Praise be to Allaah.
Upholding ties of kinship only has to do with relatives
through one’s father and mother, not relatives through marriage.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:
I hope you can advise me in detail about upholding ties of
kinship. Does it include the relatives of one's wife or husband or not? Who
are the arhaam (close relatives)?
He replied:
The arhaam are relatives through one's mother and through
one's father. So fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers are arhaam.
And one’s children and their children, both male and female, and the
children of daughters, are all arhaam. Similarly, brothers and sisters and
their children are arhaam; and paternal uncles and aunts, and maternal
uncles and aunts, and their children are arhaam. As for the relatives of
one's wife, they are in-laws or relatives through marriage, and they are not
arhaam. The same applies to the husband’s relatives for the wife – they are
relatives through marriage and they are not arhaam.
End quote from the Shaykh’s website.
http://www.ibnbaz.org.sa/mat/9326
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Many of the common folk take the word arhaam as referring
only to the relatives of the spouse, to such an extent that a man may say
these are my arhaam because he is married to one of them. This is a mistake
in both linguistic and shar ‘i terms, because the arhaam are relatives
through one’s father or through one’s mother.
As for the relatives of one’s spouse, they are called as-haar
(in-laws), not arhaam. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning): “And it is He Who has created man
from water, and has appointed for him kindred by blood (nasaban), and
kindred by marriage (sihran)” [al-Furqaan 25:54]. Allah, may He
be exalted, has created ties among people by means of these two things:
kindred by blood and kindred by marriage. End quote.
Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb by Ibn
‘Uthaymeen, 11/6.
But that does not mean that there should not be good
interactions among people, with ties, friendship and visits, even if there
are no ties of blood or marriage among them.
So there is nothing wrong with continuing good relationships
among people who were related by marriage, even after divorce, this in fact
is part of a good attitude and good character, because the Muslims is the
brother of his fellow Muslim.
But it is essential to point out the importance of adhering
to proper shar‘i hijaab in front of adolescent male children. It says in
al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah (17/7):
It is obligatory on the woman to observe hijab in front of
adolescents who can tell what is ‘awrah and what is not. This is a general
rule. If the child is a minor and cannot tell what is ‘awrah and what is
not, then there is nothing wrong with showing one’s adornment in front of
him, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“and not to reveal their adornment except to
their husbands, …, or small children who have no sense of the feminine sex.”
[al-Noor 24:31].
End quote.
The boy in front of whom hijab does not have to be observed
is the one who has no knowledge of or interest in matters having to do with
women. This varies from one child to another. End quote.
Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb by Ibn
‘Uthaymeen, 11/500
And Allah knows best.