Salah (Prayer) of Children and When Should They Begin Salah (Prayer)

“Abu ’Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘We instruct our children to perform Salah (prayer) when they are five years old. Instruct your children to perform Salah (prayer) when they are seven years old. We instruct our children to fast when they are seven years old if they can endure fasting even up to midday, or more than this or less. When thirst bothers them and hunger they discontinue the fast. This is to familiarize them with fasting to build their endurance to fast. So instruct your children to fast when they are nine years old and for as much of the day they can fast. When thirst bothers them, then you should allow them to discontinue their fast.’”

“Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.), would instruct children to perform Salah (prayer) of al-Maghrib and al-‘Isha’ soon, one after the other, saying that it is better for them than falling asleep.”

“I once asked abu Ja‘far (a.s.), about children when they line up for obligatory Salah (prayer). He (the Imam) said, ‘Do not push them back from obligatory but separate them from each other (boys from girls).’”