sarad
November 14, 2014, 3:57pm
115
Re: Breastfeeding in public
Peace All
However, what else can we see from this hadith. We can that there is a clear setting in the early Arab culture where women would breastfeed in their homes and their families would be exposed to that … Secondly, there was no instruction to be more private or covering up, but rather the instruction was based around another solution and this was regarding a person who was non-mahram.
It can be determined that early Arab culture saw breastfeeding as a non-sexual activity. Modernity has done strange things to it … as Islamic culture grew more advanced the level of privacy and shyness became more and more higher … so niqab and full covering became more and more the standard to be … then came the modern life from the West which started to undress people and objectify us in to sexual things … A slight bit of exposure is now connected with the sexualised form of western modernity rather than being something from ancient culture and necessity. And another layer of modernity is the “Earth Mother” type of modernity that is saying we should be more natural with everything … So there are three layers of modernity applied to us today that differentiate us from that time …
Strict shyness - layer 1
No wonder there is so much diversity regarding this topic … my rule of thumb is to go back to the time of the Prophet (SAW) as our best model for humanity and society … so on that basis kakee has a very strong argument.
The point is when judging others it should be with leniency and when applying on oneself we should be as prudent as possible.
***A’isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hadhaifa, lived with him and his family in their house. She (i. e. the daughter of Suhail came to Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) and said: Salim has attained (purbety) as men attain, and he understands what they understand, and he enters our house freely, I, however, perceive that something (rankles) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa, whereupon Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) said to her: suckle him and you would become unlawful for him, and (the rankling) which Abu Hudhaifa feels in his heart will disappear. She returned and said: So I suckled him, and what (was there) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa disappeared. (Sahih Muslim Book #008 , Hadith #3425 )
Umm Salama said to 'A’isha (Allah be pleased with her): A young boy who is at the threshold of puberty comes to you. I, however, do not like that he should come to me, whereupon 'A’isha (Allah be pleased with her) said: Don’t you see in Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) a model for you? She also said: The wife of Abu Hudhaifa said: Messenger of Allah, Salim comes to me and now he is a (grown-up) person, and there is something that (rankles) in the mind of Abu Hudhaifa about him, whereupon Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: suckle him (so that he may become your foster-child), and thus he may be able to come to you (freely). (Sahih Muslim Book #008 , Hadith #3427 )***
But does not Islam teaches purdah?