Cousin Marriage

Bismillah-ir-Rahmān-ir-Rahīm

Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:

‫ارفُ ٓو ۟ا ۚ ِإنَّ َأ ْك َر َم ُك ْم عِ ندَ ٱهَّلل ِ َأ ْت َق ٰى ُك ْم ۚ ِإنَّ ٱهَّلل َ َعلِي ٌم َخ ِبي ۭ ٌر‬ ُ ‫َي ٰـَٓأ ُّي َها ٱل َّناسُ ِإ َّنا َخ َل ْق َن ٰـ ُكم مِّن َذ َك ۢ ٍر َوُأن َث ٰى َو َج َع ْل َن ٰـ ُك ْم‬
َ ‫شعُو ۭ ًبا َو َقبَٓاِئ َل لِ َت َع‬

“𝘖 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺! 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥
𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 ˹𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰˺ 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩
𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘈𝘭𝘭-𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘈𝘭𝘭-𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦.” (49:13)

This is a clear message to entire mankind on earth that Allah ‫ ﷻ‬has created all of us, humans,
from one parent! Since then, we all have been brothers and sisters. The division of us, people,
on the basis of different communities, ethnicities and nationalities was to know each other, so
we could share our bounds by being familiar and acquainted.

Islam is not only a religion but ‘the way of life’ so all the muslim are not only bound to believe in
its creed but follow and practice what it commands. It is written in the holy Qur'an:

ۭ ‫ْط ٰـ ِن ۚ ِإ َّنهُۥ َل ُك ْم َع ُد ٌّۭو م ُِّب‬

ٌ‫ين‬ ِ ‫ط ٰ َو‬
َ ‫ت ٱل َّشي‬ ۟ ‫وا فِى ٱلس ِّْلم َكٓا َّف ۭ ًة َواَل َت َّت ِبع‬
ُ ‫ُوا ُخ‬
ِ
۟ ُ‫وا ْٱد ُخل‬ َ ‫َي ٰـَٓأ ُّي َها ٱلَّذ‬
۟ ‫ِين َءا َم ُن‬

“𝘖 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴! 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴. 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳
𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺.” (2:208)

Islam has given the guidelines to its believers of what to do and what not to. The first verse
mentioned above has declared, all mankind is family not only the people who are from same
village, city, caste, nation and vice versa.

Therefore, people who hold the view of others who marry in their own families and kin is
unethical and inappropriate are being bias towards the entire mankind by thinking they're not
their brothers and sisters and thinking they're not related to them. That they are different and
therefore they marry their children to the strangers,
(i. e. with the perspective of them not being relative).

The Consanguineous marriage commonly known as ‘Cousin Marriage’ is permitted in Islam,

there is no thing in Islam which openly contradicts logic. Now, the logic says, siblings who share
the same parents are considered brother and sister.

The holy book of Qur'an gives instructions to the believers who they can marry or not marry in
chapter of An-Nisa,

“𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 (𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦) 𝘢𝘳𝘦: 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴
𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴…”

𝘈𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘩,
𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘏𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 (𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨): “𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦
𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭…” [𝘈𝘯-𝘕𝘪𝘴𝘢’ 4:23, 24]
The holy Qur'an is the eternal guide to the mankind and believers thus it made clear the rulings
of Islam so we can follow it.

On the other hand, Cousin marriage is not something that is seen as an unethical act by every
of the people. In fact, it is practiced and accepted in many cultures around the world, particularly
in the Middle East, South Asia, and parts of Africa. In certain communities, cousin marriage is
seen as a way to cement family ties, maintain traditions, and share wealth and inheritance
within the family.

There are number of benefits of cousin marriage, it strengthens family bonds, there's no need to
do deep investigation before marriage within trusted relatives, there's familiarity, understanding
and comfort, it preserves the family lineage and heritage, marrying within the family can help
strengthen financial ties and support within the extended family, as resources and assets may
be pooled together for the benefit of the entire family and so on.

Furthermore, it is a human nature to think inappropriately about things that are not familiar to
them they may even criticize it just because they cannot understand it, but the reality is,
unknown things make them uncomfortable. Only a girl who's going to leave her house knows
and bears how to live in a total strange family and follow their customs and traditions. Only she
knows how it feels to abandon all the habits she fostered in her previous family just for an entire
new family who she doesn't know yet.

Islam has given tremendous rights to women especially to a wife, from Mehr (dowry) to separate
accomodation that people people still wonder. In Islam a wife is not obliged to serve husband's
family but to him and children. The list of rights of women are enough in Islam that it would take
a complete prolong topic.

Additionally, Some people claim study on consanguineous marriages says first cousins offspring
have a higher risk of inheriting certain genetic disorders or birth defects due to the potential for a
higher degree of genetic similarity, which is true.

Nevertheless, According to a 2002 study, first cousins share 12.5% of their genes, and their
children are expected to be homozygous at 6.25% of gene loci. However, the study also found
that the slightly increased risk of birth defects or genetic disease for first cousins is not very high
in terms of general life risks. In fact, some say that the health risks of marrying a cousin have
been overstated.

The majority of babies born to couples who are blood relatives are healthy. Whilst cousin
marriage increases the risk of birth defect from 3% to 6%, the absolute risk is still small. Cousin
marriage only accounts for a third of birth defects.

Additionally, consanguineous marriages have biological advantages at the population level. For
example, offsprings of cousin parents might have higher survival rates. This is because
reproduction among kin might preserve co-adapted gene complexes that control immune
responses.

Moreover, Islam does not say only to marry within families as it's a form of ‘Endogamy’. In holy
Qur'an Allah ‫ ﷻ‬permits Muslim men to marry women from other monotheistic religions (such as
Christianity and Judaism) as they are considered People of the Book. However, Muslim women
are typically encouraged to marry within the Muslim community.

Islam emphasizes the importance of compatibility, mutual respect, and love in marriage,
regardless of the cultural or racial background of the individuals. The Prophet Muhammad
married women from different tribes and backgrounds, setting an example of acceptance and
harmony in intercultural marriages.

In the end of the day, it is duty of a human to become open-minded towards the tradition and
culture of people as long as they do not harm others and not showing bias for the sake of
humanity and it's unity.

~Suhail Haseeb