In light of the recent discussion abuot attitudes towards relactation, I found this article particularly refreshing:
http://www.egypttoday.com/issues/0311/8939/03118939.asp
Going with the Flow
writer: Manl el-Jesri
A prominent gynecologist offers a simple solution to the problem of adopting a child
You want to adopt an orphan, but are prevented by Islamic law from giving it the full rights of any other family member, right?
Well, maybe not. Provided the child is young enough, science and Al-Azhar may have an answer: A simple breast pump.
First, a little background on the debate.
Adopting a child (tabanni) is prohibited by Shariah. Under Islamic law, adoptive parents can take in a child (a process known as kafala), but as the infant grows, he or she is considered an agnebi (stranger), a problem that prevents many childless couples who are also devout Muslims from taking in one of the nation's thousands of orphaned children.
Enter Amr El-Nouri, a prominent ob/gyn and researcher, who noted that under Islam, a child that breast-feeds from a woman five times automatically becomes a mahremm (first-degree relative), making the mother's children his or her siblings. Provided the five feedings were filling and delivered before the age of two, marriage is prohibited between the child and the mother and her offspring, and the women of the house do not need hijab in front of the son.
Under Shariah, the child has to breast-feed before the age of two for the tahrimm (prohibi- tion of marriage) to be valid So far, 25 of the 40 women who have signed up for El-Nouri's pilot breast-feeding study have successfully used the pumps to induce breast milk and feed the infant children they have adopted. The Cairo University-backed study began at Dar Al-Orman Orphanage, on whose board of trustees El-Nouri sits.
"Any woman can breastfeed if she puts her mind to it," declares Doaa Mohebb, a public outreach officer with Dar Al-Orman, which specializes in infants under the age of three as well as children with special needs. "All she needs is perseverance."
So what does Shariah have to say of the roundabout strategy? El-Nouri and the orphanage won the blessing of Al-Azhar before starting the pilot.
In November 2002, Ahmed Mohamed El-Tayyeb, then mufti of Al-Azhar and now president of Al-Azhar University, issued a fatwa declaring that the pilot's Islamic precepts valid provided the child receive five full feeds.
"Permission granted, Dar El-Orman ordered a batch of electric pumps, declared the issue of tahrimm solved and called for couples to come and start taking in babies," says Mohebb, who provided Egypt Today with a copy of the fatwa.
The high-tech breast pumps, which cost LE 3,000 each, were quickly accepted by the adoptive parents in the study. "We started advertising a few months ago. Even parents who have already taken in children from other places are welcome to come and apply for one," she says.
Just as quickly, the advertising prompted furious criticism from a handful of conservatives. "Some started calling us, saying we are doing a terrible thing to these children. 'Who is to prove that what comes out of a woman's breast is real milk?' some of them have asked," Mohebb says.
Scientifically speaking, it could be little else.
But to cut critics off at the pass, El-Nouri had at press time sent samples of one of the mothers' breast milk to the National Research Center for independent analysis.
"We are certain of the results. Dr. Amr has been taking care of these mothers, and he knows that nothing else can be expressed from a woman's breast," Mohebb says.
The 25 mothers who have successfully used the pumps are already doing well in followups. "They tell me, 'This is the first time we feel like real mothers.' Before, they knew that as their sons grew up they would not be able to hug or kiss them, and would need a third person to be around all the time. Now, they don't even have to consider this problem."
norma
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