The Ruling on One Who Washes a Corpse Knowing That the Deceased Did Not Pray

Question:
What is the ruling on a person who knows that the deceased did not pray, yet he washes him, instructs people to pray over him, and has him buried in the Muslim cemeteries?

Answer:
It is not permissible for him to deceive people in this matter; it is not permissible for him to deceive people. However, one who does not know [that the deceased did not pray] may pray over him. As for one who knows and wants to delay [the ruling], because he may not be judged [as a disbeliever]; he is not judged to be a disbeliever unless he is called to repent. He is called to repent before the Shari'ah judge, who then judges him to be a disbeliever. But in any case, there is no doubt that abandoning the prayer is disbelief. We ask Allah for safety and well-being. The later scholars differed regarding the disbelief of one who abandons the prayer if he abandons it out of negligence or laziness.
If he abandons it out of denial, this is by the consensus of the Muslims. The correct view is that abandoning it, even out of negligence, constitutes disbelief. This is what Abdullah ibn Shuqayq al-'Uqayli reported as the consensus of the Companions. Similarly, Ibn Hazm reported the consensus, as did others among the scholars of knowledge, that abandoning the prayer is disbelief. The definite article is used with "disbelief" here. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The definite article is a clear boundary that distinguishes one thing from another.
He used the word "disbelief" with the definite article, which implies comprehensiveness, unlike the indefinite "disbelief" in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "A sin committed among people, which they consider a sin, is disbelief." This is indefinite disbelief, which is a sin. As for the definite "disbelief," its meaning is comprehensive disbelief, which is major shirk (associating partners with Allah).