is an indication of the utmost limit to which one comes in the suckling at the disagreement of the two parents about it: that is because, when Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, set a limit therein, it was not possible that what is beyond His limit agrees in the ruling with what lies below it. For if that were so, then the limit would have no intelligible meaning. And since that is so, there is no doubt that the term which is less than the two years — since it was a time of suckling — that what falls outside it is not a time for it, but a time for the ending of the suckling. And since the completion of the suckling is the completion of the two years, and what is complete among things leaves no room for addition to it, there is no sense in addition to the suckling above the two years. And since the suckling that is less than the two years was prohibiting [creating a milk-kinship], what falls outside it is not prohibiting.
We only said that it is an indication that thereby every child is meant, regardless of the time of its birth — after six, seven, or nine months — because Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, by His saying والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين stated it generally and did not thereby except some children above others. And we have demonstrated the untenability of the position of specific restriction [of a general text] without a clarification from Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, in His Book, or by the mouth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in our book "Kitāb al-Bayān ʿan Uṣūl al-Aḥkām," with that which makes repetition of it in this place superfluous.
If someone were to say to us: but Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has clarified that with His saying: وحمله وفصاله ثلاثون شهرا (And his bearing and his weaning are thirty months), and has made that into a limit for both aspects together. It is thus not permissible that bearing and suckling amount to more than the limit that Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has set. So whatever of the duration of the bearing is less than nine months, that is added to the duration of the suckling; and whatever is added to the duration of the bearing is subtracted from the duration of the suckling; and it is not permissible with both together to exceed the duration of thirty months, as Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has delimited it?
To him it is answered: according to this reasoning it would then necessarily follow that, if the duration of the bearing reaches two complete years, the child could be suckled only six months; and if it reaches four years, the suckling would lapse so that there is no suckling — because the bearing then absorbs the thirty months entirely and exceeds its limit. Or the one who makes this statement claims that the duration of the bearing never exceeds nine months, whereby he comes into conflict with the saying of all the bearers of proof and obstinately contradicts the existent and the observed — and those [facts] suffice as proof of the falsity of his claim, if he should claim that. To whichever of the two positions the one who makes this statement takes refuge, for the discerning the untenability of his statement becomes clear.
If someone were to say to us: what then is the meaning of His saying وحمله وفصاله ثلاثون شهرا (46:15), if the matter is as you have described, while you have just mentioned that it is not permissible that what exceeds the limit of Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, is equal in the ruling to what falls below it, and you have said that bearing and weaning sometimes exceed the thirty months?
To this it is answered: Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has not made His saying وحمله وفصاله ثلاثون شهرا into a limit by which He imposes upon His servants as a religious duty not to exceed it, as He made His saying والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة into a limit for the suckling of the child that receives the full suckling, and by which He imposes upon the servants as a religious duty to oblige its two parents to it at their disagreement about it and when one of the two wishes to harm it. That is because the command of Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, applies only to that in which the servants have a way to obedience by doing it and to disobedience by leaving it. As for that to which they have no way to do it or leave it — that belongs to that concerning which command, prohibition, or religious duty is not permissible. And since that is so, and the bearing belongs to that in which the women have no way to shorten or lengthen its duration, so that they would give birth when they wish and refrain from giving birth when they wish, it is known that His saying وحمله وفصاله ثلاثون شهرا (46:15) is only an information from Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, that the one of His creatures whose bearing, birth, and weaning He made into thirty months [is so created], not a command that in the duration of his bearing and weaning the thirty months may not be exceeded, for the reason that we have described. Likewise, our Lord, whose praise is proclaimed, has said in His Book: وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَانًا حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَاثُونَ شَهْرًا (And We have enjoined upon man kindness to his parents; his mother bore him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his bearing and his weaning are thirty months) (46:15).
If a fool were to suppose that Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, when He described that the one of His creatures whose mother bore him, gave birth to him, and weaned him in thirty months [is so], that it is then necessary that all His creatures have that quality, and that this is an indication that the bearing and weaning of all His servants amount to thirty months — then it would be necessary that the quality of all His servants is that they, when they reach their full strength and reach forty years, say: رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ (My Lord, dispose me to be thankful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do righteousness that pleases You), according to what Allah described thereby of the one whom He described in this verse. But in our observation there exists one whose disbelief in Allah and whose ingratitude for the favors of his Lord toward him grows obstinate, and whose insolence toward his parents [is expressed] with killing, abuse, and all kinds of torments upon reaching his forty years and reaching his full strength — from which one knows that Allah did not by this verse mean the quality of all His servants, but that one knows that He thereby described only some of them and not others. That is something which no one denies or rejects, for whoever of mankind is born after nine months is more numerous than whoever is born after four years and after two years, just as whoever is born after nine months is more numerous than whoever is born after six months and after seven months.
