Rereading Opinions and Jurisprudential Arguments of Islamic Schools on the Issue of Puberty (with an Emphasis on the Target Audience of the Narratives of This Field)

According to the Qur'anic criteria mentioned in the verse: “حتی إذا بلغوا النکاح” (Al-Nisa’/6), puberty is a natural phenomenon that comes to the fore with the development of reproductive power, but in traditions, various signs have been expressed to interpret this stage of sexual ability, and several ages have been introduced to determine the maturity of girls and boys. This lack of unification of the basis and criterion in determining the age of puberty has caused the plurality of opinions of the jurists regarding the issue; And the result is that the Imami jurists act differently in following the hadiths of the Shia imams (pbuh) and the Sunni jurists in dealing with the Sunnah and the policy of the heads of their religions. The findings of this research show that in the field of understanding puberty narratives, what has not been paid much attention is audience analysis at the time of issuing narrations and traditions. As we see that, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the infallible Imams (PBUT) have always expressed rulings specific to a specific event based on the diverse characteristics of the audience and according to the influence of their specific requirements and the questioners of rulings that consequently, are not general.