Close Relationships: Incest and Inbreeding in Classical Arabic Literature

Close Relationships is Geert Jan van Gelder's groundbreaking and comprehensive study of the diverse facts and opinions concerning incest and close-kin marriage found in literary and non-literary pre-modern Arabic texts. The pre-Islamic Arabs knew about the dangers of inbreeding; the Qur'an formulates the basic principles of marriage impediments in Islam, which were elaborated by generations of jurists. Incest is a motif found in lampoons, anecdotes, stories, legends, dream interpretation, and polemics with other religions, in particular the Zoroastrians, who in pre-Islamic times allegedly recommended next-of-kin marriage. Many of the relevant passages are presented as English translations in this richly documented book.