EYEball (AKA Eileen)

I hate to say it, but Pakistan will not progress as long as they maintain a 65% rate of first cousin marriage. Even a 5% rate can hinder a country. Pakistani Muslims account for 3.5% of UK’s births but 30% of UK’s children with developmental disabilities(even in UK, it’s a 50% rate of first cousin marriage). I do some philanthropy to Christians in Pakistan and would like to have hope for their future, though it’s really sad how some stuff is there. There’s a Christian nurse mother of 4 on death row sentenced to death in 2024 for a text message about Muhammed she wrote in an interfaith group chat in 2020. They can’t even openly debate Islam. First cousin marriage can increase risk of psychosis and can contribute to cognitive developmental disorders. On top of stuff like malnutrition and access to education, there’s a lot holding back Pakistan. I genuinely believe another 1,000-10,000 years of a 65% rate of cousin marriage would completely undermine their entire genome. Genetic health is dependent on genetic variance. Also since 90% of marriages are arranged marriages, there’s not a factor of selectivity based on compatibility with complimentary traits based on actually dating before marriage. Genetic variance as well as partners being somewhat selective to find a match that compliments their own traits is sorta what maintains the health of the human genome. Though the main thing is that first cousin marriage compounds the genetic predispositions for many genetic diseases and disorders. Even if goes on a few generation, it’s literally inevitable after so many generations to cause serious problems. Statistics often are misleading in that they understate the risks. For example, it’s commonly stated that first cousin marriage only doubles the risk of birth defect. Though simultaneously, there’s double the risk of infant mortality, babies with such severe birth defects that they don’t survive - and those aren’t counted in the statistics of born children. Also, the double the risk of defects statistics usually are only counting noticeable physical abnormalities at birth like cleft pallet, and exclude developmental disorders, psychosis, and physical genetic diseases that manifest and progress with age and that aren’t immediately apparent at birth. When counting all of the potential health impacts, there’s like an overall 1000% higher risk of some type of issue even if not a noticeable physical deformity. The sad part is, since it’s considered an aspect of Islamic tradition as comes from Muhammed’s own example and criticism of Islam is dangerous there, there’s probably not going to be much change. Also in Islamic society that discourages dating before marriage(and has an emphasis on arranged marriage), marrying first cousins is a way for people to marry someone they’re familiar with rather than a stranger or an acquaintance they don’t know well. So of course women will often agree to marry a cousin since they know them rather than take their chances on whoever else their father finds for them. It’s almost like Islam was designed in malice that eventually curses the societies that follow it. And not easy to break the curse.