Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Act upon the obedience to Allah and avoid the prohibitions of Allah, and order your children to abide by the commandments of Allah and to avoid the prohibitions of Allah, and by that you protect yourselves and them from the Hellfire.” [Ibn Jurayr]
This hadith holds a couple of important lessons for us:
1. It is the right of children to be brought up in accordance with the guidelines of Islam. It is the duty of parents to protect their children from the Fire of Hell by teaching them Allah’s commands and prohibitions.
2. Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) first commands the parents to act upon the commands of Allah (subhana wa ta’ala). It is a well known fact, that children learn by imitation. What a parent says, carries a lot less weight, than what a parent does. Children automatically do what their parents do, but not necessarily what they say.