In
Islam, the structure of the family is all-inclusive. The first and the closest family members are
the husband, the wife, their children, their parents. The next group, the central fold of the
family, consists of a number of close relatives, whether they live together or not, who have special
claims upon each other and who move freely inside the family. These include parents-in-law, uncles
and aunts. The next group includes cousins, step-mothers, step-fathers and other in-law relations.
This is the real extended family and the nucleus of relationships. All those relations who are
outside this fold constitute the outer periphery of the family. They, too, have their own rights and
obligations, as is borne out by the fact that a number of them have been included in the second and
third lines of inheritors.
