Analysis of the Jurisprudential Rules of Apostasy of Children Nearing Puberty

Muslim jurists generally believe that man has no obligation to fulfill before hitting puberty. Thus, they have stated in their verdicts that the rules of apostasy do not apply to children who apostatize before attaining puberty irrespective of whether they were born to Muslim parents or converted to Islam and took the Shahadah and later apostatized.  Al-Shaykh al-Tūsi and some recent scholars maintain that such a child is treated as an apostate. Many earlier and contemporary scholars are divided in their opinions in this regard saying the penal laws of apostasy i.e. murder and making the child to repent, do not apply to him because he is under no obligation as long as he has not attained puberty. However, other rules such as ritual impurity apply to him. In other words, he is considered impure as an apostate. The present research concludes that since a child is not under any religious obligation, he is therefore considered pure. Meanwhile, it stresses that impurity has nothing to do with someone being under obligation; it is beyond the framework of being under obligation. That is because this ruling creates more restriction for the child before it is related to others.