Allah revealed in the Qur’an:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلائِكَةٌ غِلاظٌ شِدَادٌ لا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ
This means: “O you who believed, protect yourselves and families from fire, the fuel of which will be people and stones. In charge of this fire are stern and rough angels who do not disobey Allah and who carry out what they are ordered.” (Suratu t-Tahrim, Ayah 6)
Our Prophet ﷺ said:
طَلَبُ الْعِلْمِ فَرِيضَةٌ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِم
This means: “Seeking the obligatory knowledge is an obligation upon every [accountable] Muslim.” (Related by Al-Bayhaqiyy.)
Protecting one’s self and family from the unbearable fire is achieved by learning the religious knowledge that Allah made obligatory upon every accountable person to acquire, and then by teaching it to the family. One cannot be a pious Muslim when one does not fulfill religious obligations and does not avoid the matters that Allah made forbidden.
