Among our companions are those who said: It is obligatory [upon the one who has reached ten years; because he is punished for abandoning it, and punishment is not legislated] (8) except for abandoning an obligation, [and because the definition of an obligation is that which one is punished for abandoning] (9), and because it has been narrated from Ahmad regarding a fourteen-year-old: If he abandons prayer, he repeats it. [And perhaps Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, commanded this by way of precaution] (10); [for the hadith has been established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)] (11): "The pen is lifted from three: from the young boy until he reaches puberty (12)." And because he is a young boy, it is not obligatory upon him, just like a minor. [This is confirmed by the fact that the child has a weak intellect and constitution, and there must be a standard to determine the limit at which his constitution and intellect mature; for it increases in a subtly gradual manner, so he does not know that by himself. Puberty is the standard for that; for this reason, legal punishments (hudud) are made obligatory by it, the jizya is taken from the dhimmi when he reaches it, and most obligations of religious accountability (taklif) are attached to it. Likewise is the prayer. Ahmad's statement on this is to be taken as a matter of precaution, for fear that he might have reached puberty, and for this reason, he qualified it with the fourteen-year-old; had he meant what they said, he would not have specified the fourteen-year-old to the exclusion of others] (13). This discipline here (14) is for training and habituation, like the discipline (15) for learning calligraphy, the Quran, a trade, and the like. There is no disagreement that it is valid from a discerning child, and there is no difference between a male and a female in what we have mentioned.