I would like some explanation on puberty and its rulings. Please answer my question below.
Salam Aleikum to the great marja’ of the Shia world, Ayatullah Uzma Hadavi Tehrani. I have sent a list of questions that I would be very grateful to get responses to. Subject: Bulugh (puberty) and obligations 1- In the beginning of my bulugh, due to carelessness, and lack of information on religious precepts, I didn’t fast for several years. Does it suffice that I only make up the days I missed or do I have to give kaffarah as well? 2- If one didn’t know that after puberty there is an obligation of janabah ghusl, what is the ruling on the prayers he performed in that state? 3- Is the sweat of ajunub person, whether he has become junub through halal and haram means, najis? And what is the ruling on praying in clothing that the junub person has sweated in? 4- What are the signs of bulugh in boys and if these haven't taken place, at what age does a boy become duty bound? 5- What is the ruling regarding a white colored fluid that is emitted after urination? 6- If a male is certain of the discharge of semen before reaching 15 years of age, but hasn’t prayed and fasted after that due to unawareness of the ruling, or has prayed and fasted, but without performing the wajib janabah ghusl, what is his duty regarding such prayers and fasts? 7- Does a person who has masturbated before 15 years of age, become baligh if there is seminal discharge and does he have to make up for any missed prayers after that? 8- At the age of 19, I learned that a boy may become baligh before the age of 15 due to nocturnal emission or growth of coarse hair in the pubic region; what is the duty regarding the prayers I missed in that period, considering that I don’t know exactly when I became baligh and am not sure about how many prayers have been missed exactly? 9- Do the signs that have been mentioned in the risalahs only belong to when one is awake, or do they hold for when someone is asleep and has ejaculation? 10- If a person becomes junub and is embarrassed to perform ghusl, can he pray with tayammum? 11- Is nocturnal emission something unnatural? 12- Why does Islam order that the whole body be washed when one becomes junub, while only one small part of the body has become dirty? What is the difference between the discharge of semen and excretion of urine, that in the first ghusl has to be performed, while for the second, only washing the portion soiled is necessary?

 

The response of Ayatullah Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani to all of the questions is as follows:

 

1- If a person was unaware of his bulugh (religious puberty) or the obligation of fasting at that time, or thought that he didn’t bear the strength to fast, even if this conception developed as a result of what those around him would tell him, then deliberate breaking of the fast will only entail qada (making up for the missed fasts). However, if in all of these cases, he knew that there are chances that he has become baligh or that fasting has become mandatory for him, or that he bears the strength to do so and it was possible for him to confirm the matter and to become certain or sure, and it turns out that it was indeed so, then he must also give kaffarah as a precaution (ihtiyat) as well.

 

2- He must make up for the missed prayers.

 

3- The sweat of the junub is pak (not najis) in all cases (if he became junub through halal or haram means).

 

4- Religious puberty (bulugh) takes place in two ways: 1- Physiological puberty which is the growth of coarse hair in the pubic area and/or ejaculation (ihtilam). 2- After 15 lunar years have passed; this is a sign even if none of the other signs happen.

 

5- It is pak and doesn’t invalidate one’s wudu or ghusl.

 

6- The answer to this has already been explained in the responses to questions one and two; the prayers and fasts must be made up for, and if the person’s ignorance was due to negligence and carelessness, he must also give/do kaffarah as a precaution.

 

7- He is apparently baligh and must make up for the missed prayers and fasts according to what was mentioned in responses one and two.

 

8- You must only make up for the number of prayers you are sure you missed.

 

9- Yes. Of course, referring to the signs is only for when you are not sure whether the excretion is semen or not. But if one is sure what was excreted was indeed semen, he will be junub, and if he is sure it wasn’t semen, he won't be.

 

10- No, there is no embarrassment in janabah, he has to perform ghusl.

 

11- No, it is totally natural.

 

12- The obligation of performing ghusl after the discharge of semen and the necessity to perform wudu to pray for one who has urinated has nothing to do with the najasah of the body. It is because of this that in regard to urine, although the urinary organ has become najis, the individual must perform wudu for prayer, while there is no washing of that organ in wudu. This shows that wudu has nothing to do with the najasah of the urinary organ and its washing, or else, washing that part would also have to be a part of wudu. These are matters we just have to accept that Allah has obliged us to do without question. For prayer, the body and clothes must be pak (tahir), and this allows one to be able to pray with wudu or ghusl. Of course, some hadiths state that the reason for washing the whole body in ghusl is because the whole body takes pleasure during seminal discharge. Nonetheless, this is only a hikmah (one of the wisdoms behind it) that the hadiths are expressing, and not the entire reasoning and cause for such, therefore, if someone wakes up and becomes sure that semen has been discharged, even if he didn’t feel it while asleep, he still has to perform the ghusl (and not feeling any pleasure won't be a justification for not performing it).

 

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