Q. It is a Sunnah to call the azan near a child’s ear as the child is born. If it is not done, do the parents incur a sin? From another point of view, if a husband sucks the milk of his lactating wife, does it affect their marital relationship?
M. Althaf
A. When we describe something as a Sunnah, we mean that it is recommended in Islam. And if it is recommended, its omission is not sinful. A sin is committed when one fails to implement a duty or deliberately does what is prohibited. In this case, it is recommended, or a Sunnah, that the child’s father or someone else who is closely related to the child should say the phrases of the azan, or call to prayer, close to the child’s head shortly after the child is born. This ensures that the first words the child hears are the phrases of the azan which glorify God and assert His oneness and the truth of the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
A husband’s sucking of his wife’s milk does not affect their marriage in any way. People confuse this with breastfeeding, but the two are totally different. In Islam when a child below 2 years of age is given five feeds by a woman who is not his mother, and these feeds are through her breasts, the child is considered like a son or a daughter of that woman for all future marriage purposes.
Thus, he cannot marry her, her daughters, granddaughters, sisters, etc. But when a woman gives her breast to her husband, she is not breast-feeding him.
