Islam and Human Rights — Page 124
Isl am and Hum an R ights 124 some of which would border on absurdity while others would be abhorrent as offending against universally accepted norms and standards of decency. The only limitations upon the right to marry recog - nized by the article are that the parties should be of full age and should give their full and free consent to the marriage. Yet it is obvious that the article is not intended to be construed as authorizing marriage between father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister, though there is nothing in the language of the article to suggest that such unions would be repugnant either to its letter or to its spirit. It might be urged that the article could not have been intended to authorize unions within the prohibited degrees. Even if that were to be accepted as the obvious intention and meaning of the article, how are prohibited degrees to be determined? The article says the right to marry shall be enjoyed without any limitation due to re ligion, while the notion of prohibited degrees, in its essence and its origin, has its root in religion. Besides, once one gets away from the first-degree relationships mentioned above, prohibited degrees vary very widely in different re ligious systems, and all of them constitute limitations on marriage “due to religion”. Would such limitations pre scribed by one religious system be accorded validity