Cousin marriages banned in most countries

The damage done by inbreeding is evident everywhere in Pakistan. Most people in the country marry their first cousins. After two or three generations, this results in people with physical defects throughout the country. In most areas, there are men and women who are cross-eyed, or deaf and dumb. I know a couple of families with deaf and dumb children, who again marry their first cousins and the number of such people has amplified. Another family has cross-eyed members.

In rural areas, the problem is magnified due to incest. Feudal lords rape the daughters and wives of their slaves. Perhaps most men and women in rural Sindh and South Punjab are actually brothers and sisters, though they do not know this. When they marry their first cousins, they have mentally retarded children with physical defects. Some upper caste Hindus do not marry their first or even second cousins, in fact they do not marry anyone from their ancestral villages. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in villages most men and women could be brothers and sisters due to the frequent raping by their feudal lords and their sons. 

I have a rich Sindhi neighbor whose driver looks like his brother. His father would have done what is normal in that part of the country, resulting in many men and women resembling each other.

Cousin marriages are banned by law in many countries. Pakistan and all other Muslim countries should also do the same.

Cousin marriages have turned most Pakistani and Indian Muslims into morons

Cousin marriages have been so common among Pakistani and Indian Muslims that most of them are morons. I refer particularly to my own community (Memons) who not only look like morons but also behave like imbeciles. They are the ones who suffer from the delusion that marriages to first cousins ensure the purity of race, besides of course ensuring that there are no property disputes in the family.

Last night, after a very long time (due to Covid), I went to a wedding dinner. Since it was held at an air force base, the dinner was served at 10:30 p.m., which is an hour earlier than what most Memons are accustomed to. But the way heavily bearded and corpulent Memons attacked the food, one would have thought it was their last food before dying. Contemptuously ignoring the queue in which I stood, they pushed people in the queue aside and stuck their hands into the plates. I glared at such a one, but it had no effect. He told the man ahead of me, "Give me five of those fish and two of those rotis". Really, I think Memons are headed for extinction, the way they crave food and refuse to exercise.

I am reading about the Moghuls nowadays (I'm on the fourth book on the subject). I found that besides marrying cousins, they also took wives from other communities, even Hindus. Perhaps this is why there are a few Pakistani and Indian Muslims who can be called intelligent. Some have even become presidents of India, and there are some intelligent ones working in western countries. Let's hope such Muslims multiply.

Want to marry your cousin? Think again!

Published in The Express Tribune blogs on October 25, 2013

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Cousin marriages have been very common in the subcontinent and this may be one reason why quite a large number of people in our rural areas are so unhealthy.

I personally know two families whose members are the products of many generations of inbreeding. In one family – distant relatives of mine – many children are deaf and consequently unable to talk. The head of the family reacted with amazement when told that his children and grand-children suffered from various birth defects because of cousin marriages in his household.

In fact, many doctors advised him to stop arranging marriages of his grandchildren with first cousins; they asked him to arrange marriages strictly with non-relatives. Even still when he received a proposal of marriage for his 18-year-old granddaughter from another family whose son was also deaf, he rejected the proposal and instead opted to have the girl married to a first cousin who was also deaf and dumb.

The result was predictable. The couple now has two children, both deaf and dumb.

With the proposal from a on-relative, there was a good chance of a normal child being born from such a marriage, but sadly, this arrangement was not given a chance.

In another family I know, practically everyone is cross-eyed. They cannot be convinced that this too is because they, their parents, grand-parents and even great grand-parents were married to first cousins. They point out to others who married first cousins and have normal children, but obstinately close their eyes to the fact that in those cases the ancestors of the children’s parents were not closely related.

Among certain Hindu castes, marriage between cousins is banned. In fact, in some Hindu sects, a boy and girl from the same village are considered to be brother and sister, even though they are not related. But in most Hindu castes, cousin marriage is considered to be normal.

In Bradford (UK), out of 11,000 children born between 2007 and 2011, 2,000 children (born to Pakistan-origin parents) had a six percent chance of having a congenital abnormality, compared to three percent chance of children of non-Pakistani groups. This was because the Pakistan-origin children were born in families in which cousin marriages had been taking place for many generations. Doctors have also found a link between cousin marriage and heart and lung problems as well as Down syndrome.

This does not mean, of course, that marriages between first cousins should be banned altogether as it is in 24 states in the US. What I mean to say is that if the boy and girl are not the end products of generations of inbreeding and if there is no known genetic defect which can be passed on to their offspring, they should not worry about their children being born with genetic defects. However, in most areas of Pakistan, where marriages between first cousins have been the norm for centuries, it is advisable to educate the masses about the risks which children born of cousin marriages can be exposed to.

Shakir Lakhani

A graduate from NED University in mechanical engineering, he has been part of the chemical and petroleum marketing industry in Pakistan and was a visiting lecturer at NED University. He tweets @shakirlakhani twitter.com/shakirlakhani

All in the family

Published in The Friday Times on May 23-29, 2008

According to a news item, there are suggestions in the U.K. to ban cousin marriages. Those who want this miss the whole point. The problem is amplified in case of marriage between two first cousins, both of whose parents as well as grandparents were also first cousins.

This is what has happened in the case of Pakistani Muslims, and this is the reason for the unusually large number of defective children being born to British Pakistani parents (as well as a significant population in rural Pakistan being mentally retarded). There is no danger of this happening in marriages between first cousins whose parents and grandparents were not first cousins.

Cousin marriages

Published in Dawn on February 29, 2008

THIS is apropos of the letter, ‘Issue of cousin marriages’ (Feb 20). While it is true that cousin marriages slightly increase chances of children being born with genetic defects, in Pakistan most people are the products of decades of cousin marriages.If a child’s great grandparents, as well as grandparents, were first cousins, it significantly increases the chances of that child having more defects than one whose forebears were not first cousins.I know many families in which children are either totally deaf or totally nearsighted, and they were shocked when the doctors told them that inbreeding was to blame. For this reason, cousin marriages are banned in 26 states in the US, while most Hindu sects do not allow marriages between first cousins. This proves that even three thousand years ago people realised that marriage among near relatives was harmful.

SHAKIR LAKHANI,

Karachi

Cousin marriages & defective children

Posted on Chowrangi.com on February 21st, 2008

 

Recently, Muslims in the U.K. were outraged when it was announced that the prevalence of marriages between cousins was responsible for a large number of defective children being born in their community. While it is true that cousin marriages slightly increase chances of children being born with genetic defects, among Muslims, most people are the products of decades of cousin marriages. If a child’s great grandparents, as well as grandparents were first cousins, it significantly increases the chances of that child having more defects than one whose forebears were not first cousins. I know many families in which children are either totally deaf or totally near-sighted, and they were shocked when doctors told them that inbreeding was to blame. For this reason, cousin marriages are banned in 26 states in the U.S., while most Hindu sects do not allow marriages between cousins. This proves that even three thousand years ago, people realized that marriage among near relatives was harmful.

So how do you convince people not to marry their cousins? The mullah will immediately say that it is a Jewish conspiracy against Islam, forgetting that it was the Holy Prophet (saw) himself who said, “Don’t marry a near relative (such as a first cousin) as in that case a child is born weak (i.e. defective)”, as quoted by Imam Ghazali in ‘Ihya Ulum id Din’.

But I doubt if in Pakistan people will marry outside their families, since in most cases, particularly in rural areas, the spouses of children are chosen by their parents when they’re hardly two or three years old.

Shakir Lakhani