The Shaykh : The second condition is the intellect, and its opposite is insanity. The insane person is not obligated to fast, because one of the conditions for the validity of fasting is intention, and the insane person is not capable of intention because he does not possess reason. In the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): رفع القلم عن ثلاثة عن النائم حتى يستيقظ وعن الصغير حتى يبلغ وعن المجنون حتى يفيق The Pen has been lifted from three : from the sleeping person until he awakens, from the minor until he grows up, and from the insane person until he comes to his senses. Sunan Ibn Majah 2041 And from insanity, or from what is akin to insanity, is the loss of intellect. The loss of intellect due to old age, for when a person grows old, he may lose his intellect to the point where he cannot distinguish between night and day, or between a close relative and a distant one, and he becomes in a lower state than a child. If a person reaches this degree, then fasting is not obligatory upon him, just as prayer and ritual purity are not obligatory upon him. The fourth condition is ability. The third condition is reaching puberty.

The Intellect.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

The Shaykh : The second condition is the intellect, and its opposite is insanity. The insane person is not obligated to fast, because one of the conditions for the validity of fasting is intention, and the insane person is not capable of intention because he does not possess reason. In the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

The Pen has been lifted from three : from the sleeping person until he awakens, from the minor until he grows up, and from the insane person until he comes to his senses.

رفع القلم عن ثلاثة عن النائم حتى يستيقظ وعن الصغير حتى يبلغ وعن المجنون حتى يفيق

Sunan Ibn Majah 2041Hasan (Darussalam)

And from insanity, or from what is akin to insanity, is the loss of intellect. The loss of intellect due to old age, for when a person grows old, he may lose his intellect to the point where he cannot distinguish between night and day, or between a close relative and a distant one, and he becomes in a lower state than a child. If a person reaches this degree, then fasting is not obligatory upon him, just as prayer and ritual purity are not obligatory upon him. The fourth condition is ability. The third condition is reaching puberty.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

Similar fatwas