Children in mosque

[rqsnnt]

Assalamu aliakum
Does Islam allow bringing children at mosque? If it's prohibited then is there any authentic reference?
Salam

[Joshimitsu]

Salam,

Assalamu aliakum
Does Islam allow bringing children at mosque? If it's prohibited then is there any authentic reference?
Salam

There is no explicit prohibition as far as I know. Someone more knowledgeable will be able to clarify, inshAllah. Some common sense is necessary though. You shouldn't take very young children who require constant attention to the masjid, as you won't be able to pray with complete concentration and neither will anyone else.

I believe that those of us who live in Western nations, we should encourage children to go to the masjid for more than just salah and Qur'an classes. If the masjid is big enough there should be a gathering area or something, where kids can go and just mingle, chat and generally have a place to go. This is far better than kids hanging around on street corners and malls. A safe, Islamic environment for kids to have fun, where they will be encouraged (or forced!) to pray when the azaan is given.

[Sulaiman84]

The Fiqh of Children in Masaajid

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.a...D=2143&CATE=30

[rqsnnt]

Assalamu aliakum

Thus, we find in authentic hadiths that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to pray while carrying children, including Umama the daughter of Zaynab (Allah be pleased with her) [Bukhari and Muslim], Hasan and Hussain, and others. At the same time, he commanded that children be kept away from the mosque [Ibn Maja]. The latter is understood to mean when it is feared that they will soil the mosque, or it is feared that they will cause a nuisance, or if they are generally unattended.

Source

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.a...D=2143&CATE=30

children be kept away from the mosque [Ibn Maja]

Is't an authentic hadith?

Salam

[Sulaiman84]

Why don't you commit your life to memorizing ahadith and memorizing their chains back to Rasulullah along with having the knowledge of the science of criticism of the narrators of hadith and couple that with deducing fiqhi injunctions according to accepted principles in Deen then that way you don't have to ask if that hadith is authentic.

[abulayl]

depends on the children actuelly. I dont teach our kids behaviour, but bring them in the mosque, and for them its like play ground.

[meelash]

Mufti Saeed Ahmed Palanpuri talked about this in I think a Rhode Island masjid a few years ago when he visited the US. I'm sorry that I don't have a link to the audio, although I'm sure it's probably available online somewhere.

The gist, as I remember it:

The Prophet has explicitly commanded that children be kept away from the Masjid, in fact he said "Save (bachaao) your masjids from your children and your insane."

Then the question is how do we explain the ahaadeeth that mention the Prophet bringing children with him, or him hearing children in the background while leading the prayer? He said many people without knowledge draw the incorrect inferences from these ahaadeeth. These were situations when there was no other choice- no one was in the home to watch the children, or the whole family was out at the time of prayer and had to all come to the masjid, etc. It is obvious from these ahaadeeth that these were not everyday occurrences, but something that happened once in a while. Therefore the ruling is that if there is necessity, and there is no way to leave the children at home, then they can be brought to the masjid, and it is not haraam.

All this prohibition applies to children under the age of (7 or 9, I don't remember which). At that age, it is appropriate to bring children to the masjid, but they must be brought "holding the finger" (I remember him using this expression) of their father and be taught the proper manners of remaining silent and respecting the masjid. That is the whole point of bringing them, is to teach them the manners of the masjid. If that is not done, then they should rather be left home even then.

[rahma]

Assalamu Alaikum,

I have nothing fiqh related, merely personal experiences, but ya Allah, please, control your children in the masjids! 2 stories:

1. My husband immigrated to the US at the beginning of Ramadan in 2005. For eid prayers, he did as he always has done back home in egypt - he set his glasses down about his place of sajda. Unbeknownst to him, hoards of children were going to start running up and down the prayer rows as soon as their parents started praying. Thump thump thump smash! His poor glasses were crushed. Since we were new to the community, we didn't know which child belonged to which parent, and who to confront about it, so we ended up spending our first eid together getting him new glasses and paying a ton of money that we didn't have as newly weds.

