The Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) command in his saying: "Order your children to pray when they are seven years old" — does this imply obligation?
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The questioner : May Allah forgive you, O Shaykh. The command in the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , does this command imply obligation?
The Shaykh : Yes, the command here is for obligation. First: because it is a command, and the default ruling for the commands of Allah and His Messenger is obligation.
Second: because it falls under the category of care and good guardianship, and it is known that the guardian of something must do what is most beneficial and best, so the command is for obligation.
Likewise, his saying:, the command in it is for obligation, but it is qualified by the condition that the beating is beneficial, because sometimes you beat the boy but he does not benefit from the beating; he only increases in crying and wailing and does not get on the right path.
Then, what is meant by beating is non-harmful beating, the easy beating that results in correction and does not result in harm. Yes.
The questioner : Shaykh, for a child who is seven years old, is it obligatory to wake him for the Fajr prayer?
The Shaykh : The issue of the Fajr prayer has scholarly disagreement, especially in the days of winter, and that as long as the child has not been held accountable and it has not become obligatory upon him, it is dropped from the guardian.
The questioner : And likewise the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers?
The Shaykh : Yes, the command is until he reaches puberty.
Order your children to pray at seven years old
مروا أبناءكم بالصّلاة سبع سنينThe Shaykh : Yes, the command here is for obligation. First: because it is a command, and the default ruling for the commands of Allah and His Messenger is obligation.
Second: because it falls under the category of care and good guardianship, and it is known that the guardian of something must do what is most beneficial and best, so the command is for obligation.
Likewise, his saying:
And beat them for it at ten
واضربوهم عليها لعشرThen, what is meant by beating is non-harmful beating, the easy beating that results in correction and does not result in harm. Yes.
The questioner : Shaykh, for a child who is seven years old, is it obligatory to wake him for the Fajr prayer?
The Shaykh : The issue of the Fajr prayer has scholarly disagreement, especially in the days of winter, and that as long as the child has not been held accountable and it has not become obligatory upon him, it is dropped from the guardian.
The questioner : And likewise the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers?
The Shaykh : Yes, the command is until he reaches puberty.