The reciters disagreed about the reading thereof. The majority of the people of Medina, Iraq, and Syria read: لمن أراد أن يُتِمَّ الرضاعةَ with the yāʾ in "yutimma" and the accusative of "al-raḍāʿata," with the meaning: for whoever of the fathers and mothers wishes to complete the suckling of his child. Some people of the Ḥijāz read "لمن أراد أن تَتِمَّ الرضاعةُ" with the tāʾ in "tatimma" and the nominative of "al-raḍāʿatu" as its subject. The correct one of the reading therein is, in our judgment, the reading of whoever read with the yāʾ in "yutimma" and the accusative of "al-raḍāʿata," because Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has said والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن , and so they are the ones who complete it, when they and the father wish its completion; and it is the reading that is transmitted by the widespread transmission by which the proof is established, in contrast to the other reading.
Concerning "al-raḍāʿa," there has been heard from the Arabs the kasra of the rāʾ therein [al-riḍāʿa]; and if that is correct, it is analogous to al-wakāla and al-wikāla, al-dalāla and al-dilāla, and "mahartu the thing mahāratan and mihāratan" [skill]. Then both "al-raḍāʿ" and "al-riḍāʿ" are permissible, as is said "al-ḥaṣād" and "al-ḥiṣād" [the harvest]. As for the reading [of the Qurʾān], it is exclusively with the fatḥa, not otherwise.
وَعَلَى الْمَوْلُودِ لَهُ رِزْقُهُنَّ وَكِسْوَتُهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
(And upon him to whom [the child] is born rests their provision and their clothing in a fitting manner.)
## The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وعلى المولود له رزقهن وكسوتهن بالمعروف
The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, means by His saying وعلى المولود له : and upon the fathers of the children rests, for the suckling women, their provision, that is, the provision of their mothers. By "provision" (rizq) He means that which nourishes them of food, and that without which they cannot do of nourishment and victuals, and their clothing; and by "clothing" (kiswa) He means the apparel. By His saying بالمعروف He means: with that which is obligatory for someone like her upon someone like him. For Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has known the differences in the conditions of His creatures in wealth and poverty, and that among them are the well-off, the needy, and the one in between. So He has commanded each to spend upon the one whose maintenance is obligatory upon him — his wife and his child — according to the measure of his capacity, as He, whose praise is proclaimed, has said: لِيُنْفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِنْ سَعَتِهِ وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنْفِقْ مِمَّا آتَاهُ اللَّهُ لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا مَا آتَاهَا (Let him who has abundance spend out of his abundance, and whoever's provision is restricted, let him spend out of what Allah has given him; Allah does not burden a soul beyond what He has given it) (65:7). And as in:
3925 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة وعلى المولود له رزقهن وكسوتهن بالمعروف , he said: when the man divorces his wife while she is suckling a child for him, and they both consent that she suckle for two complete years, then upon the father rests the provision of the suckling woman and the clothing in a fitting manner according to the measure of capacity; no soul is burdened except according to its capacity.
3926 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to me, saying: Zayd related to us; and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us — on the authority of Sufyān — concerning His saying: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين لمن أراد أن يتم الرضاعة , and the completion is the two years; وعلى المولود له — upon the father rests her food and her clothing in a fitting manner.
3927 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: وعلى المولود له رزقهن وكسوتهن بالمعروف , he said: upon the father [it rests].
لَا تُكَلَّفُ نَفْسٌ إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا
(No soul is burdened except according to its capacity.)
## The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لا تكلف نفس إلا وسعها
The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, means thereby: no soul is burdened with any matter except with that which does not distress it and the attainment of which is not impossible for it when it wishes it. Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, means thereby only: Allah imposes upon the men, for the maintenance of those who suckle their children among their wives separated from them, nothing but what they are capable of and to which they find a way, as He, whose praise is proclaimed, has said: لِيُنْفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ مِنْ سَعَتِهِ وَمَنْ قُدِرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقُهُ فَلْيُنْفِقْ مِمَّا آتَاهُ اللَّهُ (Let him who has abundance spend out of his abundance, and whoever's provision is restricted, let him spend out of what Allah has given him) (65:7). As in:
3928 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us; and ʿAlī related to me, saying: Zayd related to us — both on the authority of Sufyān — concerning لا تكلف نفس إلا وسعها : except what it is capable of.
