Cousins

[mehitora]

Help with sister

Salaam, brothers and sisters.

If anyone can direct me to rulings on mentally disabled family members that would be helpful. My younger sister is so severely mentally handicapped that she has the mind of an 8 year old in the body of a 24 year old.

 

[ShyHijabi]

:salam2:

Can you clarify what type of rulings? Is this about how she will be judged in the hereafter? About whether or not she is responsible for her actions (ie. must pray?)?

 

[mehitora]

Actually, sister, both and any other information I can find. One day she will be in my care and I want to know what the scholars say about her and people like her. How is should be treated by other. What she would be held accountable for if she doesn't understand or forgets it is wrong. What is required of her if she reverts. Anything and everything

 

[Ayyub]

Wa'alaikoum assalam wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuh

Here a little fatwa about mentally disabled people:

Fatwa no. 20217
Q: My grandfather died and left behind my mother and my uncle as heirs. The
(Part No. 16; Page No. 490)
competent judge has issued us the title deed of inheritors, and appointed my mother as guardian of my uncle as he is mentally disabled. She continued to take care of him in my father's house after the death of my maternal grandfather, and he (my uncle) died after suffering from an illness that lasted for eight months. He remained under the care and nursing of my mother for more than sixteen years. Neither his uncle nor my father's cousin offered her any help.
The question now is:
a- is the person mentioned exempted from legal obligations such as, Salah (Prayer), Sawm (Fasting) and Hajj?
b- He left behind a sum of money; is this sum for my mother only in return for nursing and fostering him? Or do her uncle and cousin have shares in it?
Advise us. May Allah reward you best! Does the ruling on money apply to his property?
A: A mentally disabled person who is not able to regain consciousness for even a period of time in which he can perform his legal obligations like, Salah, Sawm and Hajj, will be exempted from performing them, for they are not obligatory on him. It is narrated by `Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: There are three (persons) whose actions will not be accounted: A sleeping person till they awake, a child till they reach puberty and an insane person till they recover. In another narration: till they regain consciousness. Related by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad,
(Part No. 16; Page No. 491)
Abu Dawud, Al-Nasa'y, and Ibn Majah in his Sunan Book. However, if this mentally disabled person regains his consciousness for a period of time in which he can perform Salah, Sawm of Ramadan, or Hajj given that he is financially able to perform it, he should perform all his legal obligations at the time he regains his senses. The property left by this person should be transferred to his heirs after his death. It should be distributed to them according to the legal ways of inheritance. Moreover, it is impermissible for your mother to take any thing from this money in return for nursing him and taking care of him. She is only allowed to take what she is entitled to from the inheritance after the listing of the heirs by the competent court. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.

The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta'

Member Member Member Deputy Chairman Chairman
Bakr Abu Zayd Salih Al-Fawzan `Abdullah ibn Ghudayyan `Abdul-`Aziz Al Al-Shaykh `Abdul-`Aziz ibn `Abdullah ibn Baz

Hope you can benefit from it.

Salem.

 

[mehitora]

Yes, brother, it did help a bit.I thank you for the time you took to find that for me.

 

[Ayyub]

Here the rulings according to the other scholars:

Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullaah) said: "The ruling on one who is insane is like the ruling on a child; if his parents are Muslim then he is also Muslim. This is according to the consensus of the Muslims. The same applies if his mother is Muslim according to the majority of scholars such as Abu Haneefa, ash-Shaafi' and Ahmad. Similarly, one who becomes insane after becoming a Muslim is regarded as being outwardly Muslim. An insane person who was born in a Muslim society is also regarded as being Muslim, as is his parents or the people of his society, as is also the ruling on children. The children of the Muslims and their insane will be like their fathers (i.e. they will be counted as Muslims) on the Day of Resurrection".
(Majmoo' al-Fataawa 10/437)

The Prophet (sallAllahu 'alaihi wasalaam) said: "The Pen is lifted from three (i.e. their deeds are not recorded); the sleeper until he awakes, the child until he grows up and the insane until he regains his sanity or regains consciousness".
(Narrated by the authors of the Sunan an classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in al-Irwa' no.297)

Ibn Hazm (rahimahullaah) said: "As for the insane who have no mental faculties until they die, as we have already mentioned, they are born as 'haneefs' (monotheists) and believers, and they do not change their faith. So they die as believers and so they will go to Paradise".
(al-Fasl 4/135)