Why do people in subcontinent marry cousins?

[Bombay]

Medical research suggests that while British Pakistanis are responsible for 3% of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses.”

This is a problem derived from Pakistani cultural norms, as the minister points out. Sadly, many in the media have chosen to once again make this a Muslim issue; it is not, it is a cultural issue. Those Pakistanis just happen to be Muslims. It is a great shame that the media cannot report such things nowadays without having to crowbar in ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islam’ into the title. One might put it down to ignorance, but in fact it is down to sensationalism. ‘Muslim’ sells papers.

This inbreeding trend is a real problem, and can only be solved by those of Pakistani descent themselves, even if doctors and other professionals highlight the dangers of inbreeding at every opportunity. Making it a ‘Muslim’ issue will only harden the hearts of those who will suffer most, as their siege mentality with regards to their religion will be reinforced.


Research for BBC2’s Newsnight in November 2005 showed British Pakistanis accounted for 3.4% of all births but have 30% of all British children with “recessive disorders”.”

Update: As Bartholomew has pointed out below, the real problem comes from generations of marrying one’s cousins.

Source: Pickled Politics

Great info in the article.

I just want to know that is this in-marriage thing limited to sub-continent's Muslims, or Muslims from all over the world, because this article claims it to be a problem of Pakistanis, and not Muslims.

 

[makikirkiri]

Man its not hard to google 1955 Hindu Marriage Act. do a search and find the truth yourself, I didn't made it up myself.

Regarding norms given by Hinduism, My intention was not to hurt anybody but what i provided was a prevalent norm in North India. Prohibitions to such marriages in North India goes back as far as 200 BC as per some of the reading I did.

i had googled it, downloaded it in pdf form and also read it.When I said it was a revelation to me , i meant it in an honest way ...that was not sarcasm.
My dear bro , no one has got hurt .So don't worry.When you said "from hinduism point of view" I expected ki you will quote from a hindu cannon.What info u gave was just the recordings of the social norms being practiced. I just wanted to know is there any norm prescribed by the hindu cannons like -upanishads,smritis etc.Just an enquiry out of curiosity.

 

[graphican]

Its the most successful marriage on the face of this planet. Go for that.. NOW!

 

[qsaark]

Pakistanis usually dont have genetic disorders and cousin marriages have been going on in the region of Pakistan for a long long time even when there were no hospitals in our cities, towns, and villages.

Ashkenazi Jews usually have lots of Genetic disorders. I dont know if the Jewish religion allows cousin marriages or not.

I confirm what you have said. While cousin marriage is a taboo in modern Europe and America, the rate of genetic disorders is higher than what I have seen in Pakistan and it is not only because many cases go unreported. Just see around yourself, in your immediate family, the extended family, friends and see how many mentally or physically retarded kids do you see?

As far as in-breeding is concerned, in-breeding is strictly a mating between real brother-sister (male female from the same liter) and that is how we get in-bred strains of various animals and the term can not be implied on the first-cousin marriages whether in the humans or other animals. Secondly, while genes do play an important role, environment is as much important which triggers the expression of certain genes. Hence, a person who has heart disease running in his family might be at higher risk but with healthier life style, that includes diet, exercise etc., he can certainly dodge the bullet.

If the first-cousin marriage is made halal by Allah and his Rasool, there must be a good reason for that and if borther-sister mating is made haram, there is also a very good reason for that.

 

[Kompromat]

^ I think it sums it up Pretty Much .

 

[Cheetah786]

^ I think it sums it up Pretty Much .

I second That

 

[Speaker]

As far as IQ is concerned....( and since you're so concerned with it) don't folks in USA, or as for this matter, in the rest of the world (esp. Europe & N. America, cuz they are the developed one's) already have a lower IQ....Hence we are making a dwelling in them.....
Get my drift bud!!!!

Genetic disorders have limited or no bearing on IQ, and I think the person who asked that question was mistaken as well. It is not always discernible in a person with the disorder, and in some cases, they may have normal or even exceptional lives otherwise. But to your other point, I doubt if there is a conclusive report indicating that people in the developing world have a higher IQ. True, we are more driven (rather our parents' stick ensures that!) and have a cut-throat competitive mentality. Kids in the US take the slower approach, but the ones who come into science and engineering are right up there with the best.

Just see around yourself, in your immediate family, the extended family, friends and see how many mentally or physically retarded kids do you see?

I understand that you are working in this field. So, out of curiosity, is mental and physical retardation the only indication of a genetic disorder? Surely some amount of mental disorders are caused due to the environment, and this is where the social interactions in our part of the world save our people.

Secondly, while genes do play an important role, environment is as much important which triggers the expression of certain genes. Hence, a person who has heart disease running in his family might be at higher risk but with healthier life style, that includes diet, exercise etc., he can certainly dodge the bullet.

Again, is heart disease/disorder, especially the ones caused by unhealthy lifestyle, related to genetic causes?

 

[Forrest Griffin]

Watch this video of arranged marriage in Pakistan.

news + public affairs player: video

 

[qsaark]

Genetic disorders have limited or no bearing on IQ, and I think the person who asked that question was mistaken as well. It is not always discernible in a person with the disorder, and in some cases, they may have normal or even exceptional lives otherwise. But to your other point, I doubt if there is a conclusive report indicating that people in the developing world have a higher IQ. True, we are more driven (rather our parents' stick ensures that!) and have a cut-throat competitive mentality. Kids in the US take the slower approach, but the ones who come into science and engineering are right up there with the best.

Intelligence can be improved with rigorous exercise/training. It has been found that animals who were put under challenging environment learnt how to overcome those challenges suggesting that intelligence itself is an acquired skill as apposed to what many believe. Now that is true that there is a baseline intelligence difference among various species. For instance a 2 year old human kid can perform certain task effortlessly while an adult Chimp takes considerable time to learn those. However within a species, this difference in intelligence is not as pronounced and largely depends on the environmental factors.

