Baligh
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In Islamic
legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
terminology, bāligh ( ar, بالغ, adult) or mukallāf ( ar, مكلف, responsible) or muhallāq ( ar, محلاق, tendril, mentally matured) or murāhiq (, adolescent) or muhtalim ( ar, محتلم, pubescent) refers to someone who has reached maturity or
puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a ...
, and has full responsibility under
Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
.


Quran

The Qur'an refers to puberty in 6:152; 12:22; 17:34; 18:82: 22:5; 28:14; 40:67: 46:15 and 3 times in chapter 24 An-Nisa (31, 58, 59), where reference is made to a prepubescent child's unawareness of sexual matters, which allows him or her to be with an adult whose state of dress would preclude more mature individuals from being present. One includes children who have not reached puberty in a list of those before whom woman may adopt a more relaxed standard of dress than what is normally stipulated in the verse 31 of
An-Nur Light ( ar, النور, ; The Light) is the 24th chapter of the Quran with 64 verses. The surah takes its name, An Nur, from verse 35. Summary *1 This chapter revealed from heaven *2-3 Law relating to fornication *4-5 Punishment for defa ...
(24:31). The other makes a distinction between children who have reached puberty and those who have not, with the latter having access to parents who might be in a state of undress.


Hadith

Before the age of puberty, a person's faults and crimes are not generally considered as irrevocable according to the hadith. According to another hadith, at starting puberty, the recording angels start recording bad deeds such as missing regular prayers.Prophet of Islam Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets a ...
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
told Muslims to order seven-year-old children to pray, (gently) tap them if they refuse to pray at the age of ten, and to separate their bed then.Abu Dawood Abū Dāwūd (Dā’ūd) Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath ibn Isḥāq al-Azdī al-Sijistānī ( ar, أبو داود سليمان بن الأشعث الأزدي السجستاني), commonly known simply as Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, was a scholar o ...
, Muhammad also said, bathing is obligatory in the weekend day of Jumuah prayer (Friday) for every male who reached puberty. According to Islamic jurists, human irads or niyah or qasd or free will, aqal or ability to judge right and wrong, and courage are formed before the age of puberty (''Tamyiz'') and between the age of puberty, and after the age of puberty (''Taklif''), his intellect (''Aql''), that is, wisdom and judgment, attains perfection. Therefore, from childhood, that is, before the age of seven, the child is taught the Kitab (knowledge), adab, ibadah, and
taharat Purity ( ar, طهارة, ''ṭahāra(h)'') is an essential aspect of Islam. It is the opposite of ''najāsa'', the state of being ritually impure. It is achieved by first removing physical impurities (for example, urine) from the body, and then ...
, because at this time the child is easily fit to receive education.


In marriage

In issues pertaining to marriage, ''baligh'' is related to the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
legal expression, ''hatta tutiqa'l-rijal'', which means that the a wedding may not take place until the girl is physically fit to engage in
sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal pene ...
. In comparison, ''baligh'' or ''balaghat'' concerns the reaching of
sexual maturity Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans it might be considered synonymous with adulthood, but here puberty is the name for the process of biological sexual maturation, while adulthood is based on cultural definit ...
which becomes manifest by the menses. The age related to these two concepts can, but need not necessarily, coincide. Only after a separate condition called ''rushd'', or intellectual maturity to handle one's own property, is reached can a girl receive her
bridewealth Bride price, bride-dowry ( Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride do ...
(
Mahr In Islam, a mahr (in ar, مهر; fa, مهريه; tr, mehir; sw, mahari; also transliterated ''mehr'', ''meher'', ''mehrieh'', or ''mahriyeh'') is the obligation, in the form of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time ...
).Masud, ''Islamic Legal Interpretation, Muftis and Their Fatwas'',
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
Press, 1996


See also

* Islam and children * Ibadah * Islamic family jurisprudence


Notes

{{Islam topics, state=collapsed Adulthood Arabic words and phrases Islamic jurisprudence Modesty in Islam Puberty Sexuality in Islam Sharia legal terminology