How should a son advise his father who is negligent in the congregational prayer, and does raising the son's voice above his father's count as undutifulness to parents?
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Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. He says: My father is negligent in the congregational prayer, which leads me to remind him of its virtues and warn him against abandoning it. I repeat this to him over and over, but he only responds a little, and sometimes he gets angry with me. Sometimes I am forced to raise my voice at him, which makes him angrier. Does this count as undutifulness to parents? What is the Shari'ah remedy for a case like this? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
There is no doubt that negligence regarding the prayer is a serious crime, because the prayer is the second pillar of Islam after the two testimonies, and because the one who abandons it intentionally exits the religion, as indicated by the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah, which is the most correct of the scholars' opinions.
If he abandons it out of laziness, but if he abandons it by denying its obligation, there is no disagreement among the scholars regarding his disbelief and apostasy. So the matter is very serious. What the questioner mentioned about his father is a great evil. It is obligatory for his son and for other Muslims to disapprove of it, command him to pray, and compel him to do so. It is not permissible to remain silent about it and leave him not praying. However, disapproval from his son is more obligatory due to the kinship between them and the obligation to advise him. So you, O questioner, must persist in advising your father. As long as he is affected and prays sometimes, this confirms for you the need to continue advising him. You must be patient and not despair, and clear your conscience of responsibility for his state. As for raising the voice, there is no need for it. You must admonish him and remind him in the best manner without raising your voice at him, because raising the voice does not bring good. Perhaps, as the questioner mentioned, it causes the father's anger and also causes his aversion to accepting advice. So you must admonish him with gentleness, wisdom, and good exhortation, warn him of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), persist in this, and be patient, because this is in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. He says: My father is negligent in the congregational prayer, which leads me to remind him of its virtues and warn him against abandoning it. I repeat this to him over and over, but he only responds a little, and sometimes he gets angry with me. Sometimes I am forced to raise my voice at him, which makes him angrier. Does this count as undutifulness to parents? What is the Shari'ah remedy for a case like this? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
There is no doubt that negligence regarding the prayer is a serious crime, because the prayer is the second pillar of Islam after the two testimonies, and because the one who abandons it intentionally exits the religion, as indicated by the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah, which is the most correct of the scholars' opinions.
If he abandons it out of laziness, but if he abandons it by denying its obligation, there is no disagreement among the scholars regarding his disbelief and apostasy. So the matter is very serious. What the questioner mentioned about his father is a great evil. It is obligatory for his son and for other Muslims to disapprove of it, command him to pray, and compel him to do so. It is not permissible to remain silent about it and leave him not praying. However, disapproval from his son is more obligatory due to the kinship between them and the obligation to advise him. So you, O questioner, must persist in advising your father. As long as he is affected and prays sometimes, this confirms for you the need to continue advising him. You must be patient and not despair, and clear your conscience of responsibility for his state. As for raising the voice, there is no need for it. You must admonish him and remind him in the best manner without raising your voice at him, because raising the voice does not bring good. Perhaps, as the questioner mentioned, it causes the father's anger and also causes his aversion to accepting advice. So you must admonish him with gentleness, wisdom, and good exhortation, warn him of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), persist in this, and be patient, because this is in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، كيف ينصح الابن والده المتهاون في صلاة الجماعة وهل رفع صوت الابن فوق أبيه يعد من العقوق؟ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.