Abstract. – This article analyzes the “marriage” of women to the Quran as is found in some parts of Pakistan. Against the commonly held utilitarian views of such marriages being devised to deny women their rights of inheritance, it is proposed that the issue should be conceived as a particular aspect of general affinal values which are overshadowed by the cultural prescription of hypergamy. Whereas marriage to the Quran is disapproved by “textual Islam,” the regionally “practiced Islam” may even add a religious coverage to the extent that the brides of the holy book attain a sacred status. The cultural logic of “Quran marriage” is not unique to the limited world of Muslims in South Asia, since comparable arrangements, such as the “wedding” celebrated between a Catholic novice and Jesus Christ, are known from other regions and religions. [Pakistan, Quran, regional forms of Islam, marriage, affinity]