The Ruling on Marrying Relatives Out of Fear of Hereditary Diseases
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The Shaykh Salih Abu Zayd from Yemen says: I have a question regarding hereditary diseases. He says: A hereditary disease that affects their children has become widespread among our relatives who married within the family, and I do not want to marry my relatives for fear of a disease that might affect my children. He says: Is there any blame on me for that?
Answer:
Allah the Exalted has legislated marriage because of the great benefits it contains and the strengthening of the bonds of kinship and love among Muslims through blood ties and marriage alliances, along with the tranquility, affection, and mercy that exist between the spouses. No verse in the Book or the Sunnah has come that forbids or warns against marrying relatives.
As has become widespread among people in these days, indeed Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Ahzab 33:50] And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married Zaynab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her), who was his paternal aunt’s daughter, and he married his daughter Fatimah to his paternal cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with them both). Therefore, it is not permissible to forbid marrying relatives or to claim that it is a cause for the spread of diseases. And praise be to Allah, Allah has opened up for the Muslims in the medical sciences what helps and enables them to detect [diseases] early before marriage.
The Shaykh Salih Abu Zayd from Yemen says: I have a question regarding hereditary diseases. He says: A hereditary disease that affects their children has become widespread among our relatives who married within the family, and I do not want to marry my relatives for fear of a disease that might affect my children. He says: Is there any blame on me for that?
Answer:
Allah the Exalted has legislated marriage because of the great benefits it contains and the strengthening of the bonds of kinship and love among Muslims through blood ties and marriage alliances, along with the tranquility, affection, and mercy that exist between the spouses. No verse in the Book or the Sunnah has come that forbids or warns against marrying relatives.
As has become widespread among people in these days, indeed Allah the Exalted said:
O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allah has returned to you [of captives] and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَحْلَلْنَا لَكَ أَزْوَاجَكَ اللَّاتِي آتَيْتَ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ مِمَّا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ وَبَنَاتِ عَمِّكَ وَبَنَاتِ عَمَّاتِكَ وَبَنَاتِ خَالِكَ وَبَنَاتِ خَالَاتِكَ اللَّاتِي هَاجَرْنَ مَعَكَ
Source
قناة «إذاعة القرآن الكريم»، نور على الدرب مع معالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان ح7541 — youtube.com (5:50)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.