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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, we are greatly pleased to receive your question which shows the confidence you place in us. May Allah reward you abundantly for your interest in knowing the teachings of Islam.
Responding to the question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states the following:
"We learn from scientific studies on autism that autistic people are not at all different from ordinary people in their sexual cravings and desires, as they do have such desires and they are able to get married and have children, etc. The thing that sets them apart from ordinary people is not any lack of sexual desires; rather it is primarily their inability to communicate their needs or establish normal social relations. Since they do have sexual cravings, women are not allowed to take off their hijab in front of them—if they are not their close blood relations listed in the verse cited below. The specific verse in question is at once precise and explicit in stating that—aside from close blood relations, which does not include cousins—women are allowed to take off hijab only in front of such men who have no sexual desires whatsoever or children who are still unaware of women’s nakedness. Allah Almighty says:
“And tell believing women to lower their gaze, and guard their chastity, and that they display not their charms except what appears of them. And that they draw their veils over their bosoms and display not their charms except to their husbands, fathers, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husband’s sons, their brothers, their brother’s sons, their sister’s sons, other women, their slaves, male domestics who are beyond all sexual desire, or children that are as yet unaware of women’s nakedness. And let them not strike their feet together so as to reveal their hidden charms. And repent to Allah, all of you, O you believers so that you may succeed.” (An-Nur: 31)
Based on the above considerations, your wife is required to observe the rules of hijab in front of her cousin who is suffering from autism.
May Allah guide us to be steadfast in adhering to the truth. Ameen."
Moreover, Dr. Sano Koutoub Moustapha, professor of Fiqh and its Principles, International Islamic University, Malaysia, adds:
"I am of the opinion that your wife should wear the hijab when dealing with her cousin who is suffering from the said psychological ill.
Such sickness isn't an excuse to take out her hijab in the presence of her cousin. Her cousin is not a mahram to her.
Furthermore, this sickness might not change anything in feeling towards a woman. In other words, it doesn't affect his manship at all."
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write back!
May Allah guide you to the straight path, and guide you to that which pleases Him, Ameen.
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