What Are The Required Features For The Person Who Is To Recite Iqamat In A Congregational Prayer? Can Kids Recite Iqamat?

What are the required features for the person who is to recite iqamat in a congregational prayer? Can kids recite iqamat?

The person who is going to recite iqamat should be male, sane, and purified from hadath (spiritual impurity). Accordingly, it is makruh for those who are ritually unclean or junub, insane, drunk, or women to recite iqamat. It is mustahab for the person who recites iqamat to be a faithful person (Ibn Nujaym, al-Bahr, I, 267; Aliyy al-qari, Fath Bab al-‘Inayah, I, 208-209).

The person who is going to recite iqamat should be at least mumayyiz (at a stage of differentiating between good and evil). The ability of tamyiz (the age of discernment) starts around the age of 7 and continues until reaching puberty. The adhan and iqamat recited by a child who is not mumayyiz will not be valid (Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, II, 59). The adhan and iqamat recited by mumayyiz children, though, are valid (Sarakhsi, al-Mabsut, I, 138). Nevertheless, it is considered more virtuous for a person who has reached puberty to recite iqamat (al-Fatawa al-Hindiyyah, I, 60).

Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWAS