Is it permissible to delay young children from the first row and replace them with older men, even if they are not readers?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner: But, Shaykh, excuse me, before we move on to the issue itself: sometimes.
The Shaykh: But it doesn't become the fifth one, does it?!
The questioner: No, no, no, it is the same issue! Advancing and delaying.
The Shaykh : Please, go ahead!
The questioner: As an imam, I sometimes find young children in the first row, and older men in the second row who are regular in praying in my mosque and so on. They may not have any merit in terms of recitation or knowledge and so on, but these young ones have preceded them and stood there and so on, so I send the young ones back and bring the older ones forward!
The Shaykh: If they are young and not yet adults, there is no objection. But if they are adults, let them keep their place.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh: But it doesn't become the fifth one, does it?!
The questioner: No, no, no, it is the same issue! Advancing and delaying.
The Shaykh : Please, go ahead!
The questioner: As an imam, I sometimes find young children in the first row, and older men in the second row who are regular in praying in my mosque and so on. They may not have any merit in terms of recitation or knowledge and so on, but these young ones have preceded them and stood there and so on, so I send the young ones back and bring the older ones forward!
The Shaykh: If they are young and not yet adults, there is no objection. But if they are adults, let them keep their place.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.