What is a mahram? This is an important question. Whether a Muslim’s marriage is valid or invalid depends on the answer to this question.
So in today’s blog, we discuss the answer to this question in detail. Hopefully, it will be beneficial for Muslim brothers and sisters.
Staying on the blog
- What is the Mahram meaning?
- Who is the mahram?
- Mahram list
- Who is non-Mahram?
- Cousin marriage in Islam
What is the Mahram meaning?
The word mahram comes from the Arabic word ‘haram. In Islamic terminology, mahram refers to men and women with whom it is haram to enter into marriage.
Who is the mahram?
There are two main types of mahram.
The first type: Those with whom marriage is forbidden forever. They are divided into three classes.
One: Because of hereditary relationships. For example, the mother, grandmother, and grandmother are all included. Inferior people give birth to defective offspring, thus propagating their inferiority.
Thus the daughters of the superiors, such as the father’s mother, father’s daughter, mother’s daughter (niece and nephew), and nieces and nephews, are included.
Grandmother, uncle, grandfather, grandmother’s daughter, such as aunt, step-aunt, and step-aunt.
Two: Due to the relationship of milk, such as milk mother, milk sister, and related grandmothers, etc. In general, it is haraam to marry as many women as blood and heredity, but it is also haram to marry as many women because of milk relations.
Three: Childhood or marital reasons. Such as mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, etc. Father’s wife or mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, etc., belong to this category.
The ex-husband and daughter of the cohabiting wife are also harams in all cases. The girl may come with her mother and be raised under the care of this person or elsewhere.
However, this type of daughter usually comes with the mother. So this girl is haram in all cases.
Secondly: Temporarily forbidden. For example, it is haram to marry a wife and her sister and aunts and uncles together. Of course, it is not haraam to marry separately.
If the wife dies or divorces, he can marry his sister. In the same way, in the case of aunts and uncles, there will be menstruation.
It is haram to marry a woman who is married to someone else or to marry a woman who is observing the waiting period.
However, it is not haraam to marry her after the waiting period has ended whether the waiting period is due to divorce or the husband’s death.
It is not permissible to marry a mushrik woman until she has converted to Islam. However, if she converts to Islam, it is halal to marry her.
Mahram list for a man
Like mother 5
- Mother, honest mother
- Grandmother (mother’s mother), honest grandmother
- Grandmother (father’s mother), honest grandmother
- Mother-in-law (wife’s mother), honest mother-in-law
- Breastfeeding (a mother who was breastfed as a child)
5 like sisters
- Cousin
- Aunt (mother’s sister)
- Uncle (father’s sister)
- Granddaughter (daughter of your son and daughter)
- Milk-sister
4 people like a girl
- Girl
- Brother’s daughter
- Sister’s daughter
- Son’s wife
Mahram list for woman
4 people like father
- Father
- Uncle
- Mama
- Father-in-law
5 people like brother
- Cousin
- Your grandfather
- Own grandparents
- Own grandson
- Milk-brother
5 like a boy
- Boy
- Brother’s son
- Sister’s son
- Daughter-in-law
- Milk-boy
Who is non-mahram?
All women and men are mahrams except the 14 types of men and women discussed above. That is, marriage between them is halal.
Allah Ta’ala has forbidden only 14 types of women except for all Muslim men, and women worldwide are halal for each other.
This is a special grace of Allah Ta’ala on the Muslim nation. Therefore, all Muslims should abide by way of life given by Allah Ta’ala.
In this lies the happiness and peace of all in this world and the hereafter. May Allah grant Tawfiq to all.
Cousin marriage in Islam
Yes, it is halal to marry a cousin in Islamic sharia. The mahram women discussed above do not include middle cousins.
So it is obligatory to wear a hijab with a cousin. It is haram to reveal the body in front of them. But now Muslim cousins are quite indifferent about cousin hijab.
Cousins often fall in love and eventually move on to the outcome—a normal thing among cousins. People like Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein married their cousins.
Marriages between close relatives are common among about one billion people worldwide, with nearly one in three marriages occurring between close relatives.
Marriages between close relatives are more common in the Middle East, Iran, and South Asia. These marriages are more common in rural areas than urban areas, with child marriages predominant.
Although there are some opportunities for boys and girls to hang out together in urban areas, it is safe to say that there are no such opportunities in rural areas.
That is why the first love in the life of many people living in the village is their cousin or cousin. Naturally, many of us are attracted to the opposite sex from these places.
But how safe is it to marry cousins? Various studies have repeatedly shown that cousins have some flaws in their children. Understanding the basic genetic principles will give you an idea.
As I said before, Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein were all married to their cousins.
Maybe you think if people like them can do this, then what is the problem if we do?
Probably a factor as to why they’re doing so poorly. They are not interested in going too far.
But in 24 US states, it is strictly forbidden to marry first cousins. The reason is seen as a possible congenital disability of the unborn child.
first cousin marriage in Islam
The cousin is divided into two parts. The first-degree relative means marriage between your cousins, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
And second or second-degree relative means marriage between the children of the father or mother’s cousins, uncles, aunts, or cousins.
Medical science, however, is unwilling to give much encouragement to blood marriage.
First cousins (direct cousins, aunts, uncles, or cousins) have a genetic similarity of about 12.5 per cent, meaning that they carry many genes in the same way throughout the lineage.
Due to this, the diseases in their lineage are more likely to be seen in their children.
Some autosomal recessive diseases (e.g., thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis) may become more severe in later generations.
Thalassemia and hereditary leukaemia were once so prevalent in the Middle East due to intermarriage in their clan that the Arab government made it mandatory for the bride and groom to undergo specific tests before marriage.
The study also found that children of cousins with congenital complications, Down’s syndrome, abortion, or neonatal mortality were slightly higher than others.
What are the effects of marrying first cousins?
- Abortion, stillbirth.
- The birth of a child with a physical defect is 5 times more than normal.
- Abnormal death of a child in the first year of life.
- Sudden infant mortality due to unknown reasons.
- We are not growing the baby properly.
- Hearing and sight and intellectual disabilities.
- Epilepsy.
- Unknown disease.
- Various blood diseases, such as sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia.
One in four children may have physical problems due to the marriage between such cousins. Just marrying a cousin doesn’t mean that.
Rather, those living in the same area or environment are more likely to have genetic problems. So go as far as possible and get married. The risk of problems is less.
A 2010 study found that problems such as deafness, visual impairment, and mental retardation were more prevalent among married cousins.
In this case, a study of children growing up with congenital disabilities in Britain is significant. It has been found that 8.1 per cent of babies born with defects are cousins.
More shocking is that 98 per cent of babies born with this defect are of Pakistani descent. Marriage among Pakistani immigrants in Britain has been going on for a long time.
There are various theories from the social point of view about marriage among close relatives. Some think that it would be better for two children to grow up in the same environment and culture and to adapt.
In many families or clans, it is thought that this will keep the family property and business within the family.
But in the end, experts say, before arranging a marriage in the family, it should be checked whether there is an outbreak of diseases in the family members, such as congenital disabilities, vision and hearing problems at an early age, genetic blood diseases, seizures, etc.
However, we Muslims think that Allah, the Wisest, the Most Merciful, has made lawful for us the marriage of cousins. Therefore, Allah’s halal cannot be forbidden on any pretext. He would not make it halal if there were any harm in the cousin’s marriage.
