Back to search

Is my mother's cousin considered one of my kin with whom I must maintain ties?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"The jurisprudential opinions agree that a maternal cousin (son of the maternal aunt) is among the kin (arham) whom one should connect with and treat kindly. However, scholars differ on whether he is among theām whom one must connect with. This is because there are two types of kinship: rahim mahram (unmarriageable kin) and rahim ghayr mahram (marriageable kin). Rahim mahram refers to any two individuals who, if one were male and the other female, would be forbidden to marry each other, such as fathers and mothers, paternal uncles and aunts, and maternal uncles and aunts. Rahim ghayr mahram refers to all other relatives, such as a maternal cousin (son of the maternal aunt) or a paternal cousin (son of the paternal uncle). Some jurists have held that the kinship ties that must be maintained are only with mahram relatives, citing as evidence the prohibition of combining a woman with her paternal aunt or maternal aunt in marriage, due to the severing of kinship ties that would result. Others have maintained the obligation to connect with all kin, both mahram and ghayr mahram.

In summary, connecting with a maternal cousin (son of the maternal aunt) is, at the very least, recommended. One should err on the side of caution in religious matters and strive to maintain ties with all kin, given the immense reward associated with it."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy