Can child lead prayer imam.
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
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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
Wister