What is the ruling on divorce when the intellect is removed due to unconsciousness, sleep, medicine, or coercion?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
Whether the loss of reason is due to madness, fainting, sleep, taking medicine, being coerced into drinking wine, or drinking something that removes the intellect without the person knowing it removes the intellect, the divorce is invalid in a single narration without known disagreement. In all these cases, the divorce is prevented from taking effect.
Supporting text
If a person consumes an intoxicant like *banj* (an anesthetic/narcotic) while fully aware and deliberately engaging in trivial amusement, the ruling is the same as that for a drunk person regarding his divorce, according to the followers of al-Shafi'i. The followers of Abu Hanifah rule that his divorce is invalid because he did not derive pleasure from drinking it. The counter-argument is that since his intellect was removed through an act of disobedience (*ma'siyah*), it resembles the state of intoxication.