Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Asallamvalykum,

respected sir , i want to ask that can a immature boy lead the 5 times farz namaaz or the taraweeh namaaz.

if he can lead then please give the reference for it, and if not please give reference for that also.

please treat this as very important and utmost urgent as this is causing lot of cotroversies in our mosque.

waiting for ur reply anxiously - thanku - allahhafiez

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Answer:

Can child lead prayer imam

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 5.595 Narrated by Amr bin Salama

That he heard the Prophet (saws) say: “Offer such-and-such prayer at such-and-such time, and when the time for the prayer becomes due, then one of you should pronounce the Adhan (for the prayer), and let the one amongst you who knows Qur'an most to lead the prayer."

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 1.653 Narrated by Malik bin Huwairth

We went to the Prophet (saws) and we were all young men and stayed with him for about twenty nights. The Prophet (saws) was very merciful. He (saws) said, "When you return home, impart religious teachings to your families and tell them to offer perfectly such and such a prayer at such and such a time and such and such a prayer at such and such a time. And at the time of the prayer one of you should pronounce the Adhan, and the oldest of you should lead the prayer."

When the believers gather to offer their congregational prayers at a place of worship or the masjid, they should offer their prayers behind the ‘imaam’ chosen and appointed by those in authority. But when the believers happen to assemble and pray amongst themselves, the criteria for choosing the ‘imaam’ amongst them should be the one who either knows the Quran more or is the oldest amongst them in age.

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 2527 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious; the prayer is obligatory on you behind every believer, pious or impious, even if he commits grave sins; the (funeral) prayer is incumbent upon every Muslim, pious and impious, even if he commits major sins.’

Although it is preferred and encouraged that the one who has memorized more passages of the Quran or one who is the oldest in the congregation should lead the prayers, to the best of our knowledge there is no specific prohibition in Shariah that a child below the age of puberty cannot lead the believers in congregational prayer.

The majority of the scholars and jurists of ‘Fiqh’ or Islamic Jurisprudence are of the opinion that if one cannot find an adult believer who knows enough passages of the Glorious Quran to lead the supererogatory prayers (tarawih, etc.), there is absolutely no harm if a child below the age of puberty is chosen to lead the believers in their supererogatory prayers, but it would be extremely preferred that an adult believer leads the obligatory or ‘fard’ prayers. And Allah Alone Knows Best.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan