Ten Year Old Boy As Imam when Praying with Parents

4-10-2001 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the Fatwa of letting a 10 year old boy be the Imam when he prays with his father and mother.
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

The Imama (the fact of leading prayer) of any child who has reached an age where he could differentiate between what is right and what is wrong; i.e. an age where he could use his own intellect in reasoning, is valid even in Friday prayer. This is the opinion of the scholars and their evidence is the sound Hadeeth of ‘Amr Ibn Salamah who said: “I led people in prayer as Imam during the life of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ). I was then a child, seven years old.” Another evidence is the Hadeeth reported by Muslim which reads: “The one of you who knows most of the Quran should act as your imam.”
Therefore, if the person who knows most of the Quran is a child, then he is the most entitled to lead the prayer.

Allah knows best.

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