MCC Tucson Lectures
Muslim Community Center of Tucson
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September 11, 2026·Rabiʻ I 29, 1448 AH·5:27 AM·9m·Friday-Fajr

When Does Prayer Become Obligatory?

Conditions for Prayer Obligation: Age, Sanity, and Discernment

salahprayer obligationage of discernmentchildrenhadithislamic jurisprudenceparenting
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Summary

Sh. Ali Mashhour discusses the conditions that make salah (prayer) obligatory upon Muslims, focusing on age, sanity, and puberty as key requirements. He explains the concept of 'age of discrepancy' (tamyiz), which he describes as the mental capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, typically reached by age seven. Sh. Ali Mashhour elaborates on a hadith from Abu Dawud in which the Prophet Muhammad commands parents to instruct their children to pray at age seven and to physically discipline them for neglecting prayer at age ten, while also ensuring children have separate sleeping arrangements by that age. He clarifies that this separation doesn't necessarily mean different rooms but rather each child having their own bed and blanket, acknowledging cultural variations in family sleeping arrangements.

Transcript

Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.

8:00 will be at 8. So starting tomorrow will be at 5:30 and will be at 8:00 inshall I write the times and then I forget what the dead thing I wrote.

[Silence]

Huh? Alhamdulillah. Continuing.

[Silence]

In the book of yesterday we were discussing the subject of the the conditions or the stipulations in a person that make salah obligatory upon this person. And the author mentions for us. He says salah is obligatory upon each Muslim over the age of puberty who is sane. And remember this is for obligation. This doesn't mean that these is the only qualifying descriptions for a valid salah. Someone who is under the age of puberty can make salah and this salah may be valid and it will be rewarding. But we're speaking about obligation. upon whom is obligatory. Then he mentions a narration on the authority of Ali who narrates that the prophet Sam says A narration in on the authority of Ali that the prophet sallall.aii wasallam said the pen of accountability has been lifted from upon three types of people. The person who is sleeping until he awakes. the child until he reaches the age of puberty and the insane until his sanity returns to him. Then he mentions a an exception which is regarding salah and a child under the age of puberty. He says for.

[Silence]

He then mentions an erration regarding a ruling and that ruling is that a person who has a child that is able to reaching the age of discrepancy it's called the age of discrepancy right which is referred to in Arabic as a is a different age the scholars have differed on the exact age of a person who is of the age of discrepancy. But really there is no set age for a tame right. Children are different and they arrive at their their mental capacities at different rates. usually it every child by the age of seven has reached the age of discrepancy. Every child by the age of seven has reached the age of discrepancy. what is a tame? What is the age of discrepancy? It's when a child is able to hold the concepts of right and wrong. Able to hold the concepts of left and right. Able to understand the difference between appropriate and inappropriate. able to hold an intention for salah right I am praying this is my salah and so this age is different from child to child it could be at the age of four could be at the age of five six but usually by the age of seven all children have arrived at this age this age of he then mentions a narration on the authority of Shu who narrates ates that his father narrated from his grandfather who says that the messenger of Allah sallall.aii alaihi wasallam said, "Command your children with prayer at the age of seven and physically reprimand them for it for failing to pray at the age of 10 and separate them in their places of sleep." And what's meant by separate them in their places of sleep doesn't necessarily mean they have to be in separate rooms of the house. It just means that each child has his own blanket that he covers with has his own place of sleeping, his own bed or his own mattress. This is what is meant honestly. you know different cultures have different ways of sleeping you know arrangements for children and parents for instance when I was a kid growing up everybody slept we only had one room anyways the whole house was just one room but that's the same place that we slept so everybody slept in the same room the parents the children, the little children, everybody slept in the same room. Each person had his own you know mattress and and blanket and we all slept at the same time. We all woke up at the same time. We all woke up together and you know it it changes based on different cultures. western culture, American culture is extremely radically different than that and it's much colder honestly. , usually a child, a baby, as soon as it's a baby, it's given its own room, its own crib. And this, whether this is healthy or not is, you know, a matter of contention. But the point is is that, , once children reach at the most the age of 10, they should not be sleeping under the same cover together. They should be separate, have their own places of sleeping. And this narration has been collected by Abu Dani. Tomorrow inshallah we will begin discussing which is the times for prayer. The time for and the various times when does the start time when is the end time? What are the indicators of these times inshallah? And this is the first condition of the nine conditions of prayer. Nine conditions of prayer. This is the first one.

[Silence]

No worries.