Al-wusʿ (capacity) is the verbal noun of someone's saying: "wasiʿanī this matter, fa-huwa yasaʿunī siʿatan" [this matter falls within my capacity]. And one says: "this is what I give you, wusʿī" — that is: what affords me the room to give you, so that the giving of it to you does not distress me; and "I gave you of my effort (juhd)" when one gives him what exerts him, so that the giving of it distresses him. The meaning of His saying لا تكلف نفس إلا وسعها is thus what I have described: that it is only burdened with what affords it the room to give of that which it is obliged to give, so that it does not distress it and does not exhaust it. Not what the ignorant among the adherents of the Qadar [the Qadarites] suppose, namely that the meaning thereof is: no soul is burdened except with that to which it has been given the capacity of acts of obedience. For if that were as they claim, then His saying, whose praise is proclaimed: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُوا لَكَ الْأَمْثَالَ فَضَلُّوا فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَبِيلًا (See how they strike for you parables, so that they go astray and cannot find a way) (17:48) — since this points out that they are not able to find the way to that with which they were burdened — would necessitate that the people are in one and the same condition in which they have been given the capacity to that to which they have been prevented from it. That is, from the one who says it if he were to say it, an absurdity in his reasoning and a false claim whose falsity is hidden from no one. And since the untenability of this statement is clear, it is known that that with which He, whose praise is proclaimed, informs that He burdens the souls — namely their capacity — is something other than that with which He informs that He burdens them which they cannot find a way to.
لَا تُضَارَّ وَالِدَةٌ بِوَلَدِهَا وَلَا مَوْلُودٌ لَهُ بِوَلَدِهِ
(Let no mother be harmed because of her child, nor a father because of his child.)
## The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لا تضار والدة بولدها ولا مولود له بولده
The reciters disagreed about the reading thereof. The majority of the reciters of the people of the Ḥijāz, Kūfa, and Syria read: لا تضارَّ والدة بولدها with the fatḥa of the rāʾ, with the interpretation "lā tuḍārar" [let no harm be done] in the manner of the prohibition, and its position, when it is read thus, is jussive (jazm). Except that it was given a vowel, since — when the doubling was released — the lightest of the vowels was used, namely the fatḥa. If it had been given a kasra, that would be permissible, by following the vowel of the lām of the verb to the vowel of its ʿayn; and if you wish: because the jussive, when it is given a vowel, is given a kasra.
Some people of the Ḥijāz and some people of Basra read that: "لا تضارُّ والدة بولدها" in the nominative. Whoever read it thus, his reading does not carry the meaning of the prohibition, but it is then a statement, whereby His saying لا تضار is connected with His saying لا تكلف نفس إلا وسعها . Some grammarians of Basra have claimed that the meaning of whoever reads "lā tuḍārru wālidatun bi-waladihā" in the nominative is thus, as regards the ruling: that no mother may be harmed because of her child — that is: it is not fitting that she be harmed. When "yanbaghī" (it is fitting) was elided and "tuḍārru" came in its place, it came to stand in its [grammatical] form. He adduced as proof for that the saying of the poet:
"To the judge who is addressed one day, when he renders his judgment, [it befits] that he be not unjust and aim aright (yaqṣidu)."
He claimed that he placed "yaqṣidu" in the nominative with the meaning of "yanbaghī" (it is fitting). But what has been heard from the Arabs by transmission is something other than what he said. That is because it has been related from them by transmission: "fa-taṣnaʿu mādhā" when they wish to say: "fa-turīdu an taṣnaʿa mādhā" (so you wish to do what?), whereby they place it in the accusative with the implicit "an"; and when they do not make "an" implicit and do not intend it, they say: "fa-turīdu mādhā" (so you wish what?), whereby they place "turīdu" in the nominative, because there is nothing that calls up the "an" before it, as there was something that called it up before "taṣnaʿu." If, then, the meaning of His saying "lā tuḍārru" — when it is read in the nominative — were "yanbaghī an lā tuḍārra" (it is fitting that she not be harmed), or "[it is not as it should be] that she be harmed," and thereafter "yanbaghī" and "an" were elided and "tuḍārr" set in the place of "yanbaghī" — then it would be obligatory that it, when it is read with that meaning, be read in the accusative and not in the nominative, so that by its accusative the elided thing before it and intended thereby would be known, as has been done with their saying "fa-taṣnaʿu mādhā." But the meaning thereof is what we have said, when it is read in the nominative by connection with لا تكلف : no soul is burdened except according to its capacity, and no mother is harmed because of her child — He means thereby that this does not exist in the religion of Allah, His ruling, and the morals of the Muslims.
