Ali, cousin of Prophet Muhammad and the fourth Rashidun caliph, was married to the Prophet's daughter Fatimah. The Quranic law dictating that daughters receive a portion of the inheritance appears to have provided a financial incentive to cousin marriage, as the inheritance would remain in the extended family.
There is not a single text in the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah that forbids marrying relatives or distinguishes between marrying close or distant relatives or strangers. Shariah permits people to marry whoever they want. That is why the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah contain arguments in favor of cousin marriage.
Muslims have practiced marriages between first cousins in all countries since the time of the Prophet. Such marriages are allowed in many other religions and cultures as well. In United States, most of the states allow marriages between the first cousins. There is nothing wrong in this marriage.
Parents of the girls believe that their daughters will be treated well if she marries within the family. Back in the old days, in villages and small towns, where education and employment rates were lower, the chances of meeting a potential spouse were slim.
Seven relations are prohibited because of consanguinity, i.e. kinship or relationship by blood, viz. mothers, daughters, sisters, paternal aunts, maternal aunts, and nieces (whether sister's or brother's daughters).
What are prohibited relationships under the law? You cannot marry your mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, great-niece, aunts, or great-aunts. You also cannot marry someone who is also related to you through such relatives. For example, you cannot marry your great granddaughter.
Under the Shia Law, a Muslim may marry his wife's aunt, but he cannot marry his wife's niece without her permission. Marriage prohibited by reason of unlawful conjunction is void under Shia Law. Polygamy or marrying a fifth wife: means plurality of wives, i.e. marrying a fifth wife.
Some people may be surprised that you can marry your first cousin! In fact, it may shock many people that in Australia there are quite a number of your relatives whom it is legal for you to marry. I expect that some people simply cannot imagine being married to any relative. But the law says it's ok to do so.
Consanguineous marriages constitute 10.4% of marriages worldwide. We explore what leads people to marry relatives using data from Pakistan, which has the highest rates of cousin marriage globally.
In the United States, second cousins are legally allowed to marry in every state. However, marriage between first cousins is legal in only about half of the American states. All in all, marrying your cousin or half-sibling will largely depend on the laws where you live and personal and/or cultural beliefs.
There is a general consensus among Sunni and Shia fiqh experts that Surah Al-Baqarah 221 and Surat Al‑Mumtahanah 10 ban Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men. This consensus is still standing strong. On the other hand, the Quran allows Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women (“People of the Book”).
The use of the hijab has been on the rise worldwide since the 1970s and is viewed by many Muslims as expressing modesty and faith. There is a consensus among Islamic religious scholars that covering the head is either required or preferred, though some Muslim scholars and activists argue that it is not mandated.
Noticeably, many Arab countries display some of the highest rates of consanguineous marriages in the world ranging around 20-50% of all marriages, and specifically favoring first cousin marriages with average rates of about 20-30% (Table 1, Figure 1, Additional file 1).
Muslims can marry their cousins, and often do, as well as kiss them.
Consanguineous unions range from cousin-cousin to more distant relatedness, and their prevalence varies by culture. Prevalence is highest in Arab countries, followed by India, Japan, Brazil and Israel.
For Muslims, male circumcision is performed for religious reasons, mainly to follow the sunnah (practice) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Moreover, there are attempts to label it as a contributor to cleanliness / personal hygiene. These are done largely to grant the practice scientific legitimacy and a moral foundation.
In some South Asian, Middle Eastern, and north African countries, as many as half of marriages are consanguineous. 1 In Pakistan, half of the population marry a first or second cousin, more than in any other country.
The Middle East has uniquely high rates of cousin marriage among the world's regions. Certain Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, have rates of marriage to first or second cousins that may exceed 70%. Iraq was estimated in one study to have a rate of 33%.
Must first cousins be forbidden to marry? In the Bible, and in many parts of the world, the answer is no.
Cousins are not prohibited from marrying one another. Polygamous marriages (that is, a marriage which permits a person to have more than one husband or one wife) are not valid in Australia whether made within or outside Australia (s23(1)(a)).
This means, for example, that a person cannot marry their parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister. However, (depending of course on the gender of the party) a person may marry their aunt or uncle, niece or nephew or 'first' cousin.
Currently, our marriage laws only prohibit you from “marrying a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister”. In fact, marriages between second cousins or closer relatives are thought to make up around 0.2 per cent of weddings in Australia – which is almost 50,000 people.
Unless you reveal it, no one can ever conclude whether you are a virgin or not. I can understand your worry regarding your virginity or hymen, but stop making a big issue over a small tissue!
Islam also allows Muslims to abide by the rules of the land wherein they live, and most nations, including Muslim countries, specify 18 as the minimum legal marriage age, some with parental consent enabling marriage before this.
Answering a 2012 audience question, the popular Islamic preacher Zakir Naik noted that the Quran does not forbid cousin marriage but quotes Dr. Ahmed Sakr as saying that there is a hadith of Muhammad that says: "Do not marry generation after generation among first cousins".