Tafsir of At-Tahreem 66:6

{Protect yourselves} by abandoning sins and performing acts of obedience, {and your families} by requiring of them what you require of yourselves.

In the Hadith: "May Allah have mercy on a man who says, 'O my family, your prayer, your fasting, your zakat, your poor, your orphans, your neighbors,' so that Allah may gather them with him in Paradise." It is said: "The person who will suffer the most severe punishment on the Day of Resurrection is the one who left his family in ignorance."

It is also recited as (wa-ahlukum), as a conjunction to the waw in qu (protect). The conjunction is made elegant by the separation. If you ask: "Is the implied meaning not 'Protect yourselves, and let your families protect themselves'?" I say: No. Rather, the conjoined noun is parallel to the waw in the estimation, and anfusakum (yourselves) follows it. It is as if it were said: "Protect, you and your families, yourselves." Because the second person (you) was combined with the third person (your families), the former dominated the latter, and the pronoun for both was placed in the form of the second person.

{A Fire whose fuel is people and stones} A type of fire that does not ignite except with people and stones, just as other fires ignite with firewood. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: It is sulfurous stone, which is the hottest thing when ignited. It is also recited as (waquduha) with a damma (on the waw), meaning "that which possesses its fuel."

{Over it are} Meaning, in charge of its affairs and the punishment of its inhabitants, {angels}—the nineteen guardians and their assistants—{harsh and severe}.

• Harsh and severe in their physical forms: meaning coarseness and strength.
• Or in their actions: meaning severity and roughness. They are not moved by pity in executing the commands of Allah, in anger for His sake, or in taking vengeance upon His enemies.

{They do not disobey what He commands them} The phrase is in the accusative case as a substitute (badal), meaning: They do not disobey what Allah has commanded. That is, His command, as in His saying: "Did you then disobey my command?" (Ta Ha: 93), or: They do not disobey Him in what He commands them.

If you ask: "Are these two sentences not the same in meaning?" I say: No. The meaning of the first is that they accept His commands, commit to them, and do not refuse or deny them. The meaning of the second is that they perform what they are commanded to do without sluggishness or hesitation.

If you ask: "Allah addressed the polytheists who denied the revelation with this very same thing in His saying: 'But if you do not—and you will never be able to—then fear the Fire, whose fuel is people and stones' (Al-Baqarah: 24), and He said: 'Prepared for the disbelievers' (Al-Baqarah: 24), making it prepared for the disbelievers. So what is the meaning of addressing the believers with it?"

I say: Even though the levels of the wicked are above the levels of the disbelievers, they are neighbors to the disbelievers in the same abode. Thus, it was said to those who believe: "Protect yourselves by avoiding wickedness, [as you are] neighbors to the disbelievers for whom this described Fire was prepared."

It is also possible that He is commanding them to protect themselves from apostasy and from regretting their entry into Islam. It may also be an address to those who believe with their tongues [only], who are the hypocrites. This is supported by His saying immediately after: {O you who have disbelieved, do not make excuses today. You are only being recompensed for what you used to do}—meaning: This is said to them upon their entry into the Fire: "Do not make excuses," because you have no excuse, or because excuses will not benefit you.