The most correct of the two readings therein is the reading of whoever read it in the accusative, because it is a prohibition from Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, to each of the two parents of the child against the harming by the one to the other — which is forbidden to them both by the consensus of the Muslims. If it were a statement, then the harming of the child would likewise be forbidden to them both. And in the sense which we have said about it — namely that it has the meaning of the prohibition — the scholars of the interpretation have interpreted it. The mention of who said that:
3929 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: لا تضار والدة بولدها — that she does not refuse to suckle him in order to make it difficult for the father; and the father does no harm because of his child, by preventing his mother from suckling him in order to grieve her. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
3930 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: لا تضار والدة بولدها ولا مولود له بولده , he said: Allah, the Exalted, has forbidden harming and laid down a precept about it. Thus Allah has forbidden that the father do harm by taking the child away from its mother when she is content with that with which another would be content as a suckling wage; and the mother is forbidden to throw the child at its father in order to do harm. Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: لا تضار والدة بولدها — she throws it at its father in order to do harm; ولا مولود له بولده — he says: and the child is not [taken away] by snatching it away from her to do harm, when she is content with the same suckling wage with which another would be content; then she has a greater right to it, when she is content with that.
3931 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: لا تضار والدة بولدها , he said: that is when he has divorced her; then he does not have the right to harm her by snatching the child away from her when she is content with him with the same as that with which another would be content; and she does not have the right to harm him by burdening him with what he is not capable of when he is a poor man, by throwing his child at him.
3932 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: لا تضار والدة بولدها — no mother is harmed because of her child, nor a father because of his child. He says: no mother is harmed because of her child, so that she throws it at him when the father is alive, or at his agnatic relatives when the father has died; and the father does no harm to the woman when she wishes to suckle her child, and he does not snatch it [from her] away.
3933 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: لا تضار والدة بولدها — he says: the man does not snatch his child away from his wife in order to give it to another for the same wage for which she accepts it; and no mother is harmed because of her child, so that the mother throws the child at him and says: "I [will] not [care] for him as soon as I have borne him" — but it belongs to her duty to suckle him until he [the father] seeks a wet-nurse.
3934 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: ʿUqayl related to me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb — and he was asked about the saying of Allah, whose praise is proclaimed: والوالدات يرضعن أولادهن حولين كاملين up to لا تضار والدة بولدها ولا مولود له بولده — Ibn Shihāb said: the mothers have a greater right to the suckling of their children when they accept their suckling for the same wage that is given to another. The mother does not have the right to let herself be harmed because of her child by refusing out of harm-doing to suckle it while she receives for it what another receives as wage; and the father does not have the right to snatch his child away from its mother in order to harm her while she accepts of the wage what another receives for it.
3935 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us; and ʿAlī related to me, saying: Zayd related to us — both on the authority of Sufyān — concerning His saying: لا تضار والدة بولدها — she does not throw her child at the father when he has separated from her, in order thereby to harm him; ولا مولود له بولده — and the father does not snatch her child away from her, in order thereby to harm her.
3936 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: لا تضار والدة بولدها ولا مولود له بولده , he said: he does not snatch it away from her while she wishes to suckle it, so that he harms her; and she does not throw it at him while he finds no one to suckle it and finds nothing with which to have it suckled.
3937 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī al-Bāhilī related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to me, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning His saying: لا تضار والدة بولدها , he said: she does not leave him and his suckling out of her aversion [to the father] as harm-doing toward his father; and the one with whom it is [the father] does not prevent her from it as harm-doing toward her.
Some of them said: the mother whose harming the man is forbidden is the wet-nurse of the child. The mention of who said that:
3938 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Hārūn al-Naḥwī related to us, saying: al-Zubayr ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His saying: لا تضار والدة بولدها , he said: it is the wet-nurse (ẓiʾr).
