Question:- Why do Muslims marry their close relatives(cousins)? Does Islam permit siblings to be married
Answer:- Such questions arises due to ignorance and misconceptions. Which are not only towards Islam but are also towards one’s own religion.
Firstly, let us clear our misconception about it.
1. Islam permits marrying cousins (close relationships) however *its not obligatory*.
2. Close relationships and true(actual) relationships are different.
Marriage is allowed in some close relationships but *its forbidden in real (actual) blood relations.*
Islam is a practical and logical religion and is a direct guidance from Allah, in which all things were openly mentioned.
Except Islam there is no other religion in the world which teaches about laws of marriage in such great detail.
Like every aspect of life, Islam also has clearly guided about marrying matter. that whom we can and cannot marry.
Quran states:-
” *Prohibited for you are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal aunts, your maternal aunts, daughters of brother, daughters of sister, your mothers who suckled you, your sisters through suckling, mothers of your wives and your step-daughters under your care who are born of your women with whom you have had Intercourse, though if you have not had intercourse with them, there is no sin on you, and the wives of your sons from your loins, and that you take (in marriage) two sisters simultaneously*” [4:23]
” *Do not marry those women whom your fathers had married*” [4:22]
Apart from above list, refraining from marrying someone because he/she is a cousin is entirely baseless and senseless and it will cause various issues, since entire mankind is born from a pair – Adam and Eve, making all of us siblings.
As per Hinduism everyone was born from Brahma which makes all of them siblings.
Apart from these ,There is concealed wisdom in commandments of Allah, one amongst them is :-
1.Families of close relatives like maternal uncle, aunt or paternal aunt have lot of family gatherings within each other, since one can get married to such relative’s offsprings in Islam, hence they fall under category of *non-mahram*[Non-Mahram denotes those from whom purdah(veil) is necesssary and is forbidden to meet in private, talk to etc.]
Whereas in religions where marriage between cousins is considered prohibited, don’t have such arrangements and without any purdah or segregation a lot of get-togethers where seeing, chatting etc. happens through which attraction increases manifold, which is natural. Since in this case there is no possibility of marriage therefore majority of *such attractions develop into illicit relationships. And in some cases it leads to sexual offences like rape etc.*
*In contrast, Islam foremost prevents such attractions through a category defined as “non-mehram”. Moreover, it provides an option of marriage as an appropriate solution which protects the society from immorality and crime.*
*Apart from Islam, there is evidence of marriage between close relations in every religion.*
Mahatma Buddha’s wife Yashodhara was the daughter of his maternal uncle and paternal aunt.Shri Krishna himself married his sister Subhadra to his paternal aunt’s son Arjun. Arjun was paternal brother of Subhadra and she was his maternal sister. [Shrimad Bhagavad skandh 9:24:28,29 page 534-535]Virat Naresh had a daughter named as Uttara and son named Uttar. Arjun’s son Abhimanyu married Uttara and bore a son named Parikshit who married his maternal uncle Uttar’s daughter Iravati.[Shrimad Bhagavad skandh 1:16:2 Page 63, Mahabharata, Virat Purva page 449]
Speaking of which, such practice (maternal uncle marrying his niece) is not only considered to be widespread in South India but also considered a right.As per Jainism – Shwetambar tradition, Mahavir married Yashoda who bore a daughter named Priyadarshini. She got married to Rajkumar Jamali who was Mahavir’s nephew. [Champatrai Jain- The Change of Heart page 97]Therefore, getting married to the above characterized close relatives is appropriate in every way.
