A Tradition Invented 3i that rida ‘ al-kabir was a valid means for creating mahram relations, ‘A’isha was opposed not only by prominent men such as ‘Umar, ‘All b. Abl Talib (d. 40/661), and ‘Abd Allah b. Mas‘ud (d. 32/653), but also rather emphatically by the other wives of Muhammad. ‘A’isha’s role in the early debate on rida ‘ al-kabir centers on a question that eventually became marginal in the legal discourse on nursing: can women utilize the Prophet’s hadith on this topic to circumvent strictures imposed on male-female interactions? The following section provides a brief background as to the legal complexities associated with “adult nursing.” The debate is an extensive one, and the overview that follows is purely for the purpose of providing a context for ‘A’isha’s view. The Qur’an decrees that certain categories of women are prohibited to men in marriage and specifies among them “mothers and sisters through nursing.”4 ’ That is to say, if a woman has served as a wet nurse for a boy, she, her daughters, and any other girls that she may have nursed cannot have lawful sexual relations with him. In Arabian culture, wet nursing was a widespread practice. As a result, the determination of “lawful” candidates for sexual relations could pose a variety of challenges. While nursing within the naturally determined time period (i.e., within the first two or three years of life) created a host of legal dilemmas, the issue of giving breast milk to adults appears to have wreaked havoc on the conceptualization of licit and illicit relationships in terms of marriage and social interaction. 1 The Prophet’s endorsement of giving breast milk to an adult is found in a report in which Muhammad allowed a Arabic sources that nursing (requiring intimate contact between a man and a woman) is not what the jurists had in mind when discussing this issue. For a more detailed discussion of nursing in the medieval Muslim world, see Avner Giladi, Infants, Parents, and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications (Leiden: Brill, 1999). 43 Qur’an, 4:23. 44 As is apparent from various hadith , the prohibition on “mothers and sisters through nursing” extends to women who could be taken as concubines as well as spouses. The following two traditions appearing in Malik’s al-Muwatta’ exemplify the confusion stemming from the rida ‘ al-kabir debate. In one, ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar reports on a man who complained to ‘Umar b. al-Khattab that his wife fed some of her breast milk to his concubine, thereby hoping to render the concubine in the category of mahram for her husband. ‘Umar advised the man to beat his wife and continue his relationship with the concubine as kinship could only be established through suckling of infants and young children ( rida' al-saghir). In another, a man seeks Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari’s (d. 42/662f.) counsel because he has accidentally imbibed his wife’s breast milk. Abu Musa confirms the man’s fears saying, “I cannot but think that she is forbidden (haram) for you.” At this point Ibn Mas‘ud interjects and rules that kinship is only established by suckling in the first two years. Abu Musa defers to Ibn Mas‘ud’s authority and the man’s marriage is saved (see Malik, al-Muwatta ’, 2:125-26). These traditions reveal an early ambiguity regarding the