Rulings on the One Who Abandons Prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. Shaykh Salih asks about the one who abandons prayer: is it permissible for us to eat with him or not? And why?
The Shaykh:
If the one who abandons prayer denies its obligation and holds that it is not obligatory, then he is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Muslims, and he must be called to repent. If he repents, well and good; otherwise, he is to be killed. As for the one who acknowledges its obligation but abandons it out of negligence and laziness, he must be compelled to pray until he prays, and the one in authority must discipline him until he prays and not leave him alone. As for the issue of eating with him: if eating with him means being friendly with him, being at ease with him, and not rebuking him, then this is not permissible. It is not permissible for you to sit with him or keep him as a companion, whether you eat with him or not. If you keep him as a companion while he does not pray, and you remain silent about it, do not rebuke him, and do not compel him to pray, this is a matter that is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. And regarding his question, why is it not permissible for us to eat with the one who abandons prayer?
The Shaykh:
Because this is an affirmation of what is wrong and a failure to rebuke it; it is remaining silent about it. Yes.
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. Shaykh Salih asks about the one who abandons prayer: is it permissible for us to eat with him or not? And why?
The Shaykh:
If the one who abandons prayer denies its obligation and holds that it is not obligatory, then he is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Muslims, and he must be called to repent. If he repents, well and good; otherwise, he is to be killed. As for the one who acknowledges its obligation but abandons it out of negligence and laziness, he must be compelled to pray until he prays, and the one in authority must discipline him until he prays and not leave him alone. As for the issue of eating with him: if eating with him means being friendly with him, being at ease with him, and not rebuking him, then this is not permissible. It is not permissible for you to sit with him or keep him as a companion, whether you eat with him or not. If you keep him as a companion while he does not pray, and you remain silent about it, do not rebuke him, and do not compel him to pray, this is a matter that is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. And regarding his question, why is it not permissible for us to eat with the one who abandons prayer?
The Shaykh:
Because this is an affirmation of what is wrong and a failure to rebuke it; it is remaining silent about it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 4794- أحكام تارك الصلاة - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.