Saudi scholars back 'blood disease' marriage ban

Saudi religious scholars back the Ministry of Health's request for a fatwa to stop people with hereditary blood diseases from marrying, according to press reports.

A member of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy, Sheikh Mohamed Al-Najimi, called on religious bodies authorized to issue fatwas – Islamic rulings – to ban these marriages, calling them a "a grave mistake."

Statistics show that there are more than 850 genetic diseases in the Arab world, which can be partly attributed to the absence of genetic awareness and the fact that few couples take pre-marital and/or pre-natal blood tests.

Najimi said thousands of men and women with blood diseases get married each year in Saudi, resulting in thousands more disabled children, the London-based Al-Hayat reported on Friday.

"This is corruptive and against Islam," Najimi said, adding that a nation's leader also has the right to stop such marriages.

Another academy member and professor of governance and jurisdiction, Sheikh Hassan Saffar, said imposing restrictions on these marriages is legitimate, as evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophet's teachings), as well as rational and scientific thinking, prohibit things that are harmful to the body and to offspring.

"Thus anything that might lead to death or the spread of a destructive disease is totally prohibited," Saffar said.

Hereditary blood diseases range from diabetes and hypertension to genetic anemia disorders, sickle cell anemia being the most prevalent.

They can prevail in epidemic proportions in areas characterized by high percentage of inter-marriages between relatives, a common practice in the Gulf region.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Sayegh, a hematologist at Jeddah's King Fahd Hospital, said treating hereditary diseases is very costly.

Throwing his support behind the fatwa. Sayegh said: "This is what will resolve the conflict undergone by people who know they have the disease, but are still hesitant whether to marry or not."


(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid).