Severe warning against neglecting disciplining and teaching one's flock
Fatwa No: 272371

Question

Assalaamu Alaykum One person told me that there is a hadeeth according to which if a person does not guide her wife,daughter & sister to the right path,does not enjoin them what is good & forbid what is evil and does not stop them from doing evil deeds,then on the day of resurrection they will continue to take good deeds from that person until they will enter Paradise. Please explain me if this hadeeth exists & it's authenticity. Jazakallah

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

The Islamic Sharee‘ah instructs the Muslim to prevent his family from entering the Hellfire by guiding them to the straight path and teaching them their religion. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones.}[Quran 66:6]

Al-Aloosi wrote in his Tafseer: “It is said that the family in this context includes one’s wife, children and slaves, male or female.”

Ibn Jareer At-Tabari said, “The words {(protect) your families from a Fire} means: teach your families how to obey their Lord so they can protect themselves against the Hellfire. ‘Ali was reported to have commented on this verse saying: It means discipline them and teach them.”

Adh-Dhahhaak and Muqaatil said: “It is obligatory for the Muslim to teach the members of his household – his family, slaves, male or female – the prescriptions and proscriptions of Allaah.”

The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Each of you is a shepherd and will be asked about his flock; the man is a shepherd in his house and will be asked about his flock.” When a man fails to guide his family to obey their Lord, he has certainly betrayed the duty entrusted to him. There are stern warnings against failure to fulfill that duty:

The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Any person whom Allaah has entrusted to act as guardian over a flock and he does not attend to them with good will, he will never find the scent of Paradise.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

In the version in Muslim, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Any person whom Allaah has entrusted with a flock and he died while he was treacherous to them, Allaah has made Paradise forbidden to him.”

However, we could not find any text suggesting that in this case they will appropriate some of one’s good deeds until they enter Paradise (on the day of Resurrection).

Allaah Knows best.

Related Fatwa