notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Peace be upon you.
This question is from one of our friends; please provide an answer. Thank you.
Part one: What is Islam's view on marriage between relatives? Are there any hadiths prohibiting it?
Part two: How can one gauge the extent to which affection for a person is divine—and, God forbid, satanic?
With many thanks and congratulations on the New Year.
The hadiths prohibiting marriage between relatives are weak and mursal, and no hadith has been found that emphasizes it. Caution is advised in this matter, since it may cause children to be thin and frail, though the transmission of desirable traits is also possible. Divine love is measured by nearness to God and an increase in servitude.
The hadiths that discourage marriage within the family are few, and weak or mursal in their chains of transmission. Yet I have not found a hadith that explicitly urges such marriages. Perhaps, then, prudence calls for care and caution in marriage within the family.
Among these is the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: «اغتربوا لا تضووا» *Al-Majāzāt al-Nabawiyya*, p. 100.
The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said:
“Marry outside your family, so that [your children] do not become frail and weak.”
The hadith «لا تنکحوا القرابه القریبه، فإن الولد یخلق ضاویا»
*Al-Nihāya fī Gharīb al-Ḥadīth wa-l-Athar*, vol. 3, p. 106:
“Do not marry close relatives, for the child will be born weak.”
The hadiths that discourage such marriages present marriage within the family as a cause of frailty in children. On this basis, one cannot reach a definitive conclusion that Islam prohibits or opposes marriage within the family. Nor, however, can one conclude that religious law endorses it.
An important point is that, just as the transmission and intensification of undesirable traits in marriage within the family is a serious possibility, so too is the transmission and strengthening of desirable traits.
Thus, informed and thoughtful choice is a condition for a successful marriage.
One measure of the soundness of love and attachment is to be found in their effects. If such love brings one nearer to God, strengthens one’s devotion, and deepens one’s worship and love of God, then it is surely a branch of divine love.