Reviews of Cousin Marriages
Calls for reviews of cousin marriages10/ 2/2008
A CABINET minister today backed calls for a review of the high numbers of birth defects among children from marriages between first cousins in Britain's Asian communities.
Chief Whip Geoff Hoon said there was a "particular problem" that needed expert analysis after a fellow minister warned the issue was not being addressed.
Phil Woolas said that while health workers were well aware of the heightened risk of genetic problems, cultural sensitivities made the issue difficult to raise.
The environment minister, who represents ethnically-diverse Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: "Part of the risk, I am told by the health service, is first-cousin marriages.
"If you are supportive of the Asian community then you have a duty to raise this issue.
"Awareness does need to be raised but we are very aware of the sensitivities," he added, pointing out that many of the people involved were the products of such marriages.
The comments come at a sensitive time for community relations following the Archbishop of Canterbury's controversial comments about accommodating aspects of sharia law in Britain.
Traditions
But Mr Woolas insisted that the marriages - which are legal in the UK - were a cultural, not a religious, issue based in the traditions of rural parts of Pakistan.
Defending his colleague, Mr Hoon told Sky News' Sunday Live: "He was commenting on a particular problem about cousins marrying first cousins.
"It is important that we look at that in terms of scientific expertise and the extent to which it is actually causing problems," he told Sky News' Sunday Live.
"But it obviously is a very sensitive matter and no one, no one, would suggest this is a problem for the wider Muslim community.
"I am confident that what he has said will have been said with sensitivity and with proper regard to his Muslim constituents and Muslims right across the United Kingdom."
Disorders
The call for action was supported by Labour MP Ann Cryer who first raised the issue more than two years ago after research showed British Pakistanis were 13 times more likely to have children with recessive disorders than the general population.
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.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1035923_calls_for_reviews_of_cousin_marriages
Main arguement seems to be genetic defects.
Personally i just think its ikky.
24 June 2005
1 day 21 hours
Aah Mr Phil Woolas. MP for Oldham East is he? This is one of his better requests.
If there is a problem, it should be studied, findings made public.
You can't take the sky from me!
24 June 2005
50 min 9 sec
Or we could just treat the problem first and if things get better then we'll know I was right. Doing studies just takes longer.
Absence is to love What wind is to fire; It extinguishes the small, It enkindles the great.
21 November 2006
1 hour 26 min
I thought marrying first cousins was illegal in Britain. Is this people who got married abroad then came here?
2∞&➔
4 April 2006
3 min 30 sec
since when?
MQI
21 November 2006
1 hour 26 min
dunno.
I just thought it was.
2∞&➔
24 June 2005
50 min 9 sec
it hasnt
Absence is to love What wind is to fire; It extinguishes the small, It enkindles the great.
21 November 2006
1 hour 26 min
OK, it seems you guys are right:
2∞&➔
31 January 2008
5 days 14 hours
Phil Woolas...this idiot is always coming up with some stupid idea or another to beat up Asians...just ignore him.
24 June 2005
1 day 21 hours
Can't brush his views under the carpet just because the guy is an idiot... I have read somewhere that Pakistani kids are something like 13 times more likely to have birth defects than the UK average.
You can't take the sky from me!
31 January 2008
5 days 14 hours
fair point mate
10 October 2005
2 hours 59 min
I thought in Islam your not allowed to marry your first cousin
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
21 November 2006
1 hour 26 min
Ali (ra) is the nephew of the Prophet
, yet he married Fatima (ra).
They were first cousins (I think I'm right, but feel free to correct me anyone).
2∞&➔
13 August 2006
5 hours 26 min
I'm surprised you lot don't know ppl who are married to first cousins, ie their uncle or aunties kids...? that is so common especially amongst Pakistani Muslims.
Re. disabilities - my parents are first cousins and erm I turned out ok
Ok, bad example
I'm sure it only gets dangerous when cousins marry each other and then their kids marry their cousins and this continues down the line within the same 2 families. For example I know this one family where 3 of the kids have married their one uncles kids, so all three marriages are between 2 families. Now if them 3 couples kids married their cousins then I think there might be some risk but I think maybe it would have to be even deeper than that.
Interesting topic though.
28 October 2005
16 min 32 sec
Same here and alhamdulilah im freakin beautiful!
ǝɯɐƃ ʇɐɥʇ ʇɐ ʎɐld uɐɔ oʍʇ uıɯpɐ
19 August 2007
10 hours 41 min
Actually Muhammad
and Ali were cousins. His name was Ali bin ABI TALIB, the Prophet's uncle. As far as I know you can marry your cousins as long as you agree with the marriage, but that doesn't mean it's compulsory.
Let them belittle you, they win.
But keep your chin up, they fail.
24 June 2005
50 min 9 sec
Its more hassle than its worth imo.
Absence is to love What wind is to fire; It extinguishes the small, It enkindles the great.
2 August 2005
1 week 5 days
in todays day and age, i agree
was different in the past
The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.
Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.
ɐɥɐɥ
25 June 2005
6 hours 36 min
salaam
any ppl here married to their cousin?
anyone highlight any advantages and disadvantages on marrying your cousin?
any reliable stats on child born deformed in cousin marriages?
would all u single ppl here even consider marrying your cousin if asked by your parents/ or if he or she was compatible to you?
or is marrying a cousin a bit too close for comfort for some people?
11 May 2006
8 hours 50 min
I'm sure my parents wouldn't ask me to marry my cousin. Even even if it did happen, I would only do so as a last resort lol.
4 April 2006
3 min 30 sec
no way. allhamdulillah i only have 4 male cousins and out of the 4 only one of them is around the same age but mum knows that there is no chance of anything happening. us girls have made it crystal clear to mum about our views on cousin marriages. its more hassle than its worth, way too much baggage.
