Does breastfeeding create a marriage barrier? Can I marry my milk-sister?

No, you may not marry her. Allah listed among the forbidden women "your mothers who nursed you and your sisters through nursing," and the Prophet ﷺ said of the daughter of Ḥamzah, "She is not lawful for me; she is the daughter of my foster brother, and nursing makes unlawful what lineage makes unlawful." So the woman who nursed you is your mother, her husband (the owner of the milk) your father, and their children and milk-children your siblings — and these ties also establish maḥram status for uncovering and travel, but not inheritance and not maintenance. Scholars differ on the quantity: the Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanbalīs require five separate known sucklings, based on ʿĀʾishah's narration in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim that ten known sucklings were revealed and then abrogated by five, while the Ḥanafīs and Mālikīs hold that any amount of milk reaching the stomach suffices. It must also occur during infancy: the majority set the limit at the two complete years Allah mentions for suckling, while Abū Ḥanīfah extended it to thirty months (the fatwā in the school is on two years).

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