Assalam Alaikum,

Islam does allow marriage between first cousins, even Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) wed his daughter Fatima to his cousin Ali, however couples breast fed by the same wet nurse are required to divorce.

I'm not asking this to question Islam or speak against the faith, just wondering as my marriage has recently been nullified because we were breast fed by the same nurse.

Marrying a first cousin, has some health risks for the children, especially repeated cousin marriages for generations.

In the first generation, its the same risk as a woman having children over 40, however risks rise with each generation, & in many Muslim communities, cousin marriages happen in practically evey generation. I have seen many families in Yemen where cousins are married in every generation.

There're problems in Saudi due to inbreeding:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...56C0A9659C8B63

Also, Pakistan has problems due to inbreeding:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ht/4442010.stm

Even in Britain, amongst immigrant Muslim communities, there're significantly more genetic illnesses than their numbers due to inbreeding:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...ht/4442010.stm

So why is cousin marriage allowed?

But couples breast fed by the same wet nurse are ordered to divorce:

Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 48, Number 828:
Narrated 'Uqba bin Al-Harith:

I married a woman and later on a woman came and said, "I suckled you both." So, I went to the Prophet (to ask him about it). He said, "How can you (keep her as a wife) when it has been said (that you were foster brother and sister)? Leave (divorce) her.

This poses no health risks to future offspring, yet its forbidden, but repeated cousin marriages do pose tremendous health risks.

Again, I ask this with sincere intention to know, I have seen repeated cousin marriages in Yemen & some genetic illnesses also.

Jazak' Allah Khair.

simple because Allah allowed it.

ok ill be honest, all this imbreding thing and health risks-maybe possible

but realistically? we'd all be full of diseases if it were such a threat. you think the western countries never used to have this cousin marriage stigma thing?

I have seen many families in Yemen where cousins are married in every generation

in these repeated generation cousin marriages have you noticed a significant difference in the amount of health issues any children born have in comparison to children who have these same health issues from parents not remotely related?

if you grew up with a girl who wasnt related to you, and you saw her regularly, and you suddenly got married to her, would that be gross to you?

seriously im curious, most people say marrying the "child hood friend" is the most beautiful thing.


as for health risks, you think there arent health issues with non-cousin relationships? its all from the Qadr of Allaah!

Greetings,

Originally Posted by amani

simple because Allah allowed it.

Why do you think Allah would want to expose his followers to increased health risks?

ok ill be honest, all this imbreding thing and health risks-maybe possible

Possible? The facts are staring you in the face.

but realistically? we'd all be full of diseases if it were such a threat. you think the western countries never used to have this cousin marriage stigma thing?

True, but when people in the West found out how bad it could be for their health, they abandoned the practice.

in these repeated generation cousin marriages have you noticed a significant difference in the amount of health issues any children born have in comparison to children who have these same health issues from parents not remotely related?

If I understand you correctly, the significant difference you suggest has already been mentioned in the articles posted by Maysan. For example:

Originally Posted by Justin Rowlatt (BBC)

British Pakistanis are 13 times more likely to have children with genetic disorders than the general population - they account for just over 3% of all births but have just under a third of all British children with such illnesses.

Peace

Originally Posted by Maysan

Assalam Alaikum,

Islam does allow marriage between first cousins, even Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) wed his daughter Fatima to his cousin Ali, however couples breast fed by the same wet nurse are required to divorce.

I'm not asking this to question Islam or speak against the faith, just wondering as my marriage has recently been nullified because we were breast fed by the same nurse.

Marrying a first cousin, has some health risks for the children, especially repeated cousin marriages for generations.

In the first generation, its the same risk as a woman having children over 40, however risks rise with each generation, & in many Muslim communities, cousin marriages happen in practically evey generation. I have seen many families in Yemen where cousins are married in every generation.

There're problems in Saudi due to inbreeding:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...56C0A9659C8B63

Also, Pakistan has problems due to inbreeding:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ht/4442010.stm

Even in Britain, amongst immigrant Muslim communities, there're significantly more genetic illnesses than their numbers due to inbreeding:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...ht/4442010.stm

So why is cousin marriage allowed?

