OPINION - Laugh at Iqbal Mohamed all you want, but a law is the wrong way to tackle first cousin marriage

Iqbal Mohamed, one of the Independent Alliance of five MPs, went viral after his earnest defence of first cousin marriages as Parliament debated a proposal to ban them. Among other things, Mohamed said, these unions “help build up family bonds”. Implicit is the multiculturalist plea for the “equality of cultures”. Since consanguineous marriage is a tradition among particular communities originating from the Middle East and South Asia, it would therefore be harmful, even racist, the subtext goes, to disparage or restrict its free practice.