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Fatwa CenterAny Discerning Boy Can Lead Prayer
Question
I have a 14-year-old son when his father is not at home should he lead the prayer. If my husband is not at home can I lead the prayer with my other children, and where in relation to me should they stand one is a boy of nine the other a girl, should the boy lead the prayer or not.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The preponderant opinion of the Muslim scholars is that it is permissible for a boy who has not yet reached the age of puberty to lead the prayer. There is no difference of opinion among the scholars about this regardless whether this is a supererogatory prayer or an obligatory one provided that the boy has reached the age of distinction. This is the opinion of the Shaafi'i School of jurisprudence, and the evidence for it is the Hadeeth of ‘Amr ibn Salamah al-Jarami who said: "We were at a place which was a thoroughfare for the people, and the caravans used to pass by us and I used to memorize that (Divine) Talk, and feel as if it was inculcated in my chest (i.e. mind). When my father returned (from the Prophet) to his tribe, he said, “By Allah, I have come to you from the Prophet for sure!” The Prophet afterwards said to them, “Offer such-and-such prayer at such-and-such time, and when the time for the prayer becomes due, then one of you should pronounce the Athaan (call for the prayer), and let the one amongst you who knows the Quran most should lead the prayer." So, they looked for such a person and found none who knew more Quran than I because of the Quranic material which I used to learn from the caravans. They, therefore, made me their Imam (to lead the prayer) and at that time I was a boy of six or seven years, wearing a Burdah (i.e., a black square garment).” [Al-Bukhari]
Ibn Hazm commented on this Hadeeth by saying: “This is the view of ‘Amr ibn Salamah and a group of the Companions, and there is no Companion of the Prophet who expressed a different view.”
As for the woman, it is not permissible for her to lead males regardless of their ages in prayer because the Prophet mentioned that the woman breaks the prayer of the man when she passes in front of him, let alone leading him in prayer. Also, the place of the women (in prayer) is behind men.
So, she should neither lead the prayer nor stand at the same level with the male who is leading the prayer (Imam).
As for a woman leading her fellow women in prayer, this is lawful provided she stands in the middle of the group not in front of it.
‘Aa’ishah, the mother of the believers 
said that she led some women in Maghrib prayer, and she stood in the middle and read loudly.
Qaataadah reported that Um al-Hassan ibn Abul-Hassan, told them that Um Salamah used to lead them [the women] in prayer and used to stand in the middle of the row (not in front).
Allah knows best.
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