A SURVEY OF A HISTORICAL HADITH: “...BEAT UP YOUR CHILD IF HE/SHE DOES NOT PERFORM THE RITUAL PRAYER (SALÂH)

This article deals with a historical hadith (the prophetic saying) which allegedly orders parents as follows: “when a child is seven years old, teach (or order) your child to perform the ritual prayer (which is called “salât”); when he/she is ten years old (and if he/she does not perform it), beat up him/her. ” Over fourteen centuries, in all over the Muslim countries, most of the Muslim scholars have practiced this saying as a prophetic hadith or His Sunnah in their Islamic education, especially teaching the prayer. In fact, when we investigate this saying in all the documentary books and compare the Prophet Muhammad’s behaviors to children and other Muslims, firstly we can see clearly that this hadith is definitely in contradiction to the Prophet Muhammad’s deeds (Sunnah). Secondly, in terms of the verification of its isnads, the so-called hadith is not a sound one (sahih); but it is weak (da’îf) unlike the claim of certain scholars.

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