What is the wisdom behind the jurists' dislike of a young boy leading the prayer, with evidence?

The questioner : As you have just mentioned, a young boy is a creation of Allah the Exalted, so how did the jurists arrive at the ruling that it is disliked for a young boy to lead the prayer, with evidence?

The Shaykh : I do not know of any text on this, and it is not conceivable that a text exists on this matter. However, without a doubt, the scope for independent legal reasoning and derivation is broad. I believe they derived this from the same evidence from which they derived the ruling that if a young boy is handsome, he should cover his face so that men are not tempted to look at him. From this same standpoint, those who say so—though I have not actually read this in a book—say that it is disliked for a young boy to lead people in prayer. If such a text is found with some scholars, and not naturally with all scholars and all schools of jurisprudence, their basis is observing the potential for fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). Nevertheless, I personally do not find that acceptable, because it is established in the Sunnah that a young boy led men with beards in prayer, and his age was between seven and nine years old.

The questioner : 'Amr ibn Salama

The Shaykh : Yes. And his story is well known in this regard.