Did the children line up behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the rows of the men, or did they take a row for themselves as reported in a weak hadith?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Did the children line up behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the rows of the men, or did they take a row for themselves as reported in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah , even though the hadith, as al-Shawkani said in *Nail al-Awtar*, is a weak hadith containing Shahr ibn Hawshab, and it seems to have been transmitted similarly in *al-Fath*? Did the children line up alone in rows of their own, or were they among the rows of the men? What is the evidence for this? May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : The truth is that we do not have a valid hadith that leads us to say that the Sunnah is for the boys to have a row like the women, where the women have a specific row and the boys likewise. We have only this hadith containing Shahr ibn Hawshab. However, I say: It is not befitting for these boys, if they are young and do not understand the prayer, to mix into the rows between the men, because they may cause disorder in the row and leave it empty. You sometimes find a boy standing next to you, and after a moment or after a rak'ah, the place is empty. What happened? A boy came, and it occurred to him to go and play, so there is no harm in that. But if he is aware, even if he is not of age, and stands in the row and maintains his place, we see no harm in this, but with one condition: that they do not advance to the first row. This is based on his (peace and blessings be upon him) well-known statement in the authentic collections:Sunan an-Nasa'i 812Sahih (Darussalam). It was also reported in *Sunan al-Nasa'i* with a valid chain: . This principle leads us to not allow children to be in the first row, just as we should be mindful of the level of these children so that they do not cause disorder in the row. As for placing them in a separate row, we have no evidence for that. I will stop here for now, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The student: May Allah bless you, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : There is no deity but You; I seek Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance.
The questioner : It is not established from the Messenger that there is a pause after the completion of the recitation.
The Shaykh : What are you doing with the Sunnah now? You are doing it for the people. The questions have ended.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good... It is recommended.
That they used to line up alone
أنهم كانوا يصفُّون وحدَهمThe Shaykh : The truth is that we do not have a valid hadith that leads us to say that the Sunnah is for the boys to have a row like the women, where the women have a specific row and the boys likewise. We have only this hadith containing Shahr ibn Hawshab. However, I say: It is not befitting for these boys, if they are young and do not understand the prayer, to mix into the rows between the men, because they may cause disorder in the row and leave it empty. You sometimes find a boy standing next to you, and after a moment or after a rak'ah, the place is empty. What happened? A boy came, and it occurred to him to go and play, so there is no harm in that. But if he is aware, even if he is not of age, and stands in the row and maintains his place, we see no harm in this, but with one condition: that they do not advance to the first row. This is based on his (peace and blessings be upon him) well-known statement in the authentic collections:
Let those who are mature and wise stand closest to me
لِيلينِّي منكم أولو الأحلام والنُّهَىThat Abu Ayyub al-Ansari entered the mosque one day and found a young man, and he saw the imam, so he pulled him back and delayed him, and he took his place in his stead. Then he said about himself: I did not know how I prayed. After the prayer, Abu Ayyub apologized to him, saying: O my brother, I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: Let those of you who have reached maturity and understanding be in the first row
أن أبي بن كعب دخل يومًا المسجد فوجد شابًا ورأى الإمام فجَرَّه وأخَّرَه ، وحَطَّ نفسه محله فقال هو عن نفسه : ما دريت كيف صليت ، فبعد الصلاة قال أبي معتذرًا له : يا اين أخي لقد سمعت رسول الله - صلى الله عليه وسلم - يقول : ليلينِّي منكم أولو الأحلام والنُّهىThe student: May Allah bless you, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : There is no deity but You; I seek Your forgiveness and turn to You in repentance.
The questioner : It is not established from the Messenger that there is a pause after the completion of the recitation.
The Shaykh : What are you doing with the Sunnah now? You are doing it for the people. The questions have ended.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good... It is recommended.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.