Is it permissible to hit children as a form of discipline?

The default in raising children is mercy, teaching, praise and consistency — ʿĀʾishah reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ never struck anyone with his hand, neither a woman nor a servant, except when fighting in the cause of Allah (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2328), and he ﷺ said, "He is not one of us who does not show mercy to our young and know the honour of our elders" (Sunan at-Tirmidhī 1920, ḥasan). The one text scholars use to permit a smack is the instruction to command children to pray at seven and to discipline them for it at ten (Sunan Abī Dāwūd 495), and they hedged it tightly: only after teaching and warning have failed, light and non-injurious, never on the face, never leaving a mark, and never while the parent is angry. Anything beyond that — beating, humiliation, striking out of rage — is oppression that the parent will be asked about, not tarbiyah. Many contemporary scholars advise dropping it altogether where it damages the relationship, since a child who fears you but does not love the prayer has not been raised at all.

Ask your own question → All questions