discernment, whereas an insane person has no intellect. So, if it is permissible for a guardian to enter a child who lacks discernment into ihram, then it is permissible for him to enter an insane person into ihram. On the basis of this view, there is no difficulty: his guardian enters him into ihram while he is insane, and he remains in ihram. Then, if he regains his sanity at Arafah, it is valid for us to say that his insanity ceased at Arafah while he was in ihram.

But if we say that an insane person’s ihram is invalid, whether undertaken by himself or by his guardian, then the author’s words are understood to refer to someone who becomes insane after entering ihram. Here another issue arises: does his ihram not become invalid through insanity?

We say: Insanity does not invalidate ihram; rather, he remains in his ihram. If his insanity ceases at Arafah, he completes his Hajj. If it ceases after Arafah, then he has missed the Hajj and completes it as an Umrah. If he remains insane, then he is like one prevented from completing the rites: that is, he exits ihram and offers a sacrificial animal if this is feasible. This is according to the view that Hajj is not invalidated by insanity.

However, according to the second view—that it is invalidated by insanity—if he becomes insane during ihram, his Hajj is invalid.

If a distinction were made, it could be said: if he customarily becomes insane for a day or a night and then recovers, the rite is not invalidated. But if it is not known when he will recover, then the view that it is invalidated has force, because he has become unfit for worship.

Likewise, if childhood ends during Hajj at Arafah—meaning that the child reaches puberty at Arafah. But can he reach puberty at Arafah?

The answer is yes, this is possible, either by age or by a nocturnal emission. In the case of age, this would be where the child was born in the middle of the Day of Arafah,