But couples breast fed by the same wet nurse are ordered to divorce:

Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 48, Number 828:
Narrated 'Uqba bin Al-Harith:

I married a woman and later on a woman came and said, "I suckled you both." So, I went to the Prophet (to ask him about it). He said, "How can you (keep her as a wife) when it has been said (that you were foster brother and sister)? Leave (divorce) her.

This poses no health risks to future offspring, yet its forbidden, but repeated cousin marriages do pose tremendous health risks.

Again, I ask this with sincere intention to know, I have seen repeated cousin marriages in Yemen & some genetic illnesses also.

Jazak' Allah Khair.

I will answer with all sincerity. Your loss is indeed saddening but it does not justify the angle of your questioning why Prophet allowed cousin marriage while told those breast fed to not marry.

1- You are citing some news sites to tell us that cousin marriage leads to progeny which has genetic illnesses? You want a skeptic to believe in some news websites? If you want to have any credibility, cite some scientific research papers who have no conflict of interests, just to garner some serious attention to your issue.

2- Is there a difference in repeated cousin marriage over generations and cousin marriage in perhaps one or two instances?

3- If cousin marriage is to be banned, marrying women over 40 years is to be banned. Why? Both lead to increased risks of genetic illnesses. I am not an embryologist and do not have figures at my hand, even marrying a women in 20s increases the risk of fertilizing a malformed egg than marrying a women in her teens. Ban marrying women in 20s too?

4- If what you have said is somehow true then Jews had a greater percentage of people who interbred. We see a bit increased number of genetic illnesses in them. At the same time if I recall most Nobel Prizes have been won by the Jews? My yemeni friend married his cousin. He has 2 daughters. Both seem to be fine.

5- Dont take your personal revenge out on the commandments of Allah. We all suffer, yours is not unique.

6- Is there a difference in being cousin and a brother/sister? Prophet Muhammad saw told us that those who are below 2 years age and are breast fed by the same woman are like brothers and sisters. Prophet did not say they are cousins. A cousin is technically a descendant of siblings who descended from the same parents. If that criteria of choosing spouses is valid, then we can marry NO other person on this earth. All of them are descendants of apes (pun intended), and are some how related because we all descended from bacteria. What nonsense.

7- And prophet did not forbid marriage of breast-fed brother/sister cuz it will lead to high genetic illness! It seems you are arguing that Prophet amde a mistake. Instead of banning cousin marriage, he banned breast fed etc marriage. Nice.

I end with the praise of Allah. All good is from Allah and all bad in what I wrote is from me. I apologize if I came across as harsh but your initial post was no less harsher.

My mother is a second daughter from five daughter in her family. She and all of her sisters wear glasses.

I have one brother and two sisters. Only my third sister who wear not glasses.

I have ten cousins from my mother side. Five of them wear glasses.

And people say that's because my grandpa and my grandma are cousin.

Our pokora brothers have married their cousins for years and if that causes genetic disorder on wide scale then i simple haven't seen even one mutant yet in the Pakistani community

Originally Posted by ardianto

My mother is a second daughter from five daughter in her family. She and all of her sisters wear glasses.

I have one brother and two sisters. Only my third sister who wear not glasses.

I have ten cousins from my mother side. Five of them wear glasses.

And people say that's because my grandpa and my grandma are cousin.

all my siblings including me wear glasses. My parents are not cousins. Not even related.

People can say all the crap they would like to. Mere delusions and wife-tales.

Originally Posted by czgibson

Greetings,


Why do you think Allah would want to expose his followers to increased health risks?



Possible? The facts are staring you in the face.



True, but when people in the West found out how bad it could be for their health, they abandoned the practice.



If I understand you correctly, the significant difference you suggest has already been mentioned in the articles posted by Maysan. For example:



Peace

Who are you to question whether He choses to let his followers suffer or not? Life itself is a suffering. Yet you dont take it as that.

Originally Posted by czgibson

Greetings,


Why do you think Allah would want to expose his followers to increased health risks?



Possible? The facts are staring you in the face.



True, but when people in the West found out how bad it could be for their health, they abandoned the practice.



If I understand you correctly, the significant difference you suggest has already been mentioned in the articles posted by Maysan. For example:



Peace

Let me quote the story of your god: Charles Darwin.

