An Eighteen-Year-Old Youth Without Beard or Moustache in the Row

Question

There is an eighteen-year-old youth who has neither beard nor moustache. The congregation is under way, and in the first row there is room for one man on the right side, while there is no one in the second row. May he join or not? And who are those ten persons behind whom prayer is makruh? Is this hadith strong or weak?

Answer

An eighteen-year-old youth is an adult (baligh) according to the Shari‘a, not a minor; beard and moustache carry no weight [here]. Therefore he too should stand in the row. If a boy is a minor and he is alone — that is, there is no other minor boy with him and all the others are adults — then he too should stand in the men's row; he should not stand alone apart from the men's…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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