MQI
31 March 2008
13 hours 15 min
im not married ... yet... i'll think abt it after 4 yrs or so! inshallah!
(the advantages n disadvantages depends on ur own family and extended family)
advantage of cousin marriage: its within family so parents wudnt hav to worry to much abt their daughter or son (daughter especially) that they r going in a safe and comfortable environment as the families wud kno each other for a long time!
the in laws wont give u a hrad ime since they wud kno u unless if they r naturally evil to every1!
disadvantage of cousin marriages: too close to family n if u do a rishta with one family member then the others get offended! for some bloody reason ie leading to conflicts within families
1/4 chance that every child u have may be disabled with an inherited disease but this depends on if the disease does exist in the couple's gene pool! (only applied to first cousins n its only a small chance)
the in laws complain to the parents of the person too much since they are close family so the other party doesnt get hurt as much! WHAT?
and etc etc...
but i do kno some1 who is married to her cousin - one of me 'aunties' (mum's friend) whose daughter has blood cancer (she's betr now) n she told us that two of her other far cousins hav it too so i suspect its inherited!
i wud never consider my cousins but i kno for a fact that its is 'expected' of me from my mum's bros to be with one of me cousins since he is the same age as me and he is me first cousin... but i dont think so luvy coz i even dont kno any of me cousins, apart from obviously their names n how they r related to me! i dont kno how they behave around their parents or anything abt their personality? nothing... plano!
my parents r gna put forward ppl from inside family n i shud think that i will hav the yes or no buzzers with me! n they will take my opinion for something ... i hope they do ... u kno i've nvr talked to mum or dad abt it! (its btr that way ;D ) ... far cousins i wont mind but its just that i dont hav any single male far cousins! lol phew! ...
i think i too will leave it as a last resort! lol mean i kno! but i just think its just an easy route to marriage... i prefer to eat food by extending my arm from behind the head! i wud like to explore! ... i will stop here otherwise its nvr gna happen! (happens all the time!)... hope this answerd ur questions!
War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands. - (lol)
H. L. Mencken
19 August 2007
10 hours 41 min
I wouldn't marry my cousin! They're all nice girls and all that but...... they're my COUSINS!!!
They're like brothers and sisters to me!
Let them belittle you, they win.
But keep your chin up, they fail.
25 June 2005
6 hours 36 min
i married my cousins and its 4 and a half years now and alhamdulillah all is good.... and my son Raihaan is mashallah healthy, active and a pain in the u know what lol
so cousin marriages can work, depends on the two ppl
most times its not cos of the couple but outside influence is the problem eg parents/in laws etc
21 November 2006
1 hour 26 min
I didn't know you had more than one wife.
MashAllah! Ed's a playa!
2∞&➔
24 June 2005
50 min 10 sec
LMAO @ that last part!! Ya'qub bro you crack me up.
Essentially what im saying is theres nothing wrong with marrying into your cousins but there really isnt any significant benefit to it.
You'd get support from both sides even if you weren't already related. I know alot of people do it JUST to keep what little family wealth they have within the family.
Like they can possibly take it with them when they die.
When I try and bring it up in conversation with some elders they just tell me to "Shut up"... they know im right really.
Absence is to love What wind is to fire; It extinguishes the small, It enkindles the great.
10 October 2005
2 hours 59 min
I think it depends on how well/close you know your first cuz. If you have grown up with them ie played tig and hop sctoch in the backyard and went to the same school then the idea of marrying that cuz might make most ppl feel uncomfortable coz you consider them to be your bro/sis nothing more. Where there is a greater distance and you rarely see your cuz then the idea of marrying them doesnt seem that bad to some ppl.
As for marrying my first cuz that aint gonna be a problem for me coz my dad is the oldest and my mum is an only child. All my dad bros married late therefore all my cousins are babies.
As for kids turning out funny if first cousins marry, thats a load of crap. My parents were distant relatives and 3 of us turned out orite and the other 3 turned out funny.
I think the main advantage to marrying your cuz is that your know the family background, which i think is really important. But the bad thing about marrying into the family is that if the marriage dont work out families break up over it. Theres alot of bitterness.
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
25 June 2005
6 hours 36 min
LOL
ssshhh... dont tell my wife...i meant my first wife lol
24 April 2008
2 weeks 6 days
hmmm you make an interesting point there...i reckon the idea of marrying your cousin isn't as bad as people portray it...
newspapers paint it up to be an incestous (dont know if i spelt that right) crime that Muslim parents force their kids into commiting...yes that might be true sometimes..
but people don't see the advantages in marrying your cousin rather than marrying a complete stranger..:
you come from the same background and thus are likely to have the same values and ideas..
you can get to know a cousin alot better alot quicker than getting to know a stranger from scratch...just do some digging...(if he's got an illegitamate child somewhere...you'l soon find out!) better than marrying a stranger and finding out ten years into the marriage he's got babiez with some other woman!
and as Naz pointed out, not all your kids will turn out funny...!
so you see...perhaps marrying your cousin isn't so eurghhh!
25 June 2005
6 hours 36 min
THERES nothing eurgggghhh about it at all...just misconceptions/ media spin/ scientific info mis-applied/
its a normal everyday thing.... and from a muslim view- its permissible/halal...so why the hoo haa
it shud only b ean issue if the cousins couples kids marry cousins and their kids marry cousin and it keeps on continuing.....
otherwise its kushdi
31 March 2008
13 hours 15 min
what's 'kushdi'?
War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands. - (lol)
H. L. Mencken