I think the main reason is being able to trust the family. Knowing what the concerned couple is getting into. Thats a major factor. There are enough problems in a marriage especially with all the interference which comes along with it in Pakistan than to add more surprises to spice it up. You know the family you know whats happened you know what to expect..to a certain extent. Marriages in Islam serve to bring families closer together, be they families which share blood or not. What's wrong with the whole thing? First cousins don't really share so much blood. Certainly not enough to declare brotherhood or sisterhood. Its a safe game parents play for the sake of their children. And I agree..where did those stats come from anyway?
The stats came from the Demographic & Health Survey.
The stats seems quite accurate atleast for Pakistan.
Trends are changing now, During last 10 years, In my family around 90% marraiges took place between people who are not relative (or are long distance relative).
Before that it was 50-50 usually. People prefered to marry among relatives.
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*Originally posted by proudpakistani: *
Sir Galahad, every human being in this world came from single man and woman. According to your logic, everyone in this world is asexual to you?
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By that definition we are related the Holy Prophet and thus can consider ourselves to be part of the Hashmite Royal families. There is a point where you lose sight of reality and enter the realm of absurdity. The logic above follows one into absurdity.
Even though it seems to be a very popular past time on Gupshup, i prefer moderation and not going to extremes. Re-wording it anybody who is related to the family is a no go zone.
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*Originally posted by Sir Galahad: *
I would commit suicide before I married anybody who even had one ounce of blood that linked us together. If you are female and part of the family you are asexual.
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this post is not about ur preference.. there are scores of others on this topic..
Pakistani families do have a tendancy to inter marry within themselves. I feel that the major reason for this is to keep their lineage and also the added fear of bringing a stranger into their family. These are cultural complexes that are still going on even within western born pakistanis.
We should consider the medical implications of inter-marrying within our own family. Biomedical research has shown that consanguineous marriage to ‘blood relatives’ such as first cousins increases the risk of genetic disorders.
Infant mortality and childhood morbidity rates are higher among British Pakistanis than other ethnic groups. The various reasons for this include consanguineous marriage, which increases the risk of recessive genetic disorders.
We need to educate ourselves on what the results are when inter- marrying.
Maddy-- Dont worry , I was just wondering ....how recent the information was.Usually stats are a few years old, recent ones are a bit on the rare side.
I think the main reason for cousin marriages in Pakistan ,is because they are "easier" - in almost every way.
Since most cousin marriages take place in rural areas ,Im assuming its due to a lack of education ( in some cases) - and money issues.Such people find it 'safer' to marry cousins.Since theres no such thing as 'dating' - marrying a cousin is common - because cousins are the only people that youngsters really know.
Another important issue is that the parents 'know' who their child is marrying.They're not very trusting of others.They think that marrying somebody who the family knows , will work out better in the future."Apne loG behthar hote haiN."
Personally, I think that its changing more and more everyday.As the education and social issues improve, people are abandoning these 'traditional' type of marriages.Most of my relatives married outside of their family - there were a few "But you dont know who you're marrying , what the family is like , etc" issues- but they didnt stop anybody.
A while ago, I saw this segment on the BBC World News about how cousin marriages amongst Pakistanis living in England was actually increasing as opposed to Pakistan where it's going down. I found that quite surprising.
Lack of trust and all those scary marriages stories- where the couple werent cousins.
Re: Rate of first-cousin marriages in Pakistan vs Muslim world
Specific figures, 25% of mentally handicapped kids in UK come from British Pakistanis while their population as a whole is nowhere near 25%.
Re: Rate of first-cousin marriages in Pakistan vs Muslim world
It happens in the UK quite a bit...some ppl in small knit communites just don't trust outsiders and/or have old-fashioned views...i've seen it esp. amongst mir puri families...i don't like to judge those who go thru with it...but me personally, i cud never...one reason is cos i wud have been calling the guy "bhai" and that too, not out of respect cos he's older, but just cos in my family we really do think of cousins as our real bro's and sis's...another reason mite be, that i think there wud actually be *more *problems as the families know so much about each other (good n bad)...i once asked my mum y ppl do this in our culture...she told me that back in the old days esp, parents thought that if they sent their daughter to get married to her aunt or uncle's son, then she wud be better taken care of and it wud be like she was still with them...so i get the impression it's more about sentiments and emotions...my cousin got married earlier this yr to her khala's son...i was surprised that someone from our generation in my family, was ok with it...but she's really happy, with him n her khala/in-law's family...sometimes the girl/guy actually feel better about not "being" with a complete stranger after the wedding, and some probably do it for their parents' sake...i cudn't do it, but bless those who can and end up happy.
Re: Rate of first-cousin marriages in Pakistan vs Muslim world
As being a Turk, i must add some information about the figures above and topic. In west Turkey (among Turks), marriages between cousins is not common, below %2. However in east (among Kurds) it’s very high, more than 50 %.
I think it’s not sth. about Islam but feodalism. I’ve read some books about Kurds and they were telling that cousin marriages is widely common among Kurds because they’re feodal.
Re: Rate of first-cousin marriages in Pakistan vs Muslim world
just a guess:
not sure if it is true in Sudan, but in Pak there is the extended family structure. The cousins grow up and live together and thus the first person guy/girl they encounter during their hormonal teenage years is their cousin. You know this person, you trust this person, and that somehow develops into a liking.
I know a couple of my cousins fall into the above scenario.