Almuhtada.org – In Islamic law there is something called a mahram. Some of these mahrams are permanent and some are temporary. Then, is our cousin a mahram? For that, Muslims need to know about this explanation according to Islam.
Mahram is any person who is forbidden to marry permanently because of blood, breastfeeding and marriage in Islamic law.
The word mahram means a person of the opposite gender who cannot be married (in the case of marriage) and a person of the opposite gender who cannot break wudu when touched (in the case of purification). Two people who have a mahram relationship are allowed to touch each other, whether shaking hands or other.
Is a cousin our Mahram?
There are several types of mahram, including mahram because of marriage, mahram because of bloodline, and mahram because of breastfeeding. Each of these mahrams has a different meaning.
First, mahrams by blood are people who are closely related to us by blood, such as parents, children, siblings, uncles, aunts, and so on.
Then, there is the mahram by marriage, which is someone who becomes a mahram because of a valid marriage contract. These include in-laws, stepmothers, daughters-in-law, and stepchildren.
Finally, there is mahram because of breastfeeding, which means someone who becomes a mahram because of drinking breast milk from one mother, such as a milk mother, milk sister, milk child, and so on.
Then what about cousins? Are cousins our mahram? In linguistic terms, a cousin is the child of a father’s or mother’s sibling.
And in sharia terms, a cousin is the child of a brother or sister of the father or mother. From this definition, we can see that cousins are not mahrams because of their bloodline.
Based on the words of Allah Ta’ala in Surah An-Nisa’ verse 23, which reads:
وَأُمَّهَاتُ نِسَائِكُمْ وَرَبَائِبُكُمُ اللَّاتِي فِي حُجُورِكُمْ مِنْ نِسَائِكُمْ اللَّاتِي دَخَلْتُمْ بِهِنَّ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُونُوا دَخَلْتُمْ بِهِنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَحَلَائِلُ أَبْنَائِكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ أَصْلَابِكُمْ وَأَنْ تَجْمَعُوا بَيْنَ الْأَخْتَيْنِ إِلَّا مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا
Meanings:
“(And forbidden to you) are the wives of your sons (daughters-in-law) from your ribs; and (also forbidden to you) to join (marry) two women who are sisters at the same time, except for what happened in the past. Verily, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”
In this verse, Allah has confirmed some women who are forbidden to marry by men, because of their status as mahrams.
In terms of whether or not cousins are our mahrams and the ruling on marrying cousins and this, Allah makes it clear in the verse that cousins are not mahrams who cannot be married.
In this verse, Allah, mentions several people who are mahrams by blood or marriage. These include uncles and aunts on both the maternal and paternal sides.
However, Allah Ta’ala does not mention cousins on the father’s and mother’s sides. This also indicates that cousins are not mahrams by blood.
In addition, cousins are not mahrams by marriage or breastfeeding.
A cousin can be a mahram by marriage, if he is married to our sibling or our biological daughter. Cousins are also not mahrams because of breastfeeding, unless they drink breast milk from the same mother as us. That’s the explanation of the question of whether our cousins are mahram or not. [] Fahdina Dean Yustisia
Editor: Mohammad Rizal Ardiansyah
