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Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 16 Feb 2021 › Segment 48 of 57

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Are children held accountable in Islam for bullying or hurting others?

malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imaam imams prayer leader fatwa fatwah fatwaa fataawa legal opinion muftis dalil daleel adillah adilla proof in sha allah insha'allah in shaa allah insha allah inshaa allah

Are children not accountable for harming other children? They are, in their own way

QuestionLive chat · questioner not identifiedAnswered 16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu LaythSegment 48 of 57 in the recording2021-02-16-S48

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This segment2:38:10 to 2:39:59 · 1 min 49 sGeneral teaching

The answer in brief

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Children are accountable, he says, in a way suited to their age: the laws for them are lighter, but a child who harms another does not get a free pass.

In more detail

A super chat asks how it is fair that children are not held accountable when they cause lifelong harm to other children, as in bullying. Mufti Abu Layth says it is cruel, but that children are accountable: saying they are not accountable does not mean they have free rein, and a child who stabbed another would be held to account. He cites Imam Malik's fatwas on the testimony of children (shahadat al-sibyan), which Imam Malik accepted when one child wounded another, and says the accountability is commensurate with being a child, taking into account what happened and what they understood, with laws less stringent than for adults. He agrees that the worst bullying is from children to children and prays that Allah make things easy.

Question as read aloud · questioner not identified

How is it fair that kids are not held accountable when they cause lifelong harm to other kids, like bullying?

Position stated

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Mufti Abu Layth says children are still accountable in their own way, commensurate with being a child, so the laws for them are more relaxed and less stringent than for adults.

In his words

“they would still be accountable in their own way you understand so naturally the laws pertaining to children would be more relaxed and more less stringent than they would to adults”

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machine2:38:10 to 2:39:59 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
2:37:32

you know when we want to corroborate certain evidence cool right uh how is it all right some super chat is praying in a car aloud either because of a particular job or not feeling safe praying in a parking lot you know worst case if you need to pray in a car you know if you're not feeling safe or things like that you can inshallah how is it fear that kids are not held accountable when they cause

2:38:09

lifelong harm to other kids bullying much love from new zealand experiments has super chatted much love to use take care stay blessed you're doing it man yeah it is cruel and it's not that kids are not accountable they are but you see so when people say kids are not accountable that's not what they mean that they have free reign so if a kid went and stabbed another kid they would be accountable and you have this and imam alex fatawa of uh shahada to sebian is all about this that when

2:38:48

children give testimony regarding of the children this is why imam malik accepted it because if a child has wounded another child so they are accountable but obviously it's commensurate to the child so you have to take into consideration what's happened you have to take into consideration what they understood what they were doing but there are still laws they would still be accountable in their own way you understand so naturally the laws pertaining to children would be more relaxed and more less stringent than they would to adults but

2:39:26

there are still laws it doesn't mean that you know if a ten-year-old took a gun and just went around shooting everybody dead it doesn't mean oh it's you know he gets a you know free and gets a free ticket it doesn't work like that and bullying and you're right that the worst bullying is from children to children that is true actually and it is a very sad state of affairs and may allah make things easy for people

Paragraphs overlapping 2:38:10 to 2:39:59. Full text on the recording page.

Cite this segment

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Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2021-02-16-S48, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/48/ (accessed 1 November 2026)

APA 7 
Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, February 16). Are children held accountable in Islam for bullying or hurting others? [Video, segment 2021-02-16-S48, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/48/
Chicago author-date 
Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Are children held accountable in Islam for bullying or hurting others?" Video, segment 2021-02-16-S48, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded February 16, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/48/
BibTeX 
@misc{abulayth-2021-02-16-S48,
  author = {Mufti Abu Layth},
  title = {{Are children held accountable in Islam for bullying or hurting others?}},
  year = {2021},
  month = {2},
  date = {2021-02-16},
  howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/48/}},
  url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/48/},
  organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive},
  urldate = {2026-11-01},
  note = {Segment 2021-02-16-S48, auto-transcribed, may contain errors}
}
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