Talaq of an Insane Person

Question

In one and the same sitting Zayd said to his wife: “تجھے طلاق ہے، تجھے طلاق ہے، تجھے طلاق ہے” (“You have talaq, you have talaq, you have talaq”). According to the opinion and investigation of one of two physicians — both of them reliable and skilled — Zayd suffers from melancholia, and according to the second, from mania. Applying the term “insanity” (junun) to melancholia is widespread and common among the specialists of the art, while mania is simply another name for raving madness (?).

Answer

If a person pronounces talaq in a state of insanity, it does not take effect according to the Shari‘a: [ar]ولا يقع طلاق المولى على امرأة عبده والمجنون والمعتوه والمبرسم والمغمى عليه والمدهوش[/ar] “The talaq of a master upon his slave’s wife does not take effect, nor that of the insane, the feeble-minded, one suffering from delirious fever (mubarsam)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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