On 2011-08-03, at 8:22 AM, Jacquie Nutt wrote:
> ...
> 
> We are very happy to have notification of this fatwa to pass on to other Muslim would-be-donors in our area.  I have to say that I have not read the actual fatwa myself, merely the report from the representative of the MJC Fatwa Committee.  I also have the feeling that, as with many religions, there are branches that interpret religious law differently from others.  I have had some Muslim mothers come for help because the Koran "says I must wean my baby at 2 years, and how do I do that?" and others who say that the Koran actually says, "Do not stop breastfeeding before 2 years old" (ie, do what you like afterwards).  I very much like the latter interpretation, but we have to help the mother work within her own family beliefs.

I just came across this paper a few days ago. Seems very apropos to this discussion. 

https://www.openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/16542/1/Ghaly-Milk+Banks.pdf

The full article is available at the link above, and here is the abstract: 

MILK BANKS THROUGH THE LENS OF MUSLIM SCHOLARS: ONE TEXT IN
TWO CONTEXTS
MOHAMMED GHALY
Bioethics, 2010

ABSTRACT
When Muslims thought of establishing milk banks, religious reservations
were raised. These reservations were based on the concept that women’s
milk creates ‘milk kinship’ believed to impede marriage in Islamic Law. This
type of kinship is, however, a distinctive phenomenon of Arab tradition and
relatively unknown in Western cultures. This article is a pioneer study which
fathoms out the contemporary discussions of Muslim scholars on this issue.
The main focus here is a religious guideline (fatwa) issued in 1983, referred
to in this article as ‘one text’, by the Egyptian scholar Yu¯ suf al-Qarada¯wı¯
who saw no religious problem in establishing or using these banks. After a
number of introductory remarks on the ‘Western’ phenomenon of milk
banks and the ‘Islamic’ phenomenon of ‘milk kinship’, this article analyses
the fatwa of al-Qarada¯wı¯ ‘one text’ and investigates the ‘two contexts’ in
which this fatwa was discussed, namely, the context of the Muslim world
and that of Muslim minorities living in the West. The first context led to
rejecting the fatwa and refusing to introduce the milk banking system in the
Muslim world. The second context led to accepting this system and thus
allowing Muslims living in the West to donate and receive milk from these
banks. Besides its relevance to specialists in the fields of Islamic studies,
anthropology and medical ethics, this article will also be helpful to physicians and nurses who deal with patients of Islamic background.


Jodine Chase
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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