Problem Statement: Is it permissible to pull out a child (who has reached the

age of discernment but not the age of puberty) from the rows of adults in a
congregational prayer?
Introduction: All praises are due to Allaah and may peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam, his family
and companions (may Allaah be please with them all).
Allaah has called us a balanced nation in the Quran and the people of Ahlus
sunnah have also proved this to be true in words and action; be it in the
matter of definition of Eeman, or the matter of the status of Eessa ibn
Maryam alayhimaas salaam, be it in the matter of Qadr or be it in the matter
of the status and position of ahlul Bayt. Ahlus Sunnah always held the middle
position which was far away from falling into extremism or ignorance. It is a
great favour of Allaah upon the Ahlus Sunnah who is always striving to adopt
and preach the qualities of at-taifah al-mansoorah; the saved sect.
The issue at hand is nothing new and great scholars of Islam like; Shaykh
Uthaymeen, Shaykh Ibn Baaz, Al-Majd Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Hajr al Haythami
rahimahumullaah to name a few, have already given their verdicts in this case
which makes it permissible for a child to stand in a row with the adults in a
congregational prayer.
A couple of objections raised; will be discussed in this article, of those who
are not in favour of the above verdicts.
1. The hadeeth of Qays ibn Abbaad narrated by Ibn Majah concerning
pulling the child out of the row
2. The hadeeth of Ibn Majah and Saheeh Muslim which encourages the
ULUL AHLAAM WAN NUHA to remain close to the imaam.

Hadeeth of Qays ibn Abbaad:

 .


.

Sunan an-Nasai, 809

This hadeeth is presented to show the permissibility of pulling the child out
from the first row. However, there are certain things to be paid attention to:
a. The one pulling the child out of the row is Ubayy ibn Kaab radhi
Allaahu anhu about whom the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said
learn Quran from four (sahih Bukhari, 3808) and one of them was
Ubayy ibn Kaab. This indicates to the fact that he was from amongst
those who knew the Quran the most. Thus, he was most eligible to
take the position near the Imaam.

b. The wording indicates to the fact that prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam has already defined as to who should remain close to him

during the prayers. The pronoun in is which includes anything
more than one person. Now this pronoun may be referring to all the
companions or the four companions who the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam was referring to in the hadeeth 3808 of sahih Bukhari.
c. Scholars like Shaykh Ibn Baaz, Ibn Uthaymeen, Ibn Haytam, Majd ibn
Taymiyyah rahimahumullah were aware of this hadeeth while issuing
the fatwa.
Comment: In order to implement this hadeeth completely, we must define
those people who should always remain close to the Imaam. Secondly, we
must urge these people to come early to the masjid in order to claim their
position.
Hadeeth about ULUL AHLAAM WAN NUHAA

"


"

Sunan an-Nasai (808), Abu Dawood (674), Sahih Muslim (432c), Sunan ibn
Majah (976), Jami at-Tirmidhi (228)
 Above hadeeth is the wording of Sunan an-Nasai. But the same hadeeth is
present in other books of hadeeth with slight change of wordings.

The words discussed in this hadeeth are and .

could mean gentleness, forbearance, intelligence, mildness, reason etc.
If it is plural of HULUM it may also mean puberty. In this hadeeth, it could
mean either puberty (i.e. those who have reached the age of puberty) or
intelligence or reason.
at the beginning,
This word is a present tense verb with
in the end with with ( referring to prophet sallallahu alayhi
wasallam). indicates encouragement and not absolute necessity. Let
us consider these two examples:

He SHOULD believe in Allaah (Use Allaah me eemaan rakhna

chaahiye). This is an encouragement to believe in Allaah and it is different

from saying i.e. (you) Believe in Allaah (Allaah me eemaan rakho)

which is an absolute command and must be fulfilled.

Similarly, in the hadeeth, prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is encouraging

the to stand close to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
and to achieve this, they will have to come to the masjid early, even before
the children come to the masjid and take the position in the first row.

( ):

"

" " (Vol 12/Page 400 or 399)

Shaykh Uthaymeen rahimahullah also understood this hadeeth to mean

encouragement in Fatawa Islamiyyah (Vol 2/Page 26-29)
Comments:
a. The above hadeeth is an encouragement for the wise and intelligent
people to come early and stand close to the Imaam.
b. The above hadeeth should not be taken to mean that it is permissible
for anyone to pull the child out of the row when he came to the masjid
even before the Azaan on the basis of hadeeth 809 of Sunan an-Nasai,
which has its own context as explained in the comments following that
hadeeth. This act of pulling the child out of the row is against many
aahadeeth which speak about prohibition of injustice (Zulm). The same
fact is mentioned in the hadeeth 3071 of Abu Dawud (though it is
Dhaeef), but it emphasises the fact that injustice is not permissible.
There is long hadeeth of prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam (sahih
Muslim, 2581) where he asks the companions about the Muflis of his
Ummah and informs about the end result of those who do injustice to
others in this world. This hadeeth of Sahih Muslim supports the basic

meaning of hadeeth 3071 of Abu Dawud which is
.

Allaah says in the Quran: (Surah Baqarah:279)
c. There is great wisdom (hikmah) in not pulling the child out of the rows.
It creates enmity in the mind of the child against the one who is pulling
him out of the row. It may also make him distant from Salaah and he
may stop coming to the masjid altogether. When all children stand
together, there are chances that they may do mischief in the masjid
and disturb others.
d. There is a hadeeth in sahih bukhari (727) of Anas ibn Maalik radhi
Allaahu anhu, where he and an orphan boy prayed behind the prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Refer Fatwa
https://islamqa.info/ar/199245, https://islamqa.info/ar/127781,
https://islamqa.info/ar/22355
e. There should be a valid reason to reject the above mentioned fataawaa
of the great scholars of Islam.
f. The great scholars of Islam have understood the hadeeth 432c of Sahih
Muslim to be an encouragement, but we say that this is SHAADH (odd)
 opinion. On what grounds? Do you think that all these scholars were
unaware of the hadeeth 809 of Sunan an-Nasai?
g. I say, after removing the children from the first row, do those who are

left in the first row close to the Imaam really hold the attributes of

?If we remove children from the first row, we must also
ensure that the hadeeth is implemented in its true spirit, fully. There is
no benefit achieved by partial fulfilment of a command.
h. There are matters where leniency and flexibility is permissible and such
matters should not be stretched beyond capacity as this may lead to
unnecessary hardships.

Juned Ansari
Student Last Semester (MA in Islamic Studies)
Islamic Online University
Juned.Ansari@iou-students.com