Are the wife's relatives among the kin whom the husband is obligated to maintain ties with and visit?

The questioner : The questioner says: Are the wife's relatives among the kin whom the husband is obligated to maintain ties with and visit?

The Shaykh : They are not among the kin whose maintenance of ties is obligatory in the sense of maintaining kinship ties, but they are among the in-laws, for Allah the Exalted made in-lawship a counterpart to kinship. He said: Thus, Allah made the connection between people either through lineage, which is kinship, or through in-lawship. There is no doubt that in-laws have a right that no one else has among those who are not in-laws. In-laws are the relatives of the husband and the relatives of the wife. People call in-laws "kin," but this is a designation that has no basis, neither in language nor in the Shari'ah. For this reason, some people think that the texts regarding maintaining kinship ties refer to maintaining ties with in-laws, based on this common term among them, which is that an in-law is a relative. Therefore, they say, "So-and-so is kind to his in-laws" or "So-and-so maintains ties with the so-and-so family." This is incorrect. The correct way to say it is: "So-and-so is the in-law of so-and-so" or "So-and-so maintains ties with the so-and-so family as an in-law."

The questioner : May Allah bless you.