Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
It is a condition for the validity of congregational prayer in the Hanafi school that the imam be an adult (i.e. post-puberty).
The sounder position is that this applies to tarawih prayer as well. [Hidaya with Ibn al-Humam’s Fath al-Qadir] However, there is a less sound position adopted by major Hanafis that it is permitted for a discerning child to lead tarawih. Imam Lakhnawi indicates that this may be followed. [Fatawa al-Lakhnawi]
However, it is sounder and more proper for a child not to be appointed imam even in tarawih.
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani
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