On the Day of Judgement, the very first thing that people will be questioned about is salah. It is stated in a Hadith, اَوَّلُ مَایُحَاسَبُ بِہِ الْعَبْدُ یَوْمَ الْقِیَامَۃِ صَلَا تُہٗ (The first thing a person will be questioned about on the Day of Judgement is his salah).

ꜤAllāmah ꜤAbd al-Raˈūf al-Munāwī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه has written in the commentary of this Hadith, “Undoubtedly, salah is a sign of faith and the foundation of worship.”^[1] A person came to the Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم and asked thrice about the best deed, to which the Prophet صَلَّى الـلّٰـهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم replied in the same manner three times about salah being the best deed.^[2]

صَلُّوۡا عَلَى الۡحَبِيۡب                 صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلٰى مُحَمَّد

O devotees of the Prophet! We too should understand the significance of salah and punctually offer all five in congregation in the masjid’s first row with the first takbir. Not only should we go ourselves, but we should also take our mature children with us, albeit not those who are not. It is stated in volume 16 of Fatāwā Razawiyyah, pg. 434: “It is prohibited to take immature children to the masjid. A Hadith states جَنِّبُوْامَسَاجِدَکُمْ صِبْيَانَکُمْ وَمَجَانِيْنَکُمْ (Protect your masjids from your immature children and insane people).”^[3]

If we offer salah regularly and take our sensible children to the masjid, they will be inclined towards salah from childhood. Moreover, they will habitually offer salah when they become adults, because something embedded in the minds of children during childhood naturally becomes ingrained in their mind when they grow up.