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:

As salam mu allai kum,

Eid Mubarak. I would like to know, if can children stand with elderly people in Salah? I mean by telling in the same row, inbetween them. Most of the time I have seen that people tell children to make separate row or to stand in the corner or to stand in the end of the Mosque. Please reply ASAP.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Children in prayer congregation

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.

Fiqh-us-Sunnah Fiqh 1.116 (part)

Abdullah ibn Ghanam related that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (r.a.) gathered together the people of his tribe saying, " O Tribe of Ash'ari, gather together, and gather your women and children to teach them how the Messenger of Allah (saws) prayed with us in Madinah." They all gathered to watch him perform ablution. After it, he waited until the sun had just passed the meridian and there was some shade, and then he made the adhan. He put the men in the row closest to him, the children in a row behind the men, and the women in a row behind the children.

Dear and beloved brother in Islam, the practice of the Messenger of Allah (saws) in setting the rows for congregational prayers was that the men formed the rows immediately behind the imam leading the prayer; then the rows of children (below the age of puberty) were formed after the rows of men; and then the rows of women after the children.

Beloved brother, although prayer in congregation is not obligatory for children until they reach the age of puberty, it would be prudent for believing parents to encourage their children to attend the congregational prayers along with them, so that this blissful habit may be formed in their children from an early age.

Although the prayer of the adults is not invalidated simply because children are standing along with the adults in prayer, if one offers prayers in a mosque where there is an arrangement made for all the children to stand in a separate row behind the adult believers, or some amongst the adult believers are uncomfortable or cannot concentrate on their prayers with the children amongst them; one must talk to their children with love and tenderness, and explain to them that it would be best if they stood in the row of children behind the adult believers in the congregational prayers.

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