The ruling on one who intentionally abandons prayer and then repents

Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Excellency the Shaykh, and may He bless you and make your knowledge beneficial. We ask your permission to pose some questions. This questioner says: If a person abandons prayer entirely for a few days and then returns, is he required to perform the full ritual bath and recite the testimony of faith? And does he have to make up the prayers he intentionally abandoned without an excuse?

Answer:
He is required to repent to Allah and maintain the prayer with the intention of continuing it consistently, not praying at one time and abandoning it at another. No, he must repent to Allah for all of the past and maintain his prayer. His repentance and return to the prayer is a return to Islam, because the apostate enters Islam by doing what he denied and what he rejected. This person abandoned the prayer and rejected it, so his repentance is by maintaining the prayer and repenting to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Yes. May Allah reward you. If he testifies that there is no Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, this is not sufficient unless he maintains the prayer. If he does not maintain the prayer, his testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah will not benefit him. Yes.