that if he loses his reason by his own choice, he must make up the prayers in all cases; but if it occurs without his choice, he is not required to make them up.

The prayer is not valid from an insane person or a disbeliever. If he prays, he is deemed Muslim.

His statement, “The prayer is not valid from an insane person or a disbeliever,” means that the prayer is not valid from an insane person because he lacks intent. The insane person has no intent, and whoever has no intent has no intention; whoever has no intention has no deed, due to the Prophet’s saying, “Deeds are only by intentions” (1). The same applies to one who loses his reason through birsām (2), and likewise to a senile person who no longer understands.

His statement, “or a disbeliever,” means that the prayer is not valid from a disbeliever, whether he is an original disbeliever or an apostate; the prayer is valid from neither of them.

The evidence is Allah’s saying: “Nothing prevented their expenditures from being accepted from them except that they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger” [al-Tawbah 9:54]. Although the benefit of charitable expenditures extends to others, if they are not accepted from him, then an act whose benefit does not extend beyond oneself is even more deserving of not being accepted. Furthermore, he is not among those qualified for worship until he accepts Islam, as indicated by the hadith of Mu'adh: “Let the first thing to which you call them be the testimony that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. If they respond to that, then inform them that Allah has made five daily prayers obligatory upon them” (3).

His statement, “If he prays, he is deemed Muslim,” means that if a disbeliever prays, we rule that he is Muslim. However, he is Muslim by legal ruling, not in reality—even if he did not intend to embrace Islam by what he did.