Ibn Battuta, the great-est explorer of the Old World, following his first pilgrimage between 1325 and 1326 from Tangier to Mecca. Journey to Mecca, which is narrated by Ben Kingsley and stars Chems-Eddine Zinoune as Ibn Battuta, won Best Dramatic Short at the 43rd Annual Hous-ton International Film Festival and the Prix du Public at the La Geode Film Festival in Paris. But the film also has the potential to win hearts and minds and to build greater under-standing between Mus-lims and Non-Muslims. In a climate where Is-lam is often portrayed in the media as being synonymous with ter-rorism, the film, with its stunning visuals and breathtaking scenes, also presents an intri-cate picture of Islamic society and the cele-bration of Islamic cul-ture. According the Sun Me-dia in Canada: “Everyone, no matter their faith, should see it.” And Alan Parker who writes for the Nosey Parker Blog says: “Whether you're Muslim or not, I defy you to see Journey to Mecca and not be deeply, meta-physically touched by the beauty and ultimate serenity of the film."
Cont page 4
The Muslim Seeker in association with People with Voices and SK Films, are giving away three pairs of tickets to see Journey to Mecca
at the BFI Imax on the Southbank in London, on September 19. The film is a documen-tary feature that tells the amazing story of
Special points of interest:
WIN TICKETS COMPETITION
DISCOVER
EID N THE PARK
EID FESTIVAL
MUSLIM DIRECTORY
LONDON APSA
Inside this issue:
9 September 2010
Volume 1 Issue 4
Win a free pair of tickets to see Journey to Mecca at the BFI Imax in
London
IBN BATTUTA 1
COUSIN MARRIAGES 2
COMMENTS FROM READERS
3
JOURNEY TO MECCA 4
WEEKLY NASHEED 5-7
DAYS OF EID 8
MUSILIM COMMUNITY DIRECTORY
9
LATEST NEWS ON LON-
DON APSA
10
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Razib Khan has a background in
biology & biochemistry. He is an
Unz Foundation Junior Fellow
and lives in the United States.
The individual & social risks of cousin marriage We have extracted some key sections from Razib’s research and
present them in this newsletter.
The map shows the distribution of consan-
guineous marriages. As you can see there‟s a
fair amount of cross-cultural variation.
In the United States there‟s a stereotype of
cousin marriage being the practice of back-
ward hillbillies or royalty.
In South India cousin (uncle-niece) marriage
is practiced, while in the north exogamy is
the norm.
Cousin marriage in parts of Arabia was com-
mon in that culture because Arabs would
marry who they met, and it was difficult in
Arab societies for men to meet women who
were not their cousins.
What may be fit for a cultural kin-unit may not be biological fit for individual lineages. What are the risks of
cousin marriage? Most obviously there are recessive diseases. Those illnesses which are expressed when you carry
two malfunctional copies of a gene. Cystic fibrosis, various forms of deafness. Why is it that cousins have a higher
risk of this occurring? Because two cousins are much more likely than two random individuals to share the same
distinct gene from a common ancestor, because their common ancestors are so much more recent. More precisely
the coefficient of kinship between two first cousins is 1/8. That means that at any given locus there‟s a 1 out of 8
chance that the two individuals will have alleles which are identical by descent, which means that the genetic vari-
ant comes down from the same person in the family line.
What’s the negative?
Pedigree collapse.
Seventeenth-century European noble culture commonly matched
cousin to first cousin and uncle to niece, to preserve a prosperous fam-
ily's properties. Charles's own immediate pedigree was exceptionally
populated with nieces giving birth to children of their uncles: Charles's
mother was niece of Charles's father, being daughter of Maria Anna of
Spain (1606–46) and Emperor Ferdinand III. Thus, Empress Maria
Anna was simultaneously his aunt and grandmother. This inbreeding
had given many in the family hereditary weaknesses. That Habsburg
generation was more prone to still-births than were peasants in local
Spanish villages. King Charles II of Spain
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For inbred clans it gets much worse because people are related in many different ways, and genetically are far closer than first cousins. That is what happened to the Spanish Hapsburgs. As you can see from the pedigree
of Charles II his parents were closer than typical first cousins. The Samaritans of Israel are a religious sect which
seems to be going through pedigree collapse. Some of them are now proactively marrying outsiders to prevent their
extinction through high infant mortality rates. Others, “traditionalists,” oppose exogamy because intermarriage
within the group is the custom, and diseases are promoted as God‟s will.
