Youth and Legal Responsibility

Seeking religious knowledge is your responsibility, as a youth, since you set your feet on the field of puberty. We are responsible for acquiring the knowledge of knowing the lawful and unlawful things in life.

The culture of knowledge is not only a matter of perfection, rather it is an essential matter being that it will underline your legal opinion toward your moral and social undertakings. This is because Shari'a is the Islamic law and order and ignoring these laws will lead to a lot of destruction. Therefore, permissible (halal) is what was permitted by the Shari'a and is enjoined on us to do it, and unlawful (haram) is what is not permitted; it is the red line. The circle of halal is much wider than that of haram….Allah cannot prohibit something unless there is harm in it, nor permits anything unless ther is benefit in itl, whether we know it or not.

Islamic laws are similar to the signs on the road of life…there are greens that open ways for you to move, but with conditions, and there is yellow that calls on you to be prepared to stop and there is the red color that prevents you from moving, and there is the one that is open without any condition.

The legal responsibility requires me, as a youth, not to put my feet forward or backward unless in seeking knowledge. Is this acceptable in the sight of Allah or not? Is this permitted conditionally or is it permitted unconditionally? Is it undesirable for me to do this or is it recommendable or permissible?

The way to this responsibility crosses through the knower of Islamic law who has the confidence of people in his knowledge, religion and good behaviors, and who can extract halal and haram from the recognized sources of Shari'a.

Indeed, anything that comes across the path of a youth that he didn't know, whether it falls under the circle of Allah's consent or outside it, reduces the possibility of sliding into the acts that are against the Shari'a or falling into sin.

It is commonly believed that having religious knowledge means knowing the issues related to prayer, fasting, alms, purification, and forgetting other aspects of life run by Shar'ah. It has been narrated in one of the Prophetic hadith: "There is nothing without a law". But having knowledge in religion has taked a broad and wider meaning; it is 'a mean of reforming and correcting ideologies, morals and actions. Indeed, a man through his knowledge of religion, can differentiate between a sound ideology and a false one, between virtues and vices; and good and evil. And, likewise, having Having Islamic knowledge means knowing the way of eternal bliss and happiness, both materially and spiritually. Therefore, having Islamic knowledge is a source of man's perfection and a source of reaching a high standard. It is reported that Imam Musa bin Ja'far (a.s.) said: "Knowledge is the key of insight and the whole of worship, as well as, a source of reaching a higher standard."

Adapted from the book: "Youth Aspiration Towards Responsibility" by: "Al Balagh Foundation"