The Emotional and Spiritual Significance of Breast Feeding

Abstract

The Holy Qur'an reminds us of the signs of Allah's presence in such natural phonomena as the alternation of night and day, the changes of the seasons and birth and death. What would happen if one of these ever present phenomena were to change or disappear? Life as we know it could not exist. What then is happening to human life as the natural function of breast feeding is being eclipsed by the bottle? The Holy Qur'an speaks of "the mystic ties of parent and child" (90:3). This is obviously a sign in the terminology of the Holy Qur'an which should make us search for an appropriate answer - to better understand the wisdom of the Almighty. Why, for instance, does the Holy Qur'an mention that "the mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole years" (2:233)? Obviously then, nursing is more than nutritional nourishment. It also nourishes the emotional and spiritual development of both the mother and her baby, as I hope to show in this paper.