Ruling on the Prayer of a Mad/Insane Person
Source: Fatāwā Amunpūrī by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpūrī
❖ Question
What is the ruling on the prayer of a mad/insane person (majnūn)?
❖ Answer
The prayer of an insane person is not valid.
❖ Evidence from Qur’ān
Allah ﷻ says:
﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَى حَتَّى تَعْلَمُوا مَا تَقُولُونَ﴾
(Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 43)
“O you who believe! Do not approach prayer while intoxicated, until you know what you are saying.”
If prayer is not valid in a state of intoxication due to lack of awareness, then it is even more so invalid in the case of insanity, where the intellect is absent.
❖ Scholarly Consensus
◈ Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728H):
((اتفق العلماء على أنه لا تصح صلاة من زال عقله ب أى سبب زال، فكيف بالمجنون))
“The scholars are agreed that the prayer of one whose intellect has vanished—no matter the reason—is not valid. Then how could the prayer of a madman be valid?”
— al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā 1/183
Conclusion
- Prayer requires consciousness and awareness.
- The insane person, lacking intellect, cannot establish valid prayer.
- This is agreed upon by the scholars of Islam.
