to pray. If he refuses, he is punished until he prays, by scholarly consensus. Most scholars (1) hold that he must be put to death if he does not pray. He is first called upon to repent; if he prays, he is spared, but otherwise he is put to death. Is he put to death as an unbeliever, an apostate, or a grave sinner? There are two well-known positions on this in the school of Ahmad and others. What has been transmitted from most of the early Muslims implies that he is an unbeliever. This applies even when he acknowledges that prayer is obligatory; as for one who denies (2) its obligatory status, he is an unbeliever by consensus.
Indeed, guardians must instruct a child to pray when he reaches the age of seven and strike him for neglecting it (3) when he reaches ten, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded: “Instruct them to pray at seven, strike them for neglecting it at ten, and separate them in their beds.” (4) The same applies to whatever prayer requires, including obligatory purification and the like.
(1) The remaining manuscripts read: “Then most of them.”
(2) (ز، ل) read: “with”; (ف): “while denying.”
(3) The remaining manuscripts read: “upon it.”
(4) Recorded by Abū Dāwūd (495), al-Tirmidhī (407), Ibn Khuzayma (1002), al-Dāraqutnī (3/230), al-Hākim (1/258), and al-Bayhaqī in *al-Kubrā* (2/14), from Abd al-Malik ibn al-Rabī ibn Sabra al-Juhanī, from his father, from his grandfather.
Al-Tirmidhī classified it as *hasan sahih* (good and authentic), and Ibn Khuzayma authenticated it. Al-Hākim said: “It is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.” Abd al-Haqq stated in *al-Wustā*: “This is the soundest hadith on this subject.” Ibn al-Mulaqqin also authenticated it. However, Ibn Maīn, Ibn Hibbān, and others deemed Abd al-Malik weak, while al-Ijlī declared him reliable; Muslim cited one of his reports as a corroborating narration.
The hadith was also recorded by Abū Dāwūd (496) and al-Hākim (1/197), from Amr ibn Shuayb, from his father, from his grandfather. See Ibn Daqīq al-Īd, *al-Imām* (3/535), and Ibn al-Mulaqqin, *al-Badr al-Munīr* (3/238).