Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Member of the Department of Islamic Education, Islamic Azad University, Yasouj Branch, Iran
2 Professor of jurisprudence and principles of the seminary of Qom
3 Professor of higher levels of the seminary of Qom
Abstract
This article examines the legitimacy children's devotional practice and acts of worship, which has been one of the most important issues in jurisprudence. It seeks to study the issue and make a comparison between Shia and Sunni jurists' positions on this topic? Is their worship legal and or is it deemed only a practice on the child's part? What are the effects of this worship and what can we conclude from different opinions expressed in this regard? According to the present research, prayer, which is one of the main acts of worship for children, is legal and correct from the point of view of all Islamic denominations, and the child deserves rewards for performing the acts of worship such as prayer, fasting, and Hajj. Enjoining children to worship, and praying, encouraging and emphasizing it, is not due to the necessity of doing these acts of worship because puberty is a requirement. Unless a child attains puberty and maturity he will not be under the obligation to pray. It is not appropriate to force him to worship either; it is simply an educational method based on which the child is educated to pray so that he gets used to performing this worship. Therefore, the great jurists have interpreted it as "a child's practice of the acts of worship". The goal of the research is to explain the proofs of the legitimacy of children's worship as well as to substantiate the fact that a child's performance of the acts of worship is recommended also as a practice.
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