Talaq Given by an Insane Person in a State of Lucidity

Question

A scholar — a researcher who acts on his knowledge — became insane due to the influence of jinn. Although his mother tongue is Bengali, in the state of insanity he would converse in Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Urdu and English. Since he used to beat people, he was bound in chains. One day he gave talaq to his wife — his spouse Jahan Ara — in the Arabic language thus: “طَلَّقْتُ جهاں ارا الف تطليقة” (“I have divorced Jahan Ara a thousand talaqs”). When, after regaining lucidity (ifaqa)

Answer

Since he himself is a scholar and is well aware both of his own state and of the ruling, his wife’s word carries no weight against his: [ar]فَإِنَّ المرء يؤخذ بإقراره[/ar] “For a person is held to his own admission.” The wife should accept her husband’s word as reliable.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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