Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt - Ibn Rush al-Jadd - (2/345)

Al-Muqaddimāt al-MumahhidātIbn Rush al-Jadd

it is because both are necessary for sound financial judgment to be present and complete. A child cannot possess sound financial judgment because of his limited ability to discern what serves his interests; nor can an insane person, whose discernment and judgment are lost. Wealth must therefore be safeguarded and potential harm to it prevented by barring anyone unfit to manage it from disposing of it, placing him under legal restriction, and denying him access to it, lest he squander it—in obedience to Allah’s command concerning it.

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Puberty is marked by the occurrence of a wet dream in males and menstruation in females, or by either reaching the maximum age set for someone who has not experienced a wet dream. Scholars differed over this age, placing it between fifteen and eighteen years. Mālik expressed two views concerning someone liable to a prescribed punishment who has grown pubic hair but has not reached that maximum age and claims never to have experienced a wet dream: should his claim be accepted, or should the punishment be imposed on the evidence of his pubic hair? The sounder view is that his claim should be accepted and the prescribed punishment should not be imposed while his having experienced a wet dream remains uncertain. In my view, there is no disagreement that the growth of pubic hair is not taken into account in rulings governing his obligations before Allah Most High.

As for reason, its seat is the heart. It is defined as knowledge that distinguishes its possessor from animals and the insane: for example, knowing that two is more than one, that two opposites cannot coexist, that two parts must be either joined or separate, that the sky is above us and the earth beneath us, and similar matters.

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The defining criteria of puberty and full mental capacity are clear and can be recognized with minimal reflection and inference. Sound financial judgment, however, is defined as prudent management of wealth and putting matters in their proper places. There are two views on whether religious uprightness is a condition of its completeness. Sound financial judgment is difficult to discern and can be established only through prolonged assessment and practical testing of a person’s management of wealth. For this reason, there has been

فلأنهما جميعا مشترطان في صحة الرشد وكماله؛ إذ لا يصح رشد من صبي لضعف ميزه بوجوه منافعه، ولا من مجنون لسقوط ميزه وذهاب رأيه؛ فوجب الاحتياط للأموال وقطع مادة الضرر عنها بأن يمنع من التصرف فيها من ليس بأهل التصرف فيها، ويحجر عليه فيها ويحال بينه وبينها- خشية الإضاعة لها امتثالا لأمر الله فيها. فصل فأما البلوغ فحده الاحتلام في الرجل، والحيض في النساء أو أن يبلغ أحدهما من السن أقصى سن من لا يحتلم، واختلف فيه من خمسة عشر عاما إلى ثمانية عشر عاما، واختلف قول مالك فيمن وجب عليه حد وقد أنبت ولم يبلغ أقصى سن من لا يحتلم، فادعى أنه لم يحتلم، هل يصدق فيما ادعاه أو يقام عليه الحد بما ظهر من إنباته على قولين، الأصح منهما تصديقه وألا يقام عليه الحد بشك في احتلامه؛ ولا اختلاف- عندي أنه لا يعتبر بالإنبات فيما بينه وبين الله تعالى من الأحكام؛ وأما العقل، فمحله القلب، وحده: علوم يتميز من وصف بها من البهيمة والمجنون، وهي كالعلم بأن الاثنين أكثر من الواحد، وأن الضدين لا يجتمعان، وأن الجزءين لا بد أن يكونا مجتمعين أو مفترقين، وأن السماء فوقنا والأرض تحتنا، وما أشبه ذلك. فصل فحد البلوغ وكمال العقل بينان تدرك معرفتهما بأدنى حظ من النظر والاستدلال، وأما الرشد فحده حسن النظر في المال ووضع الأمور في مواضعها، واختلف هل من شرط كماله الصلاح في الدين أم لا؟ - على قولين، وهو مما يخفى ولا يدرك معرفته إلا بطول الاختبار في المال والتجربة له فيه، ولهذا المعنى وقع