Divorce of People with Mental Condition and Insane Ones and their Guardian

“I once asked abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who has a mental condition and his reason is gone; if divorce by his guardian is permissible. He (the Imam) said, ‘Why does he not divorce?’ I replied, ‘He does not feel safe because tomorrow he may say that he did not divorce or he does not know how to do it.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘I do not see his guardian except like a sultan (king, authority).”’

“I once asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who sometime understands and sometimes does not understand: if his divorce by his guardian is permissible. He (the Imam) asked, ‘What is the matter with him, why does he not divorce?’ I replied, ‘He does not know the rules of divorce and does not feel safe. Perhaps tomorrow he will say that he did not divorce.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘I do not see him (guardian) except like an Imam (in his case).”’

“Abu Ja‘far, and abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), have said, ‘Divorce by al-Muwallah (confused, excited, awestruck); one’s divorce and setting free of slaves is not valid.’”

“I once asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the case of a man who has a mental condition whose reason has gone; if his divorce is permissible. He (the Imam) said, ‘No, it is not permissible.’ About a woman of the same condition if her selling and charity is permissible, he (the Imam) said, ‘It is not permissible.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘If a man because of a mental condition cannot divorce properly, his guardian must do it for him according to Sunnah .’ I then asked, ‘What happens if because of ignorance he divorced her three times at the same place and time?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘It is returned to the Sunnah and when three months pass or three Hayd (menses)-free periods, she becomes stranger to him with one divorce.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘Divorce is permissible except divorce by a man with mental condition, a child or Mubarsam, (suffering from a disease of diaphragm), an insane or a coerced one.”’

“About the case of a man suffering from a mental condition, abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘His guardian divorces for him because I see him like the Imam (for him).”’