Do I Have to Command the Good and Forbid the Evil to My Family Members, and if I Don’t, Will I Enter the Hellfire?

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question. Allah Most High reward you for your concern for yourself and your family.

In your case, and similar cases, we should either advise family members after some thoughtful thinking, finding the right moment with love and wisdom, and at times remain silent, let our day-to-day worship and state do the talking, and pray for them; this will affect them, too, in sha’ Allah.

Allah Most High says, “O believers! Protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, overseen by formidable and severe angels, who never disobey whatever Allah orders—always doing as commanded.” [Quran, 66:6]

The jurists have pointed out that, according to the above verse, it is the responsibility of every Muslim to educate the wife and children in matters of Sharia obligations and matters of halal and haram and train them diligently to act upon them. A hadith says, “May Allah shower His mercy upon a person who says: ‘O my wife and children, (be mindful of) your prayers, your fasting, your alms, your indigent, your orphan, your neighbor! Hopefully, Allah will gather all these with him in Paradise:” ‘Your prayers, your fasting’ and so on implies ‘Take care of them. Do not ignore them.’

[Shafi, Ma’arif al-Quran]

Although you are not the head and responsible person of the family. However, as a family member, you should try your best, as mentioned above, with wisdom and love, like Allah Most High addresses, O’ believers in the Quran and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), ‘O My wife and children…” This will also help make you steadfast in your religious duties, and you will be punctual with your prayers and follow the other teachings of Islam, too.

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

I pray this helps with your question.

Wassalam,

[Mawlana]Ilyas Patel

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.

He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.

He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.

He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His personal interest is the love of books and gardening.