The practice was common in earlier times and has continued...

The practice was common in earlier times and has continued in some cultures until today but some faiths had forbidden it later on. [2] \n From a scientific point of view, the US National Society of Genetic Counsellors (NSGC) report estimated an average risk as 1.7 \u2013 2 percent higher than the background population risk of congenital defects and 4.4 per cent higher than the general risk for dying in childhood.

It was also found that women over the age of 40 have a similar risk of having children with birth defects \u2013 but no law in the world restricts late-in-life marriages.\u00a0 Also, people with Huntington’s Disease or other autosomal dominant disorders have a 50% risk of transmitting the underlying genes to offspring. [3] \n Another independent research study also finds that the publicised harmful effects against first-cousin marriage are over-exaggerated.

[4] \n There are, however, several campaigns, worldwide, to ban first-cousin marriages, e.g., a Conservative former minister has called for first-cousin marriage to be banned in the UK. [5] \n Looking back at human history, one sometimes wonders, how the human race started after Qabeel (Cain) killed Habeel -as (Abel)?

Generally, both Christian and Sunni Muslims believe that initially a brother married his own sister to propagate the human race, i.e., Cain, the farmer, after killing Abel, settled northeast of Eden, married his sister Awan.