What is the ruling on boys praying in the rows of men?

The questioner : What is the ruling on boys lining up in the rows of men in prayer?

The Shaykh : With what?

The questioner : What is the ruling on boys lining up in the rows of men in prayer?

The Shaykh : Ah, we find no harm in that because there is no text forbidding it. We mentioned that in Sunan Abu Dawud and Musnad Imam Ahmad, there is a hadith narrated by Asma bint Abi Bakr . But in the chain of this hadith is a man named Shahr ibn Hawshab, and it is weak due to his poor memory, so it is not binding to adopt this organization and arrangement that came in this hadith. However, there is in the authentic hadith what points to something of what came in it, namely his saying (peace be upon him): . And some of the Salaf applied this hadith, such that Ubayy ibn Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) came one day when the prayer had been established, so he moved a man from behind the imam, perhaps he was a young man. Naturally, the young man was upset, but he did not pay attention to him at first, except after the prayer. After the prayer, he turned to him and said to him that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to us: . So moving those who are not of sound judgment and discretion from the row behind the imam is a settled matter. But as for the organization of the rows, we do not have, as we said, except that weak hadith. But if there results from the row of children in the first row, for example, or the second, some disruption, then we see this in reality sometimes. A small child comes, stands in the row, and this place becomes forbidden for the man. Soon his boyishness takes over, and he plays in the prayer, goes out to play and mess around. So, in order to guarantee the straightness of the rows and their remaining so, there is no objection to organizing, or more clearly, there is no objection to adhering to what is in the hadith of Shahr ibn Hawshab, not because it is a hadith, because it is not established, but rather in the way of organizing the rows and not disrupting them. But this is not always possible to imagine, because in some mosques, for example, the first row in the Fajr prayer, for example, is not filled. So if some of this space or all of it is filled with boys, there is no objection because they are not going to disable places for men in this row. So the issue, in fact, in what my opinion ends up with in the matter, returns to the imam, who is more knowledgeable about his regular attendees and the worshippers behind him, whether many or few. So he arranges them. If he finds, for example, children occupying places, and in his opinion men might occupy these places, he moves them back. But if there is nothing of that, then we are not obligated to adhere to this organization that came from Shahr ibn Hawshab, unlike the third row specific to women. That is a continuous system due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So women must be in the back, and even if there are two men behind the imam, it is not permissible for them to stand on the right and left to fill this space. As for the boys, there is not in them such a specification that came specifically for women, so their issue is handled according to the limits of reality, and no fixed system is established for it other than that. Please.

The questioner, is it one who has reached puberty or one of complete acumen and perfect intellect?

The Shaykh : No, it is puberty plus what I mentioned.

The questioner : Plus what I mentioned.

The Shaykh : What did I mention? Perfect intellect means that puberty is a condition.

The questioner : Do I know that puberty is a condition?

The Shaykh : Yes, it is known.

The questioner : But if there is a distinguished student who has not found in himself puberty.

The Shaykh : No, that does not describe it.

The questioner : But he understands and comprehends from the matters of religion what the adult around him does not understand.

The Shaykh : I understood your question, and the answer is that it must be one who has reached puberty, plus acumen and intelligence and care for the prayer and grasping its rulings and knowing them and the like.

The questioner : What about the boy who led the Muslims and he was seven?

The Shaykh: Correct.

The questioner : And there were people behind him.

The Shaykh : And do we have a text that obligates us that the imam must be of a certain age? The answer is no, but here we have a text: .

The questioner : Do we know of a wisdom in that?

The Shaykh : Of course, the wisdom is clear.

The questioner : And it is.

The Shaykh : And it is what I pointed to just now, and it is grasping the actions of the prayer and grasping the imam's recitation and how to bow and prostrate and what is between that.

The questioner : Meaning they are an example for those behind them.

The Shaykh : Ah, yes...

The questioner : ... Is it permissible for the child to return if he came late?

The Shaykh : ... Yes, it is permissible.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : In the second row, without exposing the child's prayer to invalidity, gently, meaning.

The questioner : A man of unsound mind, with the row of men or with the row of children?

The Shaykh : He goes with the original, the row of men.