If a schizophrenic violates Ihraam during Hajj and 'Umrah
Fatwa No: 242830

Question

As salaam alaikum, I live in usa. In sha Allah iam planning for umra in the month of may with my family. my question is my wife is schizophrenia patient i.e., she is slightly mentally disorder. If she do any mistakes while performing umra, who will be responsible me or her self. And on her mistakes is it mandatory for sacrifies.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If the disorder that is referred to does not render your wife insane, then her ‘Umrah is valid and she is responsible for the mistakes that she makes, but not every mistake requires offering a sacrifice. You should learn the rulings of ‘Umrah before going to perform it in order that you worship Allaah knowing what you are obliged to do, what is desirable for you to do, what you must avoid and what is disliked to do. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 132550.

But if the disorder that you referred to renders her 'an insane person', then her ‘Umrah is not valid. The Hanbali Fiqh book Kash-shaaf Al-Qinaa’ reads: “Hajj and 'Umrah are not valid from an insane person, whether he intends it himself or someone else intends it on his behalf.” [End of quote]

As far as we know, schizophrenia – Allaah keep us from it – is a kind of madness, so it is a serious mental illness.

The Global Arabic Encyclopedia says about this disorder: “Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness marked by severely impaired thinking which cannot be predicted … Schizophrenia is one of the most common mental disorders … and many schizophrenics are delusional and act as if they live in an imaginary world. They may hear sounds that others do not hear and may believe that these sounds carry messages from important people ... they show inappropriate emotions, such as laughing in sad circumstances. Some schizophrenics avoid their families and friends, and basically they talk to themselves or to the sounds which they hear whereas other people do not hear them.” [Summarized]

Allaah Knows best.

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