Since Britain has the NHS this is a going to be a major public health issue. On the one hand, there is individual freedom
of choice. This is a core Western value. On the other hand, there is the fact that health care costs are a long term struc-
tural issue for the fiscal health of any society. Ethnic Pakistanis are only a few percent of Britain‟s population, so it is
manageable right now, but their proportion will slowly rise because of higher fertility and continued immigration. If
cousin marriage continues to remain popular in the community the later generations are going to have even greater
health problems because of higher inbreeding coefficients (due to repeated cousin marriages across the generations
within the family).
But why should we limit these sorts of social utilitarian considerations to cousin marriage? How about the increased
debilities associated with the children of older mothers? I began the post with a social-cultural narrative, and I end it
Comments from
Readers:
Cousin marriage is allowed in Islam, but it
doesn‟t mean because something is halal
that it should be taken to extremes. Having
first cousin marriages every generation for
hundreds of years inevitably leads not only
to health problems but also creates very
tribal, insular communities. Allah also
allowed marriages between people of dif-
ferent races, but that is hardly practised in
some Muslims communities, even though
it‟s a positive thing. Instead they choose to
marry their cousins.
Cousin marriage is common in all Muslim
countries. It is in accordance with the
teaching of the Holy Quran and our
Prophet had married his daughter with his
uncle‟s son. There were no defects in the
children. Cousin marriage is thought to
generate more stable relationships. I be-
lieve that children are born with defects
whether it is cousin marriage or not.
Iftikhar.
The problem isn‟t marriage to cousins the
problem is the Pakistani Problem of Only
Marrying Cousins.
Salaam
Just a few thoughts on the documentary and refuting articles:
I think there does need to be a conversation about the issues raised by con-
sanguinity, especially over a number of generations but framing this as a
major public expense argument is disingenuous and false. As the article
mentions, other life choices have a far greater impact on the public purse...
It should be noted that if cousins were prevented from getting married,
surely people with any genetic disorder should also be and therefore people
would need to be screened- which strays into eugenics, ableism and view-
ing people with genetic conditions or disabilities and purely a „burden‟ on
society which is deeply offensive and not at all civilised.
The documentary was good in that it raised the issue of many families being
in denial or unconvinced by medical evidence of risk- which needs to be
tackled. The choice of community representatives who spoke poor English,
I feel was deliberate and painted the picture these communities have not
„integrated‟ and are „other‟. There are plenty of Imams and faith leaders
who would accept the science and would have provided an intelligent dis-
cussion and asking just one was ridiculous.
There was no need to ask an Imam, it isn‟t a religious issue. Islam doesn‟t
favour or prohibit consanguinity...it is about cultural and familial organisa-
tion. This should have been pointed out far more as currently it plays into
the „Islam is a problem‟ memes in the press.
There was very little time given to the arguments against the practice from
Muslims themselves...again painting us as the ones who need telling as
opposed to a diverse community with differing practices and opinions.
It would be good if the article could be blogged on certain sites to increase
readership. Not sure if that is possible....?
Thanks
Summereen
Competition Details To win one of three pairs of tickets, simply answer the following question in no more than 300 words: How can the film Jour-ney to Mecca help to build bridges between Muslims and Non-Muslims? Competition Rules
The competition is
open to adults aged 18 and over.
Only one entry per
individual; Entries must be made by email to: [email protected].
All entries must in-
clude the full name of the entrant, a valid email ad-dress and contact num-ber.
If winners cannot be
contacted within 24 hours, the tickets will be issued to the next runner up.
