Authored by: Imran Ayub Lahori
Commanding children to pray is for their training, not because it is legally obligatory upon them, as they are not accountable until puberty.
It is narrated from Hazrat Amr bin Shu’aib from his father from his grandfather that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مروا صبيانكم بالصلاة لسبع سنين واضـر بـو هــم عليـهـا لعشر سنين
“Command your children to pray when they are seven years old, and when they are ten years old, discipline them for neglecting it.”
[Hasan: Sahih Abu Dawood 466, Kitab al-Salah: Chapter on When a Child is Commanded to Pray; Abu Dawood 495, Ahmad 2/187, Daraqutni 1/230]
It is narrated from Hazrat Aisha رضي الله عنها that the Prophet ﷺ said:
ورفع القلم عن ثلاثة عن النائم حتى يستيقظ وعن الصبى حتى يحتلم وعن المجنون حتي يعقل
“The pen has been lifted from three: from the sleeping person until he wakes up, from the child until he reaches puberty, and from the insane until he regains sanity.”
[Authentic: Sahih Ibn Majah 1660, Irwa al-Ghalil 297, Abu Dawood 4398, Kitab al-Hudud: Chapter on the Madman Who Steals or Commits a Crime, Ahmad 6/100, Ibn Majah 2041, Nasa’i 6/156, Darimi 2/171]
