The Juridical Rule of Acquiring Knowledge for Discerning Kids before Puberty

The current jurisprudential discourse maintains that the duty-bound are addressed by what is obligatory and forbidden, and that a person has no obligation before puberty. Thus, as soon as a child attains puberty, he suddenly encounters a set of jurisprudential imperatives. On the other hand, the obligations and especially the religious rites are based on cognitive principles the most important of which is knowledge of God, the Exalted. In fact, this very principle gives meaning to those apparent actions. Basically, the acts of worship would not be accepted from a non-Muslim. An important question which arises here is: "When is it necessary for a child to acquire knowledge of God?" If it is before adolescence, it would be inconsistent with the said discourse which asserts that children are free of any obligation. If it is after puberty, it is necessary that children are exempted from any obligation for a while. This is in contrast with yet another part of the discourse which is the definiteness of obligations for the duty-bound. Some are of the view that acquiring knowledge is obligatory for children who can discern between good and bad. But the present research, that uses references, has proved that a child has no obligation to acquire knowledge before puberty, and the rational obligation is waived with Shari'ah ruling which is rooted in a prophetic tradition known as hadith raf'a (absolution). As per the principles of jurisprudence, there is also no problem in failing to perform the obligations insofar as one has not acquired the knowledge.