A person whose mind is impaired by old age is not obligated to pray or fast
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Fatwa number ( 13049 )
Q: I have a wife who is approximately eighty-five years old and she is a Muslim woman and one of the people of good, if Allah wills. In the last part of her life, she was afflicted with diabetes and weakness to the extent that she spends some days lying in the hospital, and sometimes she is in a coma at home. She does not speak well and does not know what she is saying at times, and she cannot walk unless her children support her or lift her. The problem is that she has not prayed for a period of no less than two years. As for fasting, we pay the fidyah on her behalf. Since she does not know the times of prayer, does not know what to say in prayer, and her confusion in speech is more than her clarity, we hope from
Your Eminence to answer regarding this problem: Is prayer obligatory upon her given her mental confusion? Is it obligatory for us to pay the fidyah for her fasting in Ramadan? And what must we do regarding the rights of her religion that are obligatory upon her? This is my letter, and I ask Allah the Most High, the Great, to grant you health and well-being. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
A: If the matter is as described, she is not accountable, and neither fasting nor prayer is obligatory upon her. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: I have a wife who is approximately eighty-five years old and she is a Muslim woman and one of the people of good, if Allah wills. In the last part of her life, she was afflicted with diabetes and weakness to the extent that she spends some days lying in the hospital, and sometimes she is in a coma at home. She does not speak well and does not know what she is saying at times, and she cannot walk unless her children support her or lift her. The problem is that she has not prayed for a period of no less than two years. As for fasting, we pay the fidyah on her behalf. Since she does not know the times of prayer, does not know what to say in prayer, and her confusion in speech is more than her clarity, we hope from
Your Eminence to answer regarding this problem: Is prayer obligatory upon her given her mental confusion? Is it obligatory for us to pay the fidyah for her fasting in Ramadan? And what must we do regarding the rights of her religion that are obligatory upon her? This is my letter, and I ask Allah the Most High, the Great, to grant you health and well-being. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
A: If the matter is as described, she is not accountable, and neither fasting nor prayer is obligatory upon her. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.