Question
Cousin and interfamily marriages are undoubtedly permitted in Islam. However, current day medical experts believe that certain diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, weak eyesight run in family genes, so if both parents belong to the same family (i.e. cousins), the children have a higher chance of suffering from these conditions. I have personally observed this. In some areas where inter-family marriage is the norm, it has been observed that children are born crippled or mentally challenged, with defects and abnormalities which were not present in the earlier generations. In conclusion, the scientists and doctors firmly believe that inter-family marriages should be discouraged as the children can be born with physical and mental defects. I am curious to know the Islamic perspective on this issue, and my questions are below: 1) Is there any scope in Islam to believe what the medical experts say: that inter-family and cousin marriages are the cause of children born with defects or other genetic diseases? 2) If a person believes what the doctors believe, does that constitute Kufr? 3) What is the ruling on abstaining from interfamily marriages due to this fear of children having these diseases and defects?
Answer
The very fact that Allah Ta'ala has permitted marriage to cousins, and the fact that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had married his cousin, and the fact that this was the general practice among the Sahaabah, indicate that what the doctors are saying is baseless. The diseases mentioned develop in innumerable families in which there is no inter-family marriages. The development of diseases is not restricted to inter-family marriages. It occurs across the board.
The claim that interfamily marriages per se is a cause of disease is utterly baseless. If it has to be accepted that it does cause disease on the basis of the existence of disease in some such marriages, then by the same token could it be argued that outer-family marriages also cause disease because we have seen numerous such marriages in which the children are diseased, crippled and deformed.
It is unintelligent and unscientific to regard interfamily marriages as a cause of disease to be a rule and an established fact. We are aware of countless such marriages in which not a single child is diseased or crippled.
However, if it is known that in a certain family the children are diseased, then it is permissible to refrain from marrying in that family whether the family is closely related or total outsiders.
The issue of disease has nothing to do with interfamily marriage. The inheritance of disease could be in inter-marriage or outer-marriage.
To believe that interfamily marriage per se is definitely a cause of disease is close to kufr. Abstaining from such a marriage purely on the basis of this belief despite the fact that the cousin's family is free of disease, is also close to kufr. However, if it is observed that a certain disease is to be found in the majority of the members of a family, then it will be permissible to abstain from marrying in that family regardless of whether the family is a complete stranger or a relative. The issue does not concern only inter-family marriages. It applies equally to outer-family marriages.
- Source
- themajlis.co.za
- Published in
- The Majlis Vol 23 No 05
- PDF page
- 6
Appears under INTER-FAMILY MARRIAGES (approximate).