what relevance does this have to islam? re: the contention that cousin marriage does not cause abnormality, i pointed out the prevalence of recessive diseases among this group. casanova shows that out of a tiny minority of children that die from certain rare infectious diseases in the western world, 10% are the offspring of cousins. this strongly implies recessive alleles which only are unmasked when close relatives produce progeny, but it also points to likely higher overall rates of infection for the children of cousins even if the don’t die.  a higher rate of flu & other respiratory ailments for children, etc., in one’s lifetime isn’t, in my opinion, a strong reason for why cousins should not marry IMO, but, it does suggest that those who make the claim that cousin marriage (at least first cousin marriage) is totally without cost aren’t correct.

Delusions of grandeur.

Stupid.

Usama Hasan, meanwhile, criticises Muslims for their “childlike” view of evolution, and science in general.

There’s an attempted response by Adam Deen, a Muslim blogger, to Hasan’s views on the need to reconcile evolution with their religious beliefs. Although, I am not sure it is much of a response, and only seems to underline Hasan’s argument about Muslims indulging in bad science…

Update: Abu Hasan in the comments links to another response to Usama Hasan’s article at Ummah Pulse. I don’t think the piece deserves any sort of serious analysis, but at least the author of that piece doesn’t copy and paste snippets of “evidence” found at creationist websites.

And please note: I am not saying Usama Hasan or his views are beyond criticism.

Related: See an earlier Talk Islam post on Richard Dawkins’ views about Muslim creationism and read about the role of the Turkish military establishment in pushing creationism into the mainstream.