Is it permissible to remove children who do not know how to pray from the row, or should they be left?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, regarding children who do not know how to pray, who look around, or who bow but do not prostrate with us, is it permissible to remove them from the row, or should they be left?
The Shaykh : If young children cause harm, they are to be removed, but how is this removal to be done? Not by scolding them or shouting at them.
Their removal is to be done by contacting their guardians, and saying: "So-and-so, your son or brother is disturbing us," so that his guardian keeps him away from the mosque. You know that if you shout at this boy, he will be upset and will hate the mosque and hate attending it, and perhaps his guardian will have something against you. But if you approach the matter through the proper channel, it will be better. However, if the boy does not cause any harm, neither by his words nor his actions, then it is not permissible to remove him from the mosque, nor to move him from his place, even if he is in the front of the row to another place. Rather, he remains in his place, even if he is behind the imam, because whoever reaches a place before anyone else has the strongest right to it, andAl-Adab Al-Mufrad 1153.
Some scholars have held that it is permissible to move the young children from the first row to the second, and if adult men come, they move them from the second to the third, and so on until they are at the back of the mosque, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):Sunan Abi Dawud 674Sahih (Al-Albani) However, there is a consideration regarding using this hadith as evidence for this issue, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 674Sahih (Al-Albani) intending to encourage these people to move forward so that they would be next to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). If he had intended to drive the young children out of the first row or the like, he would have said: "Let none of you be next to me except those who have reached maturity and possess sound judgment." If the wording of the hadith had been: "Let none be next to me except those who have reached maturity," we would have said: This is a prohibition against young children or insane people being next to him, and they would be moved to another place.
Furthermore, moving the young children from the front rows until they are in the last row is something that increases their hatred of the mosque and its people, and also increases their disturbance, because if they are in one row, their disturbance and noise increase, unlike if they are among the people.
Yes, if we suppose that there are boys next to you, and you fear that they will misbehave, there is no harm in separating them, in order to ward off the harm that is feared.
The Shaykh : If young children cause harm, they are to be removed, but how is this removal to be done? Not by scolding them or shouting at them.
Their removal is to be done by contacting their guardians, and saying: "So-and-so, your son or brother is disturbing us," so that his guardian keeps him away from the mosque. You know that if you shout at this boy, he will be upset and will hate the mosque and hate attending it, and perhaps his guardian will have something against you. But if you approach the matter through the proper channel, it will be better. However, if the boy does not cause any harm, neither by his words nor his actions, then it is not permissible to remove him from the mosque, nor to move him from his place, even if he is in the front of the row to another place. Rather, he remains in his place, even if he is behind the imam, because whoever reaches a place before anyone else has the strongest right to it, and
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade anyone forcing a man to rise from his seat so that someone else could sit in his place.
نهى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أن يقيم الرجل أخاه من مكانه ويجلس فيهSome scholars have held that it is permissible to move the young children from the first row to the second, and if adult men come, they move them from the second to the third, and so on until they are at the back of the mosque, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):
let those of your who are sedate and prudent be near me
لِيَلِنِي منكم أولو الأحلام والنُّهىlet those of your who are sedate and prudent be near me
لِيَلِنِي منكم أولو الأحلام والنُّهىFurthermore, moving the young children from the front rows until they are in the last row is something that increases their hatred of the mosque and its people, and also increases their disturbance, because if they are in one row, their disturbance and noise increase, unlike if they are among the people.
Yes, if we suppose that there are boys next to you, and you fear that they will misbehave, there is no harm in separating them, in order to ward off the harm that is feared.