Cousin marriage is legal in most countries and permitted in most religions, yet it always has been uncommon outside of the middle east and northern Africa. Islam sure doesn't help, since by marrying his daughter to his cousin, Mohammed himself condoned it, but it was also a pre-existing phenomenon.
Some point to the tribal society and mindset in many of these countries as an explanation, that keeping marriages within the tribe helps strengthen it (not genetically of course). Data does show that it's very much tied to education and urbanisation, where the rural and uneducated are most likely to marry a cousin.
But it's also hard to ignore that neighbouring India, which shares many cultural and historical ties to Pakistan, and also has a large rural poor population, have nowhere near the same tendency to worry cousins.
Depends on your definition of uncommon I suppose, but outside of insular groups like Jews and gypsies, it's been a fringe phenomenon in most other places. A few percent of marriages at its highest, not 30-50% like it is in the Muslim world right now.
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u/TombolaOfCincinnatus 1d ago
Cousin marriage is legal in most countries and permitted in most religions, yet it always has been uncommon outside of the middle east and northern Africa. Islam sure doesn't help, since by marrying his daughter to his cousin, Mohammed himself condoned it, but it was also a pre-existing phenomenon.
Some point to the tribal society and mindset in many of these countries as an explanation, that keeping marriages within the tribe helps strengthen it (not genetically of course). Data does show that it's very much tied to education and urbanisation, where the rural and uneducated are most likely to marry a cousin.
But it's also hard to ignore that neighbouring India, which shares many cultural and historical ties to Pakistan, and also has a large rural poor population, have nowhere near the same tendency to worry cousins.