What is the ruling on addressing the wife's father as "maternal uncle" and the wife's mother as "maternal aunt," or addressing them as "paternal uncle" and "paternal aunt," and what is the alternative for this?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : His EminenceThe Shaykh : Among the customs followed by us in the Qassim region is calling the wife's father "maternal uncle" and the wife's mother "maternal aunt." Some people call them "paternal uncle" and "paternal aunt." Some of the brothers heard from you, in your explanation of Surat al-Nisa, that it is not permissible to use these names for the wife's father or mother. What is the alternative? And what is the correctness of this statement? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Yes. As for the wife's father, he is not called "maternal uncle" or "paternal uncle" because he is not a maternal uncle in the Shari'ah nor a paternal uncle in the Shari'ah. Likewise, the wife's mother is not a maternal aunt nor a paternal aunt. Therefore, it is not appropriate to call the wife's father "maternal uncle" or "paternal uncle," nor the wife's mother "maternal aunt" or "paternal aunt." Rather, they are called by the designation given to them by the scholars of knowledge, which is "in-laws" (asbahar). One says, "My in-law so-and-so," "The father of my wife is so-and-so," "My in-law (female) is so-and-so," or "The mother of my wife is so-and-so." As for calling them by names that imply legal statuses they do not possess, that is not appropriate. However, we did not say that it is forbidden. Perhaps the one who heard my words, i.e., my saying that it is not appropriate, thought that this means prohibition. It is better for a person to call things by their true, legal designations. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade us from calling the 'Isha' prayer "al-'Utmah." He said:Sahih Muslim 644b As Allah the Exalted said: [An-Nur 24:58] and He did not say "al-'Utmah." "Al-'Utmah" is the term used by the Bedouins for the time when their camels are milked at night. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the Bedouins from imposing their terminology on us regarding the naming of the prayer with other than its legal name. Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes. As for the wife's father, he is not called "maternal uncle" or "paternal uncle" because he is not a maternal uncle in the Shari'ah nor a paternal uncle in the Shari'ah. Likewise, the wife's mother is not a maternal aunt nor a paternal aunt. Therefore, it is not appropriate to call the wife's father "maternal uncle" or "paternal uncle," nor the wife's mother "maternal aunt" or "paternal aunt." Rather, they are called by the designation given to them by the scholars of knowledge, which is "in-laws" (asbahar). One says, "My in-law so-and-so," "The father of my wife is so-and-so," "My in-law (female) is so-and-so," or "The mother of my wife is so-and-so." As for calling them by names that imply legal statuses they do not possess, that is not appropriate. However, we did not say that it is forbidden. Perhaps the one who heard my words, i.e., my saying that it is not appropriate, thought that this means prohibition. It is better for a person to call things by their true, legal designations. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade us from calling the 'Isha' prayer "al-'Utmah." He said: