Taboo: Almost half of Muslims are inbred. How does that affect intelligence and health? And is there a connection to terrorism and violence?
By Nicolai Sennels, Psychologist
Lise Egholm, long time school leader in the Muslim dominated area of Nørrebro in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently warned against not talking about the widespread practise of inbreeding among Muslims: “”A study shows that infant mortality doubles along with a high risk of congenital malformations, also that increased birth defect rates and inheritance of recessive traits are more common in consanguineous marriages. I think it’s time to express concern. We must talk about this problem. All parents want healthy children. Fortunately, we live in a society where our health system does much to ensure that a pregnancy ends with a viable child. What amazes me and has made me wonder for years is why we do not talk about, maybe they even ban, the many cousin marriages?”
While health systems in otherwise less developed countries in the Muslim world are openly discussing and warning against consanguineous marriages, it is considered politically incorrect in the West to problematize the vast genetic and societal problems resulting from this religious-cultural practise.
Prevalence
Statistical research on Arabic countries shows that up to 34 percent of all marriages in Algiers are consanguineous (cousin marriages), 46 percent in Bahrain, 33 percent in Egypt, 80 percent in Nubia (southern area in Egypt), 60 percent in Iraq, 64 percent in Jordan, 64 percent in Kuwait, 42 percent in Lebanon, 48 percent in Libya, 47 percent in Mauritania, 54 percent in Qatar, 67 percent in Saudi Arabia, 63 percent in Sudan, 40 percent in Syria, 39 percent in Tunisia, 54 percent in the United Arabic Emirates and 45 percent in Yemen (Reproductive Health Journal, 2009 Consanguinity and reproductive health among Arabs.). In Pakistan 70 percent of marriages are consanguineous and in Turkey the percentage is 25-30. There seems to be no national data on Indonesia, but there are reports on 17 percent consanguinity on East Timor and a “high level of consanguineous marriages in some areas of Java.”
Except for a few exceptions like Indonesia and Albania, roughly half of the population in the Islamic world is inbred, in most cases for generations.
Religion
The reason is partly religious. Muhammed himself married his cousin and according to the Quran, Allah allows sexual relationships between cousins (Quran 4:23-24).
According to Islamic law, Sharia, family honor is dependent upon the ability to control family members, which is another reason for keeping daughters inside their own blood-related family when marrying.
Also read: An Invasion of Refugees
Sharia law’s extreme restrictions on women’s freedom of movement and contact with men probably also makes it more natural to marry one of the few men they are actually allowed to interact with.
Health and intelligence
A long list of mental and physical complications are related to inbreeding between cousins. These include an increased risk of depression, schizophrenia, and mental retardation. Mental retardation (less than an IQ of 69)
in children of consanguineous marriages is five times more frequent than in normal marriages. On average, cousin marriages results in children with 10-16 points lower IQ. Social abilities, including empathy, are also less developed with inbred people.
The cognitive consequences of Muslim inbreeding might explain why non-Western immigrants are more than 300 percent more likely to fail the Danish army’s intelligence test than native Danes. When it comes to the production of scientific work, the Islamic world produces less than 1/10 of the world average. Low average intelligence in the population and prioritizing faith over knowledge may also be the reason why fewer books have been translated into Arabic over the last 1,000 years than there are books translated in Spain every year.
On top of these mental complications comes the increased risk of many diseases related to genetic disorders leading to severe syndromes, handicaps, painful diseases, and decreased life expectancy.
Terror and violence
According to the Danish police, cousin-marriage is a cause for criminal behaviour because of low intelligence. This claim is confirmed by criminology research that long has established a connection between violent criminal behaviour and low intelligence.
It is also likely, that it is easier to convince people with low intelligence to follow the Islamic scriptures’ hundreds of invitations and direct orders to harm, terrorize and wage war against people – including fellow Muslims, even family members – who do not following a literal interpretation of those scriptures.
Another link between Muslim inbreeding and terror concerns handicaps and mental diseases. Yusuf Yadgari of the Medical University of Kabul has autopsied the remains of suicide bombers and his findings support this theory. Yadgari found that close to ninety percent were suffering from severe illness such as blindness, cancer, missing limbs or leprosy. Many Muslim societies, including that of Afghanistan, have a low social acceptance of handicaps and severe illnesses. According to Yadgari, being physically handicapped or mentally retarded often leads to exclusion in a society like Afghanistan, and becoming a martyr might be the only chance of achieving social recognition and honour — if not just a way to end the pain of being socially isolated (which is especially traumatizing in collectivist cultures like Islam). Al Qaida’s use of people with Down’s syndrome to commit terrorist attacks might be another unpleasant side effect of the many chromosomal illnesses that result from inbreeding between first cousins.
Ban cousin marriages?
A ban on consanguineous marriages is a win-win policy.
It will save million of future children and their families from suffering. School leader Lise Egholm gives an example:
“One second grade class had a reading test. Fortunately most children did very well. However, a small Turkish boy only had two correct answers out of 40. The teacher was very concerned and asked me to attend the a meeting with the mother. I looked at the student card and wondered that the family apparently only had one child. The mother said there had been three, but two died as infants because ‘we have bad blood’. She explained that her husband was her cousin, his parents were cousins and her own parents were blood related too. She also said, ‘You can not teach my boy much, but it’s good that he lives.’ Soon after he was referred to a special school. This mother also told me that it was the men who were stupid because they want that ‘we marry our cousin, so we get bigger pieces of land, but they do not understand what we women know: that it is dangerous for the children if their parents are blood related.’ These two examples are from Turkish families, but I have encountered similar problems with Pakistani people and in Arab-speaking families.”
On top of these issues, tax payers would save billions from not having to handle the many costly societal challenges related to consanguineous marriage. Integrating into advanced cultures with our high-tech work market is not easy with an IQ of 75 and decreased social abilities.
Finally, it is likely that such a ban would decrease the amount of violence in our countries.
Similar benefits would come from banning migrants with consanguineous background who apply for residence.