2. Our masjid has iftars during ramadan, and the parents use the opportunity to sit and relax without their kids, who are sent to run wild in the musullah. I usually try to find a quiet corner to read (rarely happens), but I end up as the unofficial baby sitter > 2 years ago, the kids were throwing stuffed animals around when one got stuck up on top of the light and caught fire! I had to run around trying to find a ladder to put it out, and when I told the parents about it, they just shrugged.

3. Another area the kids like to run around in is the parking lot. I can't count the number of times I've almost run over a child playing hide and seek among the cars in the dark. The same year as the fire incident, I got so angry that I stopped my car in the middle of the parking lot, ran inside and began to yell at the parents that I'm tired of almost squashing their children. Again, they just shrugged.

I understand mothers want to come to the masjid and want to participate, but if the mothers (and fathers, who are conspicuously absent in child rearing) can't control their children, please don't come!

I went to church with my parents from the time I was born, and never, ever ever behaved disrespectfully during a service. My husband went to the masjid with his father in egypt from the time he was young as well, and had a similar experience. Why is it that in our communities here in north america (and I do believe the problem is wide spread), that our children are not taught to behave? The musullah is not a playground!

[Sulaiman84]

The gist, as I remember it:

The Prophet has explicitly commanded that children be kept away from the Masjid, in fact he said "Save (bachaao) your masjids from your children and your insane."

I remember reading this hadith on a poster in my old Masjid. I can't recall which muhaddith compiled it.

Nowadays, children act insane inside and outside the Masjid. It's almost as if they fit the description of a double prohibition.

[ENIGMA]

Assalamu Alaikum,

I have nothing fiqh related, merely personal experiences, but ya Allah, please, control your children in the masjids! 2 stories:

1. My husband immigrated to the US at the beginning of Ramadan in 2005. For eid prayers, he did as he always has done back home in egypt - he set his glasses down about his place of sajda. Unbeknownst to him, hoards of children were going to start running up and down the prayer rows as soon as their parents started praying. Thump thump thump smash! His poor glasses were crushed. Since we were new to the community, we didn't know which child belonged to which parent, and who to confront about it, so we ended up spending our first eid together getting him new glasses and paying a ton of money that we didn't have as newly weds.

2. Our masjid has iftars during ramadan, and the parents use the opportunity to sit and relax without their kids, who are sent to run wild in the musullah. I usually try to find a quiet corner to read (rarely happens), but I end up as the unofficial baby sitter > 2 years ago, the kids were throwing stuffed animals around when one got stuck up on top of the light and caught fire! I had to run around trying to find a ladder to put it out, and when I told the parents about it, they just shrugged.

3. Another area the kids like to run around in is the parking lot. I can't count the number of times I've almost run over a child playing hide and seek among the cars in the dark. The same year as the fire incident, I got so angry that I stopped my car in the middle of the parking lot, ran inside and began to yell at the parents that I'm tired of almost squashing their children. Again, they just shrugged.

I understand mothers want to come to the masjid and want to participate, but if the mothers (and fathers, who are conspicuously absent in child rearing) can't control their children, please don't come!

I went to church with my parents from the time I was born, and never, ever ever behaved disrespectfully during a service. My husband went to the masjid with his father in egypt from the time he was young as well, and had a similar experience. Why is it that in our communities here in north america (and I do believe the problem is wide spread), that our children are not taught to behave? The musullah is not a playground!

First incident you mentioned happened to a friend of mine too. And like you said,the parents just shrug it off.

a personal incident though on the flip side which happened just this weekend gone. I went for zuhr salah and my daughter who is 5 wanted to come. Now me and wife have made alot of effort on our children to make sure they have good manners. so I went for zuhr and she wanted to come. I said beti(dear daughter),you can't come to the masjid and only men go to the masjid for salah. girls pray at home. so i came back from zuhr and she had made something with the lego bricks. So I said whats that you've made and she said its a masjid. I said can I go in your masjid and she said NO,ITS FOR GIRLS ONLY AND BOYS ARE NOT ALLOWED.

I was actually post about this very same topic.

Im 99% sure if I take my daughter to the masjid she will be excellently behaved. So I don't see why I cannot take her to the masjid with me. The problem is we detach our kids from the masjid until they are so many years old and then we miraculously expect them to be connected to Deen.

I think a fine balance needs to be found where children can come to the masjid but again,parents have to take total responsibility for the children when they do attend.