Abstract

The PARADOX of human society – that it has unity and continuity of its own and yet exists solely in the minds and action of its members – can be resolved only by understanding how the NEWBORN individual is molded into a social being. Without this process of molding the society could not perpetuate itself beyond a single generation and culture could not exist. Nor could the individual become a person; for without the ever-repeated renewal of culture within him there could be no human mentality, no human personality. Both the person and the society are alike dependent on this unique process of molding.
Each society tries to mold his newborn individual according to his own needs and requirements. Beside family and school, social environment and social laws of the society plays vital role in laying the foundations of the newborn individual. In Islamic society the newborn individual is molded according to the teachings of the Holy Quran, which regards the child as a respectable being because of his humanity (Note 1) and sinlessness. (Note 2) In the light of Quranic teachings the Muslim Scholars framed a system of rules concerning the social and legal status of the child in Islamic Society as Robert Roberts writes:
One of the most commendable things which one finds in the reading of the Quran is the Solicitude which Muhammad shows for the young and especially for such as has been deprived of their natural guardians. Again and again he insists upon a kind and just treatment being accorded to children. And working upon his words, the Mohammedan doctors have framed a system of rules concerning the appointment and duties of guardians which is most complete, and extending to the most minute details.
This paper focuses on social laws of Islamic society regarding the child. It discusses the legal aspect of the newborn individual. It also explains the laws of paternity, guardianship, inheritance, wills and adaptation.

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