Abu Dhabi: Ayed Al Shammari, a Saudi man, has fostered the daughter of his maid and chauffeur after the death of her mother, and she became a sibling by breastfeeding in a great humanitarian gesture called mercy and brotherhood, local media reported.
Hassan Abdeen, a Bangladeshi chauffeur, now makes almost daily visits to his wife’s grave, shedding tears over the loss of his wife, who died a year and a half ago, a week after her first birth in a hospital in Al Jouf, in the north of Saudi Arabia and offer prayers to Allah to have mercy on her.
His bewilderment and anxiety after the devastating moment of his wife’s loss was relieved as he received a request from his sponsor to take care of the baby girl, Rahman, Arabic for mercy, and raise her as one of his children, hoping for a reward from Almighty Allah.
Al Shammari told an MBC TV show, “After the death of Rahma’s mother, may God have mercy on her, I received a call from Hassan, who was so worried for his baby girl, so I showed him my desire to sponsor her and raise her as one of my sons and daughters. Three months later, my wife gave birth to a baby boy and she breastfed Rahma along with our baby.
“We thank Almighty Allah for blessing us with Rahma and mercy.”
As far as the concept of helping the poor and the orphan is concerned, Islam not only agrees to it but even highly recommends it. In all types of charities, the orphan and the poor are mentioned as the prime eligible recipients for such help.
Adoption is allowed in Islam. However, changing the family name of the adopted child is not allowed.
If the child was two years old or less and was also breast fed directly by the adoptive mother for at least a day and a night (or five times consequently), then the child will become mahram to the new family, that is an adopted child cannot marry his real.
If the child was not breast fed, then he or she will remain non-mahram to the new family.
Adoption in breastfeeding or non-breastfeeding form does not give the adopted child a right to inherit the estate of the adoptive parents; nor does it deprives him or her from inheriting the estate of the real parents. However, the adoptive parents have the option of writing up to one-third of their estate for their adopted child.