What is the ruling on a child who does not distinguish between right and wrong going to the mosque with his father? And does the presence of children who do not distinguish between the rows break the rows?

The questioner : Shaykh, if you please, sometimes a child who does not distinguish between right and wrong asks to go to the mosque to pray. What is the ruling? I mean, does the father, for example, allow him, as long as he does not distinguish between right and wrong, to pray and go with him to the mosque?

The Shaykh : I thought you would say it is permissible. Is it permissible for the father to take him without the child asking?

The questioner : No, in my view, he should not take him as long as he has not reached the age of seven.

The Shaykh : I thought you would say whether it is permissible for the father to take the child to the mosque without the child asking. What is your opinion? Is it permissible or not permissible?

The questioner : To pray, or just to go to the mosque?

The Shaykh : It does not matter to you. Take it as you wish.

The questioner : He takes him to the mosque, there is no obstacle, or is praying something else?

The Shaykh : Is not prayer better than anything else... I said it.

The questioner : Under the age of seven?

The Shaykh : That is not what we are discussing.

The questioner : Yes, heh heh.

The Shaykh : Heh heh, do you not know, Professor, that the early Salaf...

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And at their head was our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : They allowed their children to enter his mosque (peace and blessings be upon him). And you are not far from the memory of the story narrated by one of the Companions that he was praying behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) one day the 'Asr prayer, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prolonged the prostration in some of his prayer, a lengthening that was not his custom. So this Companion raised his head to reassure himself about his Prophet, fearing that his certainty had come upon him.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And he found a strange sight: he found him prostrating, and al-Hasan or al-Husayn was riding on him. In any case, the Companion was reassured and returned to prostration. And after he (peace and blessings be upon him) had completed his prayer, they said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, you prostrated two prostrations and prolonged them in your prayer." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This child entered the mosque for the sake of prayer. He is, as I said, one who does not distinguish between right and wrong.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And it was not his way (peace be upon him) to remind the worshippers, whether men or women, not to bring their children with them to the mosque. Rather, he approved of that, contrary to the famous hadith which is not authentic in its chain: "Keep your mosques free of your children and your madmen, and your buying and selling." And even if the last part of it is authentic, other hadiths indicate its authenticity, as is not hidden from you, if Allah wills. The point is that he did not forbid them, but rather he approved of this situation. He even established a specific ruling out of consideration for the feelings of the mothers who are behind him (peace be upon him) in prayer, and whose child is crying. The Messenger (peace be upon him) would notice, while he was conversing with his Lord, that there was a woman praying and her child with her. So he would enter, as he said: If it is from the long recitation that is his custom (peace be upon him) to recite, he would lighten it so that the mother would be free for her son. He did not do what many ignorant imams do, saying, "Why do you bring your children to the mosque and disturb us, and so on and so forth." He did not do any of that. And on this basis, it is even more fitting that if the child is raised in an Islamic upbringing, he will desire to enter the mosque, even if it is just to play, even if it is just to play. If he asks his father to go with him to the mosque, the father should respond to the child's request, because in that is training for him to frequent the best of places. The Messenger (peace be upon him) was asked by a questioner: "What are the best of places and what are the worst of places?" He (peace be upon him) answered: So if the child is raised in this upbringing and desires to go to the mosque and not go out except to the alleys, this is a great blessing and glad tidings. So the father, and indeed the mother, should take advantage of this phenomenon and give him the opportunity to go to the mosque. Then, if something appears from him—and this must appear from him—that is not befitting the mosques, such as mischief and play. What mischief do you want more than the Master of Mankind taking a beast and riding on it? And yet he did not disapprove of that, but rather he established a specific ruling here as well, just as he did there with the mother of the child. He prolonged the prostration. If this were done today, the cries would rise from the sides of the mosque: "You prolonged it upon us, O Shaykh! Prolong it, the child is riding on me! Why do you bring the child?" They do not know the way of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

The questioner : (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : They do not know his gentleness and mercy toward his Ummah. And Allah is truthful when He says:

Another questioner : In the case of the presence of children who do not distinguish between right and wrong in the row, is the row considered broken?

The Shaykh : In the case where the children are in the row?

Another questioner : In the row, yes.

The Shaykh : No, the row is not considered broken if the children maintain their staying in the row. But it is known that this varies from age to age.

Another questioner : Under the age of seven.

The Shaykh : No, no, it does not matter to me. I am completing my speech. If you wish, it varies from age to age and from upbringing to upbringing, because we will not be able to select children of a certain age first. And even if we could, we would not be able to equalize those of these ages in terms of the soundness of their upbringing and its correctness second. So we want to speak about the reality of the situation. It may be that in this row there are those whose age is seven, and those whose age is less, and those whose age is more. Then they may be different, to the greatest extent of difference, in terms of upbringing, discipline, and reminding them of the etiquettes of the mosques. But we speak in general terms, so we say: if it is the custom of these children that they persist in following the prayer from its beginning to its end, such that none of them slips away or runs off, so that the row is broken, there is no doubt that we cannot say that the row is broken. But what is the reality? The reality is that many of these children are with you now, but after a while...

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : ... their boyishness and childishness overcame them, so they went out, and I do not care. Therefore, it was the practice of the Muslims to place the row of children behind the men, so that if one of them was overcome by his boyishness and turned his back, it would not disrupt the row of men. And there is a hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud and Musnad Ahmad and others, but in it is a man about whom the scholars differed, and he is named Shuhrah ibn Husayb. The majority are of the opinion that his hadith is weak, and a few of them grade his hadith as good, and the correct view is the opinion of the majority. But the practice of the Muslims is in accordance with this hadith.

The questioner : If you please, Shaykh, the practice of the row of children and men.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : ... it was.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : We say this practice, which is intended by the Salaf, or the practice in some lands.

The Shaykh : No. What we know now, what we know now is what I mentioned, and it is recorded in the books of fiqh. We do not mean to drop its importance from our minds, on the condition that it is not contrary to the Sunnah of our Salaf, and we do not know of this contradiction. Therefore, we consider this practice valid. This is exactly like another hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud which says:

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : The hadith is weak in its chain, but I believe it is correct in meaning, because the mosques are like this. And even if there are mihrabs, these mihrabs were not there before. But the position of the imam is in the middle of the mosque.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So we consider this practice valid, even if we do not have knowledge that this was the practice of the early Salaf.

The questioner : The practice in some countries, if the row of children is between the men, in Saudi Arabia, for example.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : This is not known among them. Now the children, even those who do not distinguish between right and wrong, line up between the men.

The Shaykh : ... I mentioned in some of what I mentioned.

The questioner : You mentioned correctly the issue of some jurists mentioning it.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is it.

The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good.
Al-Halabi : Shaykh, the issue of placing the imam in the middle.

The Shaykh : How?
Al-Halabi : I say, the issue of placing the imam in the middle. The hadith you mentioned, with the explanation of its weakness. Once I researched something and I found in Musannaf Abu Shuybah several athar indicating this meaning.

The Shaykh : Several what?
Al-Halabi : Athar.

The Shaykh : is it
Al-Halabi : Indicating this meaning.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, this will be a strength.
Al-Halabi : Yes, that is correct.