Breastfeeding According to Islam Rodo'ah or Syariba?

 

Breastfeeding is a natural process that must be experienced by a mother for 2 years after giving birth. Breastfeeding is a mother's obligation because breastfeeding is the right of every baby as explained in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia article 128 paragraph 1 of 2009 1.

According to the KBBI, breastfeeding is giving milk to drink (to babies and so on) from the breasts 2. Likewise in the Islamic religion, Allah has explained in detail in the Al-Qur'an and Hadith. One of them is contained in the letter Al-Baqarah verse 233 as follows 3,4 :

Amen ضَاعَةَ ۗ وَعَلَى الْمَوْلُوْدِ لَهٗ رِزْقُهُنَّ وَكِسْوَتُهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوْفِۗ لَا تُكَلَّفُ ن َفْسٌ اِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَا تُضَاۤرَّ وَالِدَةٌ ۢبِوَلَدِهَا وَلَا مَوْلُوْدٌ لَّهٗ بِوَلَدِهٖ وَع َلَى الْوَارِثِ مِثْلُ ذٰلِكَ ۚ فَاِنْ اَرَادَا فِصَالًا عَنْ تَرَاضٍ مِّنْهُمَا وَتَشَاوُرٍ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا ۗوَاِنْ اَرَدْتُّمْ اَنْ تَسْتَرْضِعُوْٓا ??? قُوا اللّٰهَ وَاعْلَمُوْٓا اَنَّ اللّٰهَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُوْنَ بَصِيْرٌ – ٢٣٣

Meaning: "And mothers should breastfeed their children for two full years, for those who want to breastfeed perfectly. And it is the duty of the father to provide for their living and clothing in a proper (ma'ruf) way. A person is not burdened with more than he can afford. Let not a mother suffer because of her child and neither should a father (suffer) because of his child. The heirs (obligations) are like that too. If both of them want to wean with the agreement and deliberation between the two, then there is no sin on both of them. And if you want to suckle your child to someone else, then there is no sin on your part to give payment in the proper way. Fear Allah and know that Allah is Seeing of what you do."

The verses of the Qur'an mentioned above are also strengthened by the hadith as follows 4:

From Abu Umamah RA, "I heard Rasulullah SAW say, 'Then Jibril AS started to continue the journey with me, suddenly I saw women whose both breasts were filled with snakes. Then I asked; "Why are they?" Then someone answered me, "They are women who deprive their children of their milk." (Reported by Hakim, he stated that the hadith is valid)

In the verses of the Qur'an and hadith above it is explained that a mother must breastfeed her child for 2 full years if she wants to breastfeed perfectly. Breastfeeding that Allah explains is radha'ah (الرضاع ) which means a mother breastfeeding a child or child sucking or sucking breast milk directly, not by shariba (Arabic: شرب ) which means drinking with aids such as bottles and others.

Therefore, we can conclude that the best food for our children from birth to 2 years old is ASI (breast milk). The perfect way of giving breast milk that is blessed by Allah SWT according to the Al-Qur'an and hadith is by direct breastfeeding (rodo'ah) not by pumping and then giving it with assistive devices such as bottles or other things (syariba). Syariba is only allowed if under forced conditions, for example because the mother is sick or the child is sick or the mother has to work because there are special considerations such as economic problems.

REFERENCES

  1. Ministry of Health. 2009. https://infeksiemerging.kemkes.go.id/download/UU_36_2009_Kesehatan.pdf Downloaded: September 29 2021 at 13.18 WIB
  2. anonymous. https://kbbi.kata.web.id/menyusui/ Downloaded: September 28 2021 at 22.00 WIB
  3. Ministry of Religion. 2021. https://quran.kemenag.go.id/sura/2 Downloaded: September 29 2021 at 13:10 WIB
  4. Indonesian Ministry of Religion. 2019. Translated Edition of the Qur'an & Explanation of Verses about Women. The Triad: Solo

Written by: dr. Lamya Muthia Nabila

N.I.K. 157110404