Syariah-Compliant Milk Bank According to the Opinions of Early and Contemporary Islamic Scholars

Abstract

Milk bank is undergoing a rapid development in western countries. The proposal to establish Milk Bank in Islamic countries, however, has created issues among the Muslim community. This is due to the fact that milk bank is synonym with nursing in Islam. Breast milk taken from a milk bank, when meets certain criteria, will have an impact on the institution of nursing mahram. In fact, the National Fatwa Council that convened in 2011 has banned the establishment of milk bank in Malaysia. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the criteria needed to make sure that milk bank complies with syarak regulations and able to prevent overlapping in nursing mahram (unmarriagable kin) relationship. This research is based on qualitative method where data collected from documents and interview sessions were gathered and analyzed in terms of content analysis. The result of this research is a draft proposal for a syariah-compliant milk bank (BSPS) that may be able to save infants’ lives while at the same time complies with syarak regulations.