Bequest From A Mentally Ill Individual

Question

I have some questions regarding an Aaqil Baaligh person when it comes to inheritance, Wasiyat:

Q1) Who determines whether a person is considered ‘Aaqil Baaligh’? Is it based purely on physical maturity, or are mental and psychological conditions taken into account too?

Q2) Do conditions such as bipolar disorder, autism, or dissociative identity disorder (split personality) affect whether a person is regarded as ‘Aaqil Baaligh’ in Shar‘i terms?

Q3) If a person experiences an “episode”, for example, a mental health episode affecting their awareness or control and they say R5000 must go to so and so person, are their statements and actions during that time taken seriously? Should the Wasiyat be carried out?

Mufti Abrar Ahmad Motala · Accepted Answer

A1) A person cannot be considered Aaqil (intellectually sound) if his mental state is not sound as per the definitions placed by the Fuqaha.

A2) In Shari’ah, complete and encompassing madness is the only type of madness taken in to consideration in most rulings. The severity of the mental illness and the duration of suffering would need to be examined individually to pass the Shar’i ruling of an individual being non-Aqil. The preferred view in the Hanafi Madhab is a minimum period of one year of madness which deems a person mentally unfit.

A3) I⁠n the event that an individual has been deemed mentally ill by a Mufti based on Shari definitions and medical diagnosis, his bequest will be invalid.

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