39/20. Chapter:
Sunan an-Nasai 4183 — Why a Child’s Pledge Was Not Accepted
The Pledge Of A Child
Child’s Pledge in Islam: The Prophet Did Not Accept It
Sunan an-Nasai : 4183
Sunan an-NasaiHadith Number 4183
أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سَلاَّمٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عُمَرُ بْنُ يُونُسَ، عَنْ عِكْرِمَةَ بْنِ عَمَّارٍ، عَنِ الْهِرْمَاسِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ، قَالَ مَدَدْتُ يَدِي إِلَى النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَأَنَا غُلاَمٌ لِيُبَايِعَنِي فَلَمْ يُبَايِعْنِي .
Al-Hirmas bin Ziyad Narrated from:
I stretched forth my hand to the Prophet for him to accept my pledge, when I was a child, but he did not accept my pledge.
Reference : Sunan an-Nasa'i 4183In-book reference : Book 39, Hadith 35English translation : Vol. 5, Book 39, Hadith 4188
Summary of Sunan an-Nasai Hadith 4183
This hadith about a child’s pledge is brief and direct. Al-Hirmas bin Ziyad says that he stretched out his hand to the Prophet so that the Prophet would accept his pledge. He also makes clear that he was still a child. The Prophet did not accept that pledge. The narration therefore connects the refusal with the narrator’s young age, without adding a long explanation or another event. It teaches readers to notice that a formal pledge was not treated as an empty gesture. The person making it needed suitable capacity for the commitment being offered. The text does not insult the child or question his good intention. It simply records that the Prophet did not enter him into this pledge while he was a boy.
What we learn from this hadith
- The Prophet did not accept Al-Hirmas’s pledge while he was a child.
- A formal pledge was treated as a serious commitment, not a symbolic gesture.
- Good intention alone did not make the child’s pledge accepted in this case.
- The narration points to age and capacity as relevant to formal responsibility.
