The Ruling on Bringing Children to Mosques

The questioner : In the name of Allah, and may prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. Our Shaykh, we sometimes find in some mosques that some people object to bringing children with us to the mosques. They say these children distract from the prayer and that they must be raised in their homes before you bring them to these mosques. So we want an answer from our Shaykh on this matter, if you would be so kind, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : If Allah wills. After praising Allah and sending prayers and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his Companions, and whoever follows them, I say to you: These people, unfortunately, speak without knowledge, following their desires. So I say these people speak without knowledge and proceed from their customs and desires, and therefore we should not pay much attention to their words. However, we must be gentle in guiding them and directing them, and we must explain to them the Sunnah of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We know for certain that the practical Sunnah followed by our righteous predecessors, led by our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), was that they did not impose this strictness that we see from these ignorant people. In fact, we find in many authentic hadiths that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of children entering the mosque, as is mentioned in more than one authentic hadith. What comes to mind now is the hadith found in some of the Sunan and Musnads that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying the 'Asr prayer one day. He prostrated in a prostration and lengthened it until some of the people praying with him thought that something had happened to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He raised his head from the prostration, and they saw al-Hasan or al-Husayn on the back of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was prostrating. They were reassured of the safety of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and returned to their prostration. When he finished the prayer, they said to him: You prostrated in the middle of your prayer a prostration that you lengthened. He said (peace and blessings be upon him) In this hadith...
...it is not only the approval of the Messenger (peace be upon him) of this boy entering the mosque, but also his approval of him riding on his back while he was prostrating. And not only that, but his consideration (peace be upon him) for the feelings of this child, as he lengthened the prostration contrary to the custom, because he disliked to rush him, as mentioned in the hadith itself. So this hadith is at the peak of caring for the feelings of children and allowing them to enter the mosque.
And children today, if they enter the mosque, we do not find any of them riding on a worshipper, but we may hear some noise and shouting from them and the like. However, the Messenger (peace be upon him) approved of such things and did not condemn them. How so, when he (peace be upon him) did something more than this riding that occurred from the boy on the Prophet? He himself put his granddaughter, Ummah bint Zaynab, on his shoulders and entered the prayer with her, leading the people in prayer. When he bowed, he put her down, and when he raised his head from prostration, he put her back on his shoulders, and so on until he prayed four rak'ahs with the people. And there are many such things indicating the tolerance of the Messenger (peace be upon him) regarding children entering the mosque. Among them is that he was on the pulpit one day delivering the sermon when al-Hasan or al-Husayn came, stumbling in his shirt, so he came down from the pulpit and embraced him.
So the hadiths continue in approving of children entering the mosque, and that is only one of the practical educational means to raise children from the time their nails are soft to see their fathers standing before Allah the Mighty and Majestic, in congregation, humble and praying. Based on this established practice and this practical Sunnah.
I consider that the disturbance caused by these children entering the mosque is not only excusable, but I can consider it from the sent interests (masalih mursalah) that the wise Lawgiver approves of, because of the benefits that result for the future of these children. That is, I consider the preoccupation of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with these children when his grandson rides on him or when he puts his granddaughter on his shoulders, this is undoubtedly a distraction from what the prayer is built upon, which is humility and turning to Allah Blessed and Exalted is He. Nevertheless, I can consider such distractions as part of the worship, that is, part of the prayer, because it intends a benefit that Allah the Mighty and Majestic legislated through the tongue of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Sunnah. Of this kind is also what came in Sahih al-Bukhari from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab that he said I prepare my army in it. Preparing armies is undoubtedly not originally part of the work of the prayer, but since this preparation is among the matters that the wise Lawgiver encourages, if the worshipper thinks about it, he has not contradicted the purpose of the prayer, because this purpose is not limited only to supplication, remembrance, bowing, and prostration, but it is broader than that. And this confirms the meaning that I believe anyone who is truly a jurist in the Prophetic and Salafi traditions will not disagree with, that it is from the precise jurisprudence. Of this is also what al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih from a man among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); my memory does not help me to recall his name now. He was praying in the open, and in his hand was the rein of his horse. So the horse would pull the rein, and he would walk with it to the extent that this walking helped him not to lose control of the horse, like this while he was praying. So his consideration for his property, his horse, in the prayer does not contradict the prayer. And therefore, the intended meaning of these texts and this speech is that these people should understand that the meaning of prayer in the Shari'ah is broader. The original principle of prayer, which is humility, bowing, prostration, and the remembrance of Allah, His glorification, and His praise, and so on, the matter is more important than that. I wish that those who criticize the presence of children in the mosque on the claim that they disturb and disrupt the humility of the worshippers, I wish that they feared Allah the Mighty and Majestic in their prayers while they are in the mosque, with no child or anyone to distract them except their trade and their money. I wish that these people would truly turn their hearts to their prayers, humble to the Lord of the worlds, so that they would have a face to criticize and object to the presence of children. And unfortunately, we find that most of these people have heedless hearts and their hearts are not humble to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, except for whom Allah wills, and they are few. This is what I wanted to clarify on this occasion, and we ask Allah for guidance and success for us and our Muslim brothers to the straightest path. May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh. But this... May Allah honor you, O Shaykh.