Marrying your cousin

Austrolabe ask why more Muslim leaders are not tackling the problems associated with marriages between cousins. Genetic disorders amongst children of such marriages are hugely prevalent.

So far the only person to highlight this has been Labour MP Ann Cryer, who called for a ban on the practice.

If there are any guys out there looking for a prospective spouse, why not take Haroon's advice and look for a Latina? I couldn't possibly comment.

Comments

[Tariq Nelson]

Actually Haroon's advice is not bad. But FYI, a Latina is what we should look for. A Latino is a man

[Osama]

Thanks for correcting my ignorance. Amended.

[Yusuf Smith]

As-Salaamu 'alaikum,

The fact is that cousin marriage is permitted in Islam and we should remember this before we jump on the bandwagon with Ann Cryer. The way to tackle these problems is to educate people not to insist on cousin marriage for generation after generation when the family has a history of genetic defects, and there are ways to do this without banning something that works for most participants and without dragging the whole community's name through the mud. It is not incest and has been legal in this country, and other western countries, since time immemorial.

[Abu Abdur Rahman]

Assalamo 'alaikum

Well said Yusuf.

[jamal]

As Yusef said, yes this is true, cousin marriage is an available option and we shou,d not support Ann Cryer in negativly focusing upon Islam. Nevertheless, it should be promoted that there are many others available for marriage outside of the family, which then seeks to increase/diversify family ties and comunity/cultural relations.