Cousin marriage in the Middle East

Uncommon card · No. 133334

Cousin marriage is a form of consanguinity (marriages among couples who are related as second cousins or closer). While consanguinity is not unique to the Arab world, Arab countries have had "some of the highest rates of consanguineous marriages in the world". The bint 'amm marriage, or marriage with one's father's brother's daughter (bint al-'amm) is especially common, especially in tribal and traditional Muslim communities, where men and women seldom meet potential spouses outside the extended family. Rates of cousin marriage in the Middle East have been found to vary from 29% in Egypt to nearly 58% in Saudi Arabia. Western anthropologists have debated the significance of the practice; some view it as the defining feature of the Middle Eastern kinship system while others note that overall rates of cousin marriage have varied sharply between different Middle Eastern communities. In pre-modern times rates of cousin marriage were seldom recorded. In recent times, geneticists have warned...

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