Age cannot determine the puberty of a girl and a boy

Subject Areas : devotional jurisprudence

sayed mohammad keykavosi ¹ , mohammad jafari harandi ²

1 - Department of Jurisprudence and Law, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Imam Khomeini Memorial Branch, Shahreri, Iran
2 - Faculty of Law and Fundamentals of Law, Faculty of Humanities, Imam Khomeini Memorial Branch, Shahreri, Islamic Azad University, Iran

Received: 2021-10-06 Accepted : 2022-08-19 Published : 2021-08-23

Keywords: case by case, Age of puberty, jurisprudence and jurists, audience studies, hadiths and narrations,

Abstract :

What is always referred to as puberty as the beginning of the responsibilities and limitations of the obligated human being is the reaching of a girl and a boy at a certain age; But regardless of its religious basis, puberty is a natural phenomenon with the actualization of sexual talent and reproductive powers; The same criterion and rule is specified in verse 6 of Surah An-Nisa '. However, in narrations and news, various signs have been set for the interpretation of this stage of sexual ability and several ages have been set for it. Therefore, the lack of unity of basis and criterion in determining the criterion of maturity has caused the plurality of opinions of jurists on this issue; Most of the Imami jurists, citing some hadiths, which of course do not have sufficient and reliable meaning, have placed boys at the age of 15 and girls at the age of nine. The findings of this study show that in the field of understanding the narrations of puberty, what has not been given much attention is the audience at the time of issuing narrations and hadiths. While the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the infallible Imams (AS) had paid such attention in their tradition and speech and in expressing the rulings, they considered the characteristics of the addressee of the word. Therefore, it can be seen that sexual maturity as the beginning of religious duties is not related to the age specified in the words of the jurists and is different in people affected by climatic conditions and climatic diversity.