I understand that you are working in this field. So, out of curiosity, is mental and physical retardation the only indication of a genetic disorder? Surely some amount of mental disorders are caused due to the environment, and this is where the social interactions in our part of the world save our people.

The mental of physical retardation could be the 'expression' of a (or multiple) genetic disorders. Human body is an interplay of the 'on' and 'off' of thousands of genes (at-least 19,599 confirmed protein coding and another 2,188 predicted) and hundreds of these genes are subjected to environmental stimuli.

One of the phenotype (expression of a single or group of genes) tightly associated with genes or genetic pool is the height. Now take the average height of pre-1950 Japanese, and their average height today. What changed? Its not that Japanese started marrying in tall North Eastern Europeans but simply because of a change in their dietary habitats and in their overall lifestyle.

Again, is heart disease/disorder, especially the ones caused by unhealthy lifestyle, related to genetic causes?

Bad genes (mutated genes) do put you at disposition to acquire some disease as it has clearly been shown in diseases such as sickle cell anemia, but many other disease including certain cancers, heart disease, are certainly preventable or at-least very much manageable through altering the environmental stimuli. Let me give you another proven example here. Insulin independent Diabetes (type II) do run in certain families however at the same time, the onset of the disease can be delayed and controlled very effectively through diet management and regular exercise.

 

[Pakistani_Athiest]

I confirm what you have said. While cousin marriage is a taboo in modern Europe and America, the rate of genetic disorders is higher than what I have seen in Pakistan and it is not only because many cases go unreported. Just see around yourself, in your immediate family, the extended family, friends and see how many mentally or physically retarded kids do you see?

As far as in-breeding is concerned, in-breeding is strictly a mating between real brother-sister (male female from the same liter) and that is how we get in-bred strains of various animals and the term can not be implied on the first-cousin marriages whether in the humans or other animals. Secondly, while genes do play an important role, environment is as much important which triggers the expression of certain genes. Hence, a person who has heart disease running in his family might be at higher risk but with healthier life style, that includes diet, exercise etc., he can certainly dodge the bullet.

If the first-cousin marriage is made halal by Allah and his Rasool, there must be a good reason for that and if borther-sister mating is made haram, there is also a very good reason for that.

So basically what you are telling me is that, EVEN if science proves something CONCLUSIVELY, you will refuse to accept it, just because it's conclusions are deviant from your faith's philosophy?

I never wanted to make this a religion thread. I actually thought that marriage between cousins would be forbidden by religion, when I started this thread. But here it is.

 

[Luftwaffe]

My father mother are first cousins..so far there is no "alleged hereditary diseases into me or my rest brother and sisters"..As qsaark explained something that has been declared halal by Allah and His Rasool no reason to continue discussing this subject further..reason for my brother/sisters to marry outside family is so no trouble takes place as everyone knows what sort of troubles...

basically you could be an atheist (or just an id )so far atheists have not proved anything without bringing "science subject" into it.

Science has also proved eating pork is dangerous pork is widely eaten in the west but they've declared marrying cousins haram! can you explain that to me something like pork that can cause 70 dangerous diseases is eaten even by scientists!. wow mr. atheist your a master piece.

 

[qsaark]

So basically what you are telling me is that, EVEN if science proves something CONCLUSIVELY, you will refuse to accept it, just because it's conclusions are deviant from your faith's philosophy?

I never wanted to make this a religion thread. I actually thought that marriage between cousins would be forbidden by religion, when I started this thread. But here it is.

First of all there is no conclusive evidence that first cousin marriage is a recipe of genetically mutated offsprings. Secondly, I myself hold a MS in Biochemistry with distinction, PhD in Molecular Microbiology with 11 international awards, a Post-Doctorate in Molecular Virology and currently an Assistant Professor. Please do not tell me about Bio-Medical Science as this is what I do, eat and sleep.

And as far as my Philosophy of faith is concerned, my faith has never come between me and my quest for scientific knowledge because there is nothing in my faith that clashes with Science. Science depends on faith, faith does not require Science for its existence.

 

[Luftwaffe]

Excellent Qsaark I've even got more knowledge from you i didn't know before.

 

[Comet]

Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] worked for Khadijah right? And later they got married.

Why is it wrong to 'date' then? What's wrong if you like a co-worker/friend? Or if you date [Date is nothing but eating out or socializing together] them? I can understand if you are against Pre-marital sex, but what's with clubbing dating and promiscuity.

That was before Islam, right? I mean at the age of 25, Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H got married. And He P.B.U.H became Prophet.

Later, the order of Pardha came. BTW, how can you date if you do pardha?

 

[qsaark]

That was before Islam, right? I mean at the age of 25, Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H got married. And He P.B.U.H became Prophet.

Later, the order of Pardha came. BTW, how can you date if you do pardha?

Even before becoming a Prophet of Allah, Muhammed (PBUH) was known for his noble character hence when he invited the people of Mekkah and asked if they would believe him if they were told that an Army was about to attack on Mekkah, and all of them said, sure we will because you are saadiq (truthful) and ameen (honest). So no one should assume that Muhammed (PBUH) were 'dating' with Khadijah or something like this. Unlike what we have read in distorted history books, the ladies of Mekkah were pretty active socially hence their dealings with the male members of the society were rather a norm than an exception. Even in the Sura Nisaa, the Muslim women are not barred from taking part in social events, or dealings with men, but are only advised how they should maintain their modesty. Dating or immoral intermingling and normal everyday social interaction with apposite gender are two very different things and one must not mix up the two.