Why does Haider insist Zoya is his sister?

Technically, since they are cousins, they can even get married as per Islamic laws. So the relationship is not an out-of-bounds brother sister relationship! This is just like how Ayaan and Humeira could have been married. So Humeira's apprehensions about Zoya being a threat to their relationship is not completely wrong. Or does Islam also have a rule (like many communities in South India) that only children of a brother and sister can be married, while children of two sisters or two brothers are like siblings?

humeira and ayaan are not related.
gafoor just considers shireen as his sister,she is not actually his sis.

No, any type of cousin can get married. But how the cousins choose to see each other is entirely their choice.

For Humeira-Ayaan, Humeira never saw Ayaan as a brother to begin with, but as a love interest. And Ayaan saw Humeira as a friend. For Haider and Zoya, they treated each other as brother-sister to begin with, especially Haider since he remembers Zoya, so since he's taken Zoya as his sister, that is the relationship they will choose to maintain.

Personally, I have a few male cousins I grew up with, whom I call and take as my brothers, and some others I'm not even in contact with, so I wouldn't see them as brothers. My sister too takes the same cousins that I do as brothers, and yet she'd married to another one of my cousins, whom obviously she did not see as a brother to begin with.

All about perspective here.

haider called zoya's mom as masi not puppi or aunty.

its their own choice.if they want to treat each other as bro-sis tehn who r we to stop them.

Islam allows marriage between cousins. But that does not mean that the blood relationship they share is not considered.

In fact cousins and even second cousins are considered as very close relatives. And it depends on how You grow up and the relationship you share with your cousins from when you are small.

Like haidar and Zoya behaved as brother and sister from when they were young. similarly even i have some cousins who are so close to me, that they are like my own brothers and sisters and our relationship is such that we obviously cannot have any other feelings towards each other.

So religion allowing cousins to get married, never means that the blood relationship is severed or not be maintained...its just that getting married to a cousin is not a sin in Islam, even though the cousin is related to you by blood.

I have 1st cousins that I call big brother and big sister. It all boils down to closeness and probably growing up together. It's an Asian thing, calling relatives older than you a respectable title ; bhaijaan, bhaji , Anne, Akka (Tamil), Koko, Cheche (Cantonese), Abang, Kakak (Malay), etc.

Originally posted by: goingreen

No, any type of cousin can get married. But how the cousins choose to see each other is entirely their choice.

For Humeira-Ayaan, Humeira never saw Ayaan as a brother to begin with, but as a love interest. And Ayaan saw Humeira as a friend. For Haider and Zoya, they treated each other as brother-sister to begin with, especially Haider since he remembers Zoya, so since he's taken Zoya as his sister, that is the relationship they will choose to maintain.

Personally, I have a few male cousins I grew up with, whom I call and take as my brothers, and some others I'm not even in contact with, so I wouldn't see them as brothers. My sister too takes the same cousins that I do as brothers, and yet she'd married to another one of my cousins, whom obviously she did not see as a brother to begin with.

All about perspective here.

Haider is treating Zoya as his sis.

I think wedding among cousins ( blood related) is generally not encouraged due to possibility of genetic abnormalities of offspring due to inbreeding. However, some communities are open for weddings among cousins.