Are Parents Sinful if Their Child Does Not Pray Between Age Ten and Puberty?

Are Parents Sinful if Their Child Does Not Pray Between Age Ten and Puberty?

Question
Assalamu Alaikom Warahmatallhi Wabaraukutuhu Sheiqh. I hope you are doing well and in the best of Health and Emaan. I have a question regarding one of the conditions of Salah which is Balig or reaching the age of puberty. I have heard that for parents who have children, once the child reaches the age of 10, the parents must make sure they pray and although the children are not sinful for missing their salah until they reach the age of puberty, the parents are sinful for their children not praying between the age of 10 and puberty, Is there any fatwa regarding this? jazakallahu khair

Answer
Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain.

1. The Shari Context

In Islamic law, the obligation of salah becomes binding only after a person reaches puberty (bulugh). Before that stage, a child is not legally accountable for acts of worship.

The Prophet said:

“The pen has been lifted from three: from the child until he reaches puberty, from the sleeping person until he awakens, and from the insane until he regains his reason.”
Sunan Abu Dawud

However, although children are not legally accountable before puberty, Islam instructs parents to train and discipline their children gradually in acts of worship, especially prayer.

The Prophet said:

“Command your children to pray at the age of seven, and discipline them for it at the age of ten, and separate them in their beds.”
Sunan Abu Dawud

This hadith establishes a system of early training so that when the child reaches puberty, prayer is already a natural part of their life.

2. Scholarly Discussion

The scholars of the four madhahib agree that salah is not obligatory upon a child before puberty, meaning the child does not carry sin for missing prayer.

However, they also explain that the hadith commanding parents to instruct children at seven and discipline them at ten establishes a parental responsibility of tarbiyah (religious upbringing).

Scholars explain that the purpose of discipline at age ten is not because the child has become legally accountable, but because this stage prepares the child for the obligation that will soon come after puberty.

Because of this, the scholars say that parents must actively teach, encourage, and require prayer from their children once they reach this age. If parents neglect this responsibility entirely and make no effort to encourage prayer, they may fall into sin for neglecting the religious upbringing entrusted to them.

3. Application to the Question

Based on these principles, the ruling can be understood clearly.

The child themselves is not sinful for missing prayer until they reach puberty, because legal accountability has not yet begun.

However, parents are responsible for teaching and enforcing the practice of prayer from around the age of seven and especially by the age of ten. If parents completely neglect this responsibility and do not attempt to guide their child toward prayer, they may be sinful for failing in their duty of upbringing.

At the same time, this responsibility should be carried out with wisdom, consistency, and good character, helping the child develop love for prayer rather than resentment.

4. Relevant Usul Principle

رفع القلم عن ثلاث
The pen is lifted from three

This comes directly from the hadith and shows that the child is not legally accountable before puberty, so the sin of abandoning salah does not apply to the child before bulugh.

مناط التكليف هو البلوغ
The basis of legal accountability is puberty

This is exactly what the ruling revolves around in your question. The child is not mukallaf before puberty, while the parent’s responsibility comes from tarbiyah and guardianship, not because the child has already become directly accountable.

Final Ruling

A child is not sinful for missing prayer before reaching puberty. However, parents are responsible for training and encouraging their children to pray from the age of seven and enforcing it more firmly by the age of ten. If parents completely neglect this responsibility, they may be sinful for failing to properly raise their child upon the obligations of Islam.

And Allah knows best.