The meaning of the saying is thus: the father of a child does no harm to his [the child's wet-nurse as] mother because of his child from her, nor does the mother of a child harm its father because of her child from him. Then the mention of the agent in "yuḍārr" was elided, and it was said: لا تضار والدة بولدها ولا مولود له بولده [in passive form], as is said — when it is forbidden to honor a particular man, in a passive construction without a mentioned agent, and by the prohibition of honoring him no particular person is intended: "lā yukram ʿAmrun wa-lā yujlas ilā akhīhi" (let ʿAmr not be honored nor let one be seated beside his brother). Then the doubling was released and it was said "lā yuḍārr," whereby the second rāʾ — which would be jussive if the doubling were shown — was given the vowel of the first rāʾ.
Some linguists have claimed that in this place it was given only the fatḥa because that is one of the vowels. But what he said about that has no [tenable] meaning, for that would be permissible to be so only if the meaning of the saying were: "lā tuḍārūna wālidatun bi-waladihā" and the one forbidden from being harmed were the mother. Moreover: if the meaning of the saying were so, then the kasra in "tuḍārr" would be more eloquent than the fatḥa, and the reading with it more correct than the reading with the fatḥa, as "madda bi-l-thawbi" is more eloquent than "madda bihi." And in the consensus of the reciters on the reading لا تضار with the fatḥa and not with the kasra is a clear indication of the negligence of the one whose statement I cited about that from the linguists.
If someone says: he said that on the supposition that the meaning thereof is "lā tuḍārar wālidatun" [let no harm be done to a mother], and that the mother is in the nominative by her verb, and that the portion of the first rāʾ is the kasra — then he has neglected the interpretation of the saying and has come into conflict with the saying of all whose saying we have cited from the scholars of the interpretation. That is because Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has addressed each of the two parents of the child with the prohibition of harming the other because of their child, not that He forbade each of the two to harm the child. And how would it be permissible that He forbids him to harm the child, while the child in the condition in which it is a suckling infant cannot possibly harm anyone? If that were the meaning thereof, then the revelation [would have to read]: "lā tuḍirra wālidatun bi-waladihā" [let a mother do no harm to her child].
Others among the linguists have claimed that the kasra in "tuḍārr" is permissible. But the kasra therein is, in my judgment, not permissible in this place, because — when it is read with the kasra — the meaning thereof changes from the meaning of "lā tuḍārar," which belongs to the mode of the passive [without a mentioned agent], to the meaning of "lā tuḍārir," which belongs to the mode of the active [with a mentioned agent].
Since Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has forbidden each of the two parents of the child to harm the other because of their child, it is the duty of the leader (imām) of the Muslims — when the man wishes to snatch his child away from its mother after her separation from him, while she cares for it, looks after it, and suckles it for the same for which another would care for it, look after it, and suckle it at a wage — to compel the father to the surrender of her child to her, as long as the child needs her for that, for the wage that is given to another. And it is a duty — when the child does not accept the breast of another than its mother, or the father finds no one who suckles his child, even if it accepts the breast of another than its mother, or he is needy and finds nothing with which to hire a wet-nurse, and finds no one who bestows upon him the suckling of his child gratuitously — to compel the mother who is separated from its father to its suckling and care. For Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, has forbidden each of its two parents to harm the other because of it; and then the harming of the child itself is all the more forbidden, given what the harming of it entails of harm-doing toward the other.
وَعَلَى الْوَارِثِ مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ
(And upon the heir rests the like of that.)
## The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك
The scholars of the interpretation disagreed about the heir whom Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, meant by His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك — and who that heir is, and heir of whom he is.
Some of them said: it is the heir of the child. They said: the meaning of the verse is: and upon the heir of the child — when [its father] has died — rests the like of what rested upon its father during his lifetime. The mention of who said that:
3939 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, they said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك — upon the heir of the child.
3940 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك — upon the heir of the child. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: and upon the heir of the child rests the like of what rested upon its father.
Then the adherents of this saying disagreed about the heir of the child whom Allah, the Exalted, obliged with the like of what He described. Some of them said: it is the heirs of the child on the father's side from his agnatic relatives (ʿaṣaba), whoever it be — brother, uncle, paternal cousin [uncle's son], or brother's son. The mention of who said that:
3941 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, that ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb informed him that Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab informed him that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said concerning His saying وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك : he obliged the paternal cousins [uncle's sons] to the maintenance of a newborn without direct heirs (kalāla), like the ʿāqila [who bear the blood-money].
3942 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that al-Ḥasan used to say concerning وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك : upon the agnatic relatives (ʿaṣaba). ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs and Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, they both said: Ibn Jurayj related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, he said: ʿUmar obliged the paternal cousin to the suckling of a newborn without direct heirs.
