The ruling on the fasting of one who has lost his mind due to old age
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you all. This person says: My grandfather is very old to the point that he does not know who is greeting him, and he utters words that were said a long time ago, and he does not know the time when the mu'adhdhin calls to prayer; is it the time for 'Asr or Zuhr? Does he have to fast, or should he be patient and feed someone on his behalf for each day he misses?
Answer:
If he has no mental capacity, then he owes nothing, neither fasting nor establishing prayer, because he is not accountable. If he has reached this state where he cannot distinguish, does not know people, and cannot distinguish between the times of prayer, then he is not accountable. It is not obligatory for him to fast, nor to pray, nor anything else. Yes,[An-Nahl 16:70] this is one who knows nothing. Yes.
May Allah reward you all. This person says: My grandfather is very old to the point that he does not know who is greeting him, and he utters words that were said a long time ago, and he does not know the time when the mu'adhdhin calls to prayer; is it the time for 'Asr or Zuhr? Does he have to fast, or should he be patient and feed someone on his behalf for each day he misses?
Answer:
If he has no mental capacity, then he owes nothing, neither fasting nor establishing prayer, because he is not accountable. If he has reached this state where he cannot distinguish, does not know people, and cannot distinguish between the times of prayer, then he is not accountable. It is not obligatory for him to fast, nor to pray, nor anything else. Yes,
And among you is he who is reversed to the most decrepit [old] age so that he will not know, after [having had] knowledge, a thing.
وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰ أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْ لَا يَعْلَمَ بَعْدَ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا
Source
صيام من لا يميز بين الأشياء — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.