Marrying Cousin’s Son: Permissible?

Answered by Ustadh Faraz A. Khan

Question: Is it possible for a woman to get married to her nephew (cousin’s son) if he is elder to her?

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and faith.

The short answer is yes, it would be permissible. The age of either person is given no consideration with respect to the validity of marriage.

The only people one cannot marry are one’s unmarriageable kin (mahram, pl. maharim).

Please see this answer for details of who is mahram: Who is a Mahram?

And Allah alone gives success.

wassalam
Faraz A. Khan

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani

Faraz A. Khan has lived in Amman, Jordan, for several years studying and teaching traditional Islamic sciences, with a focus on Hanafi jurisprudence, hadith studies, theology, logic, and Arabic grammar. He translated and annotated the classical Hanafi primer “Ascent to Felicity” (Maraqi ‘l-Sa`adat) by Imam Shurunbulali, recently published by White Thread Press.