Fixing an Age for Bismillah-Khwani

Question

Some people perform bismillah-khwani (the ceremony of beginning a child’s education) after fixing the child’s age for it — namely four years, four months and four days. Is this correct or not? What is its basis?

Answer

Making this binding is wrong; the “bismillah” is valid before this age as well. If the child is intelligent and promising, do not waste his time waiting for this age.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.