In Islamic law, a “child” is a person who, due to young age, is not yet legally accountable (mukallaf) and does not possess the authority to engage in certain legal acts and transactions. In other words, a child is someone who, due to immaturity, does not bear the rights and responsibilities attributed to those who are of age (bāligh) and of sound judgment (rashīd). Legal capacity (ahliyyah) refers to a person’s ability in law to possess rights, be subject to obligations, and to perform legally valid acts. In Islamic jurisprudence, ahliyyah is defined as the quality that renders a person eligible to be addressed by religious-legal responsibilities. It is generally classified into two categories: capacity for rights (ahliyyat al-wujūb) and capacity for execution (ahliyyat al-adā’). A child’s legal capacity is categorized into various stages, starting from the embryonic stage to the capacity of a non-discerning child, a discerning child, an authorized discerning child, a pubescent person, and a fully mature person. From the perspective of criminal responsibility, a child is not considered eligible to bear ḥadd (fixed punishments) and qiṣāṣ (retaliatory punishments). A child who has not reached puberty does not yet possess the physical or legal capacity to be subjected to such punishments. However, mental discernment (ʿaql) is sufficient for taʿzīr (discretionary punishment); reaching puberty is not a prerequisite. Nevertheless, a child’s act requiring taʿzīr is not, in essence, a crime. Labeling such an act as a crime is metaphorical, and the punishment imposed serves a corrective and disciplinary purpose. Although a child does not have full criminal responsibility, they can be subject to preventive and disciplinary measures. However, taʿzīr punishments are not applied to a child who lacks mental discernment (ʿaql), as such measures require a minimum level of understanding (tamīz). A similar approach is observed in the Turkish Penal Code (TPC): although children under the age of 11 cannot be subjected to prosecution, in certain cases, taking into account their level of capacity, they may be placed under state supervision or fined for disciplinary purposes. This paper explores the criminal capacity of children in Islamic law and the resulting legal consequences. In the first part, the definition of a child and the various levels of legal capacity are briefly discussed. The second part, the criminal responsibility of children is examined; in this context, the punishments in Islamic law are outlined in general terms, and the criminal liability of children under the Turkish Penal Code is briefly addressed through a comparative assessment. Today, the concept of the child is studied from various perspectives. While Islamic jurisprudential literature predominantly discusses the child within the contexts of personal status, family, and obligations law, the position of the child in relation to criminal provisions and its comparison with contemporary legal systems constitutes a distinct and original area of inquiry. This study investigates the provisions concerning the criminal responsibility of children in Islamic criminal law based on classical fiqh sources and compares them with modern approaches and the Turkish Penal Code. Employing the method of comparative law, the research utilizes normative and conceptual analysis techniques, relying on classical texts, recent academic studies, and current legislation. This paper aims to examine the criminal responsibility of children in Islamic criminal law in a comparative framework with Turkish criminal law, demonstrating that the imposition of criminal responsibility on children is graded according to age and the capacity for discernment.