"Successful marriages between first cousins, such as Charles Darwin and his wife, have been uniformly ignored in the popular mythology of this taboo. The Darwins produced ten healthy offspring, several of whom were just as exceptional as their famous father." here

Now, do you see this DATA staring and poking right into your deceptive eye balls? Or you just closed your eyes to not feel threatened? I suspect the later.

"First-cousin marriage isn't a surefire recipe for congenital defects. True, marriage among close kin can increase the chance of pathological recessive genes meeting up in some unlucky individual, with dire consequences. The problem isn't cousin marriage per se, however, but rather how many such genes are floating around in the family pool. If the pool's pretty clean, the likelihood of genetic defects resulting from cousin marriage is low. A recent review (Bennett et al, Journal of Genetic Counseling, 2002) says that, on average, offspring of first-cousin unions have a 2 to 3 percent greater risk of birth defects than the general population, and a little over 4 percent greater risk of early death. While those margins aren't trivial, genetic testing and counseling can minimize the danger. An argument can be made that marriages of first cousins descended from strong stock can produce exceptional children. Charles Darwin, for example, married his first cousin Emma, which wasn't at all unusual in their prominent and successful family--their common grandparents were cousins too. Three of Charles and Emma's ten kids died in childhood, it's true, but that was standard for Victorian England; the others went on to productive and in some cases distinguished careers."http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...usins-marrying

Originally Posted by ardianto

My mother is a second daughter from five daughter in her family. She and all of her sisters wear glasses.

I have one brother and two sisters. Only my third sister who wear not glasses.

I have ten cousins from my mother side. Five of them wear glasses.

And people say that's because my grandpa and my grandma are cousin.

my parents are cousins-im the only one that wears glasses from the 5 of us. no other problems.
dads bro-married to cousin-none of the kids wear glasses/no other illness.
other bro-married to cousin/none of the kids wear glasses/no other illness
sis-married to someone not remotely related- two out of 4 kids wear glasses


the only one out of all the related on my dads side out of 13 of us to have glasses is me- and no other illness is there Alhumdulillah

Why do you think Allah would want to expose his followers to increased health risks?

my parents were cousins before marriage and i know many people like that and theres no 'increased health risk' seen. this is something that has been going on for generations....

Possible? The facts are staring you in the face.

as i said sure ive read the articles but refer to what ive said above..

True, but when people in the West found out how bad it could be for their health, they abandoned the practice.

how bad it could be?
...so they abandoned the pratice. will alchohol usage/smoking/unprotected sex out of marriage etc be abandoned?

Originally Posted by amani

my parents are cousins-im the only one that wears glasses from the 5 of us. no other problems.
dads bro-married to cousin-none of the kids wear glasses/no other illness.
other bro-married to cousin/none of the kids wear glasses/no other illness
sis-married to someone not remotely related- two out of 4 kids wear glasses


the only one out of all the related on my dads side out of 13 of us to have glasses is me- and no other illness is there Alhumdulillah



my parents were cousins before marriage and i know many people like that and theres no 'increased health risk' seen. this is something that has been going on for generations....

as i said sure ive read the articles but refer to what ive said above..


how bad it could be?
...so they abandoned the pratice. will alchohol usage/smoking/unprotected sex out of marriage etc be abandoned?

^ on that note this thread should be closed....skeptics can shut it!

Originally Posted by Wa7abiScientist

all my siblings including me wear glasses. My parents are not cousins. Not even related.

People can say all the crap they would like to. Mere delusions and wife-tales.

People say that's because my grandpa and my grand, are cousin, but I don't believe it.

assalamu 3laykum,


Although I think this has been previously mentioned, the whole notion that its because you're cousins is stupid and its not scientifically proven. However what IS scientifically prove is that when two people with similar defects in their genes then the child MAY be at risk. This can happen with two people whether they are cousins or not. So this issue isn't are they related, the issue is, do they have defects in their genes hence you find people who AREN'T related having children that have birth defects.

As a previous poster said, it is from the qadr of Allah. The sharee3ah is perfect and may we love every aspect of it.

Btw Muhammad al Jibaly has an article on this I think you can find it on the Multaqa forums.