In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Instructing Children to Perform Prayer (In the Light of Ḥadīth)

    ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Command your children to perform prayer when they reach the age of seven years, and discipline them for it when they reach the age of ten years, and separate their beds.”
    (Sunan Abī Dāwūd)

It is said that in earlier times Satan would appear to people. A man once said to him: “Tell me a method by which I may become like you.” Satan replied: “No one has ever made such a request of me; why do you need this?” He said: “It is my desire.” Satan said: “The method is this: be negligent in prayer and do not be cautious regarding oaths; swear frequently, whether true or false.” The man said: “I make a covenant with Allah that I will never abandon prayer and will never take an oath.” Satan then said: “No one has taken anything from me with strategy except you. I too make a pledge that I will never advise any human being again.”

In one narration it is mentioned that in Hell there is a valley called Lamlam, wherein are serpents as thick as the necks of camels and as long as a month’s journey. Those who abandon prayer will be punished therein. In another narration it is mentioned that there is a place called Jubb al-Ḥuzn, a dwelling of scorpions, each as large as a mule; this too is for those who abandon prayer.

It is said that a woman passed away, and her brother was present at her burial. By chance, a pouch fell into the grave while she was being buried. It was not noticed at the time, but later it came to mind and he felt great distress. Quietly, he decided to open the grave to retrieve it. When he opened the grave, it was filled with flames of fire. He returned to his mother weeping, explained what had happened, and asked about the reason. The mother said that the woman had been negligent in her prayers and would leave them unperformed.

Much of the moral deviation, immodesty, and irreligion of the present era is due to parents. Many parents do not instruct their children regarding prayer, saying: “The poor child has been working and is tired; he will perform it later.” Parents themselves sit watching programs of music and entertainment; thus, the children learn the same lesson. When children do not perform prayer, its burden of accountability also falls upon the parents. A well-known elder said: “I was walking holding my father’s finger when we passed by a grand and lofty building. I was looking at it in amazement when my father struck me so firmly that I fell away, then explained: ‘My son, do not place the grandeur of worldly things in your heart; they are transient. Place the greatness of Allah in your heart.’ He said: ‘After that strike, the grandeur of any transient thing never settled in my heart for the rest of my life.’”

Today, a father himself points things out to his child: “Look how great this building is, how magnificent this car is, how splendid this house is.” The father himself observes the world in this manner, and the child then spends his entire life striving to accumulate such things, because the parents unconsciously planted these values in his heart. The father himself goes to the mosque only on Fridays, and the child comes to believe that prayer is perhaps only for Fridays. May Allah grant guidance to us all. Āmīn.