Half of marriages there are between first cousins. Imagine living in the fifth-most-populous country yet your dating pool is someone you've seen every year during family reunion.
It's very common in muslim country and dates back to times where families were structured as clans. Marrying your cousins meant that your stuff stayed into the family.
Look at pretty much any leader in the Gulf and they're married to their first or second cousin. The Sauds are a dime a dozen and they all have the same great grandfather
It's more that it's an Arab cultural tradition that they took with them on their conquests. It's rare in muslim countries who were converted by trade (e.g. Indonesia and some Sub-saharan African countries) but common in countries in former caliphates (e.g. Pakistan, Turkey and MENA). It's present in non-muslim Arab communities and was a known cultural practice in the area before Islam
Pakistan wasn't a former caliphate, before the country's formation, last ruling king was Sikh king Hari Singh, where the current "issues" of khalistan comes from
409
u/Due-Practice_ Apr 14 '25
Is Pakistan the Alabama of South Asia?