Past and present stu-
dent and writers from Peo-
ple with Voices are not eligible to enter the com-petition, nor employees or owners of any publications associated with the pro-motion of the competition. Closing Date: The closing date of the competition is 12.00pm midday (GMT) on Friday 10 September. The judges’ decision is final. The winners will be an-nounced on Monday 13 September and winners
Page 4
will be contacted with in structions on where to collect the tickets. Judges The competition judges are: Deborah Gabriel, founder of People with Voices Hassan Joudi, author of the Journey to Mecca re-view on People with Voices Imtiaz Nabi, Editor of The Muslim Seeker
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Nasheeds and Poetry Page
THE DAYS OF EID
These are the days of Eid, Make Takbir wherever you are.
These are the days of Eid, Allahu Akbar.
These are the days of Eid,
Sing together everyone. La Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Lillah Hil
Hamd.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.
Allah is Great, Allah is Great.
There is no God but Allah. Allah is Great, Allah is Great,
And all praise to him. Allah is Great, Allah is Great.
There is no God but Allah.
Allah is Great, Allah is Great, And all praise belongs to Allah.
These are the days of Eid,
Make Takbir wherever you are. These are the days of Eid,
Allahu Akbar.
These are the days of Eid, Sing together everyone.
La Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Lillah Hil Hamd.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.
Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.
La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.
Allah is Great, Allah is Great. There is no God but Allah.
Allah is Great, Allah is Great, And all praise to him.
Allah is Great, Allah is Great. There is no God but Allah.
Allah is Great, Allah is Great, And all praise belongs to Allah.
These are the days of Eid,
Make Takbir wherever you are. These are the days of Eid,
Allahu Akbar.
These are the days of Eid,
Sing together everyone. La Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Lillah Hil
Hamd.
DAWUD ALI WHARNSBY
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In a thrilling encounter in front
of an 11000 crowd at Ibrox,
APSA were ready to entertain.
APSA started much like they
did throughout the tournament
with much speed and gusto.
Pegging Derby back in their
own half for most of the game
as they took advantage of the
large playing surface. Dakri
came close for APSA as did
Yasir Rashid with tremendous
strikes which were well met by
the Derby keeper.
Derby had chances of their own
and Imran Khan in goal for
APSA stood up well to the task
and ketp it to 0-0 for half time.
On the hour the ever impressive
Zubir Haleem took two on just
outside the derby penalty area
and belted home what should
have been the winner.
APSA looked strong
throughout the game and i
seemed that the first goal
would give way for more,
however the experienced
Derby were not to man-
nered so easily.
They attacked with vigour
and still kept their defen-
sive heads on. Dakri again
received opportunities up
front, but this was not
APSA's day. Derby took
there chance in the 75th
minute. Peppering the
APSA gol with shots, the
first saved by Khan, the
loose ball came flying in
again and this time, Shah,
cleared only to see it
come flying back in third
time lucky to make it 1-1.
The race to the finish line
was on but neither side could
break the deadlock. Having
recently won the Essex Char-
ter Standard Cup on Penal-
ties and then thwarted a semi
final place in the Stephen
Timms Cup there were
mixed feelings in the APSA
camp.
It ended after an exciting 9
penalties each. Derby missed
on penalty number 2 and
APSA's Dakri failed to put
them ahead. Derby scored
their 9th penalty to make it 8
-7 and APSA's Imran Khan
saw his shot saved to give
Derby the 2010 champion-
ship.
APSA will rue the missed
chances and wait another
year to claim this title again.
Manager Anjum Khan
"The boys worked tremen-
dously hard to make it to the
final which is a reward in
itself. Getting hands on the
cup would have been the
ultimate bonus for us. They
were all fasting as we have
been for the last 4 years in
this competition and I can
only say great things about
the whole squad who commit
to the travel and play without
sustenance. It was a fantastic
weekend and my congratula-
tions go to a Derby side who
were very difficult to break
down."
APSA lose out in penalties at Ibrox
Page 10
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