3943 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, that al-Ḥasan used to say: when the man dies while his wife is pregnant, then her maintenance comes from her share [of the inheritance], and the maintenance of her child from its share of its [own] property, if it has that; and if it has no property, then its maintenance rests upon its agnatic relatives. He said: and he interpreted His saying وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك as referring to the men. ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: upon the agnatic relatives, the men and not the women.
3944 — Abū Kurayb and ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, they both said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, that before ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba an orphan was brought with his guardian, and with the orphan was someone who spoke about his maintenance. He said to the guardian of the orphan: "If he had no property, I would sentence you to his maintenance, for Allah, the Exalted, says: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك ." Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, he said: before ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba [a case] was brought about the suckling of a child, and he placed its suckling in its [own] property, and said to its guardian: "If he had no property, we would place his suckling in your property; do you not see that He says: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك ?"
3945 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: upon the heir rests what rests upon the father, when the child has no property; and when it has a paternal cousin or agnatic relatives who inherit it, then upon him rests the maintenance.
3946 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the guardian, whoever it be. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Abū Bishr Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
3947 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥanafī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Yaʿqūb — that is Ibn al-Qāsim — informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ and Qatāda, concerning an orphan who possesses nothing: are his guardians compelled to his maintenance? They both said: yes, maintenance is spent on him until he comes of age.
3948 — It was related to me on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: if the father of the child dies and the child has property, then its suckling is taken from the property; and if it has no property, it is taken from the agnatic relatives; and if the agnatic relatives have no property, its mother is compelled to it.
Others among them said: rather, that rests upon the heir of the child, whoever it be of the men and the women. The mention of who said that:
3949 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, that he used to say: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك — upon the heir of the child rests what rested upon the father of the suckling wage, when the child has no property, upon the men and the women according to the measure in which they inherit.
3950 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, held three [persons] liable who all inherited the child, for its suckling wage.
3951 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn: that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba placed the maintenance of a child out of its [own] property, and said to its heir: "Verily, if he had no property, we would hold you liable for his maintenance; do you not see that He says: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك ?"
Others among them said: it is of his heirs whoever of them is a mahram blood-relative of the child. As for whoever is indeed a blood-relative of his but not a mahram — such as the paternal cousin [uncle's son], the [freed-slave] patron (mawlā), and the like — that one does not belong to whom Allah meant by His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك . Those who made this saying are: Abū Ḥanīfa, Abū Yūsuf, and Muḥammad.
Another group said: rather, the one whom Allah, whose praise is proclaimed, meant by His saying وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك is the child itself. The mention of who said that:
3952 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam al-Miṣrī related to us, saying: Abū Zurʿa Wahb Allāh ibn Rāshid related to us, saying: Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ informed us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿa informed us, that Bishr ibn Naṣr al-Muzanī — who was a judge before Ibn Ḥujayra in the time of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz — used to say concerning وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the heir is the child.
3953 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Muqriʾ related to us, saying: Ḥaywa informed us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿa informed us, on the authority of Qabīṣa ibn Dhuʾayb: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: it is the child. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Rabīʿa informed me, that Qabīṣa ibn Dhuʾayb used to say: the heir is the child, referring to His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك .
3954 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: he means by the heir the child that is suckled.
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: the interpretation thereof, according to what these have interpreted, is: and upon the heir, [namely] the child, rests the like of what rested upon the father.
Others said: rather, it is the one of the two parents of the child who remains after the death of the other of them. The mention of who said that:
3955 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥanafī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān informed us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: I heard Sufyān say concerning a child who has an uncle [on the father's side] and a mother, while she suckles it: he said: its suckling is between them both, and it is taken from the uncle according to the measure in which the mother inherits, because the mother is compelled to the maintenance of her child.
## The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: مثل ذلك
The scholars of the interpretation disagreed about the interpretation of His saying: مثل ذلك . Some of them said: the interpretation thereof is: and upon the heir of the child, after the death of its two parents, rests the like of what rested upon its father of suckling wage and maintenance, when the child has no property. The mention of who said that:
3956 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: upon the heir rests the suckling of the child. ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, they both said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the suckling wage. ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the suckling. ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the suckling wage.
3957 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the suckling.
3958 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtba, concerning His saying: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the maintenance in a fitting manner. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: upon the heir rests what rests upon the father of suckling, when the child has no property. Sufyān related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said: the suckling and the maintenance. Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: وعلى الوارث مثل ذلك , he said: the suckling.
3959 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: the suckling. ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: { وعلى [illegible — the text breaks off here]
