What is the standard for discernment in a child of seven years old?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Is the command contingent upon discernment?
Answer:
Yes, discernment is at seven years of age. This is a general description of discernment. A child may be seven or eight years old and not understand; some people are like that, while others are precocious, understanding at four or five years of age. Most people reach discernment at seven.
For this reason, the scholars cited as evidence the case of one who memorized, such as Mahmud ibn al-Rabi', who retained a spit that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spat into his mouth when he was four or five years old. He retained it, memorized it, and narrated it after reaching old age.
Many children memorize things that happened to them when they were five or six years old, and they retain and narrate them after reaching old age.
Is the command contingent upon discernment?
Answer:
Yes, discernment is at seven years of age. This is a general description of discernment. A child may be seven or eight years old and not understand; some people are like that, while others are precocious, understanding at four or five years of age. Most people reach discernment at seven.
For this reason, the scholars cited as evidence the case of one who memorized, such as Mahmud ibn al-Rabi', who retained a spit that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spat into his mouth when he was four or five years old. He retained it, memorized it, and narrated it after reaching old age.
Many children memorize things that happened to them when they were five or six years old, and they retain and narrate them after reaching old age.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.