At what age is a child accountable in Islam?

The pen is lifted from the child

The Prophet ﷺ said there are three people whose actions are not recorded: a sleeper until he wakes, a child until he reaches puberty, and a person who has lost their reason until they regain it (Sunan Abi Dawud 4403, graded sahih). Scholars call the age of responsibility taklif. From that point, a young person is an adult in religious terms, even if they're still at school.

Signs of puberty

Scholars agree on these signs for both boys and girls:

• Wet dreams or ejaculation, for boys and girls.
• Menstruation, for girls (pregnancy is also a sign).

The Maliki and Hanbali schools also count coarse pubic hair as a sign; the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools generally don't for Muslim children. Any one sign is enough, so a girl who gets her first period at 11 is accountable from then. Hair under the arms, a deeper voice or a growth spurt on their own aren't treated as signs.

The age fallback

If none of these signs has appeared, scholars use an age limit. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools and many Hanafi scholars say 15 lunar years. They cite Ibn Umar, who was turned away from battle at fourteen and accepted at fifteen; the caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz later called fifteen the limit between childhood and adulthood (Sahih al-Bukhari 2664). Abu Hanifa and the Maliki school traditionally set a later age, around 17 or 18. Since a lunar year is about 11 days shorter, 15 lunar years is about 14.5 solar years.

Children still earn reward

Being free from accountability doesn't mean a child's worship is meaningless. A woman once lifted up a small boy and asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he would get credit for Hajj. He said yes, and that she would have a reward too (Sahih Muslim 1336). So a child's prayers, fasts and charity count, and the parents who teach them share the reward.

Some duties work differently for children. The Hanafi school, for example, says children don't owe zakat on their own money, while other schools say a guardian pays it for them. See Do children have to pay zakat?

Puberty is also the usual point for hijab. See At what age should a girl start wearing hijab?