cannot look after his own self, then someone else is more entitled. This applies equally to one who lacks sanity due to his youth, like a child, or one whose sanity has departed due to madness or old age, such as an elderly person who has become senile (afnada). The Qadi said: An elderly man who has weakened due to old age and does not know where her interest (haz) lies, has no guardianship. As for fainting, it does not remove guardianship because it is a temporary state, so it is like sleep; therefore, guardianship is not removed because of it, and it is permissible for the Prophets, peace be upon them. Anyone who is occasionally mad does not lose his guardianship, because the loss of his sanity is not continuous, so he is like one who faints. The second condition is freedom; there is no guardianship for a slave according to the view of a group of scholars, for the slave has no guardianship over his own self, so he is even less entitled to have it over someone else. The proponents of reason (Ashab al-Ra’y) said: It is permissible for a slave to marry her off with her consent, basing this on their view that a woman may marry herself off. The discussion on this issue has already passed. The third condition is Islam, for a disbeliever does not possess guardianship over a Muslim woman. This is also the view of the general body of scholars. Ibn al-Mundhir said: The generality of the scholars from whom we preserve knowledge have reached a consensus on this. Ahmad said: It reached us that Ali permitted the marriage of a brother and rejected the marriage of a father who was a Christian. The fourth condition is that being male is a condition for guardianship according to everyone; because completeness is considered in it, and the woman is deficient and limited; guardianship is established over her due to her deficiency in looking after her own affairs, so for her not to have guardianship over someone else is even more appropriate. The fifth condition is that puberty is a condition according to the manifest view of the school (Madhhab). Ahmad said: A young boy does not marry others off until he reaches puberty; he has no authority. This is the view of the majority of scholars, including al-Thawri, al-Shafi’i, Ishaq, Ibn al-Mundhir, and Abu Thawr. There is another narration from Ahmad that if he reaches ten