Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
- Childhood is principally a period when children are to enjoy their lives through playing and entertainment, and to receive the education and skills that will enable them to lead a successful life in the future.
- There is no harm in assigning children some work that is appropriate to their age and physical capabilities.
- It is unlawful to employ children in exhausting fields that are beyond their physical abilities, or to make them work all the day without having any kind of fun.
Answering your question, Dr. Abdel-Fatah Idrees, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Shari`ah and Law, Al-Azhar University, states:
Man’s working is an Islamic value in itself regardless of the character of the worker. There is much evidence of this in the Shari`ah. For example, Allah Almighty says: “And say (unto them): Act! Allah will behold your actions, and (so will) His Messenger and the believers…” (At-Tawbah 9:105)
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, “He who gets to bed extremely tired because of his (manual) work (along the day) his sins will be forgiven that night.”
However, it should be borne in mind that the work one does should be appropriate for one’s conditions.
As for child labor, tasks assigned for children under 13 years should be within their physical abilities; if not, it may over exhaust them, and this may negatively affect their health.
Many children worked during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and moreover, some of them were willing to collect zakah from the different Muslim states then, which was an exhausting task.
Hence, if the work is appropriate for a child to do and he can do it without getting overburdened, there is no harm in his doing it.
Furthermore, we sometimes find that some children are more capable of doing some work than adults themselves. There are many examples in that regard.
The point is that it is unlawful to employ children in exhausting fields that are beyond their physical abilities, or to make them work all the day without having any kind of fun. It should be taken into account that children, by nature, are inclined to play and enjoy their time.
For more, see these fatwas:
What Are Children Rights in Islam?
These 9 Lovely Hadiths Show Prophet’s Care for Children
Allah Almighty knows best.