When Should Children Be Ordered to Perform Prayers and Why?
[Q]: If it is not obligatory upon a child to perform ṣalāh, why did the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) order the people to instruct their sons and daughters to perform ṣalāh by completion of the age of seven [i.e. the beginning of year eight1], and to beat them2 if they do not perform it by the age of ten?3 Does a person deserve to be beaten for an act that is not obligatory upon them anyways?
[A]: The father has only been ordered to command his child to pray, and to beat him if he does not, as a way of perfecting and completing the care and attention he must show towards his children. As it represents...