Source: "Wālidayn aur Aulād ke Ḥuqūq" by Shaykh Jāwīd Iqbāl Sīālkotī
◈ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مروا أولادكم بالصلوة وهم أبناء سبع سنين واضربوهم عليها وهم أبناء عشر.
Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Bāb Matā Yuʾmar al-Ghulām bi al-Ṣalāh: 495
“Command your children to perform ṣalāh when they are seven years old, and strike them (lightly) over it when they are ten years old.”
Dear brothers! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is instructing us that if our children do not offer ṣalāh with love and kindness, we must discipline them at the age of ten.
But our condition today is quite the opposite:
– If our children neglect their prayers, or avoid attending the masjid or learning the Qur’an, we say nothing.
– Yet if they skip school, we scold them, strike them, cut off their pocket money, or even withhold food.
Brothers! Is this honourable conduct?
No concern for neglecting ṣalāh or abandoning Qur’an,
yet strict punishment over minor shortcomings in worldly education?
﴿ تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَىٰ ﴾
Sūrat al-Najm (53): 22
“That, then, is an unjust division.”
① Start teaching children ṣalāh at age seven.
② If they persist in neglecting it by age ten, discipline is permitted.
③ Do not show greater concern for secular education than for Islamic obligations.
④ True honour and responsibility lie in giving priority to Deen, especially ṣalāh.
❖ Discipline Your Children Over Neglecting Ṣalāh at Age Ten
◈ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مروا أولادكم بالصلوة وهم أبناء سبع سنين واضربوهم عليها وهم أبناء عشر.
Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, Bāb Matā Yuʾmar al-Ghulām bi al-Ṣalāh: 495“Command your children to perform ṣalāh when they are seven years old, and strike them (lightly) over it when they are ten years old.”
✦ Commentary:
Dear brothers! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is instructing us that if our children do not offer ṣalāh with love and kindness, we must discipline them at the age of ten.
But our condition today is quite the opposite:
– If our children neglect their prayers, or avoid attending the masjid or learning the Qur’an, we say nothing.
– Yet if they skip school, we scold them, strike them, cut off their pocket money, or even withhold food.
Brothers! Is this honourable conduct?
No concern for neglecting ṣalāh or abandoning Qur’an,
yet strict punishment over minor shortcomings in worldly education?
﴿ تِلْكَ إِذًا قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَىٰ ﴾
Sūrat al-Najm (53): 22“That, then, is an unjust division.”
✔ Summary:
① Start teaching children ṣalāh at age seven.
② If they persist in neglecting it by age ten, discipline is permitted.
③ Do not show greater concern for secular education than for Islamic obligations.
④ True honour and responsibility lie in giving priority to Deen, especially ṣalāh.
