Seeking the obligatory knowledge is an obligation upon every accountable Muslim

Praise and thanks are due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. We ask Allah to raise the rank of our master Muhammad, the Prophet who did not learn to read or write, his Al, and Companions, and to protect his nation from whatever he feared for it.

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

Which 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.” (Suratut-Tahrim, Ayah 6)

Our Prophet, may peace be upon him, said:

طَلَبُ الْعِلْمِ فَرِيضَةٌ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِم

Which 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 one learning the religious knowledge that Allah made obligatory upon every accountable person to acquire, and then by one teaching it to the family. One cannot be a pious Muslim when one does not fulfill the religious obligations and does not avoid the matters that Allah made forbidden.