The Washing of the One Who Abandons Prayer, Praying Over Him, and Instructing Him
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah keep you safe, Your Eminence
The Shaykh:
There is no power or strength except by Allah.
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, we would like to ask about these hadiths regarding the hesitation some people feel when they hear the rulings concerning the one who does not pray, such as washing him, instructing him, and praying over him. It is difficult for them not to do this for their deceased relative. How do we answer their question?
The Shaykh:
This is the default ruling. The default ruling regarding the disbeliever is that he is not washed and no prayer is offered over him. However, if they wash him and pray over him out of consideration for the opinion of others, the majority say that he is not declared a disbeliever unless he denies the obligation of prayer. This has a basis if some scholars advised them to do so, or if they themselves were in doubt about the matter and acted on that doubt, in which case there is no blame on them. However, the stronger opinion, and the stronger of the opinions, is that he commits major disbelief. But if his family is in doubt about that, or they hope that his disbelief is minor, and they wash him and pray over him hoping for good for him, I do not know of any blame in that. As for the stronger opinion based on the evidence, it is that he is a disbeliever, a major disbeliever. But the second opinion is that of those who said it is minor disbelief, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He said: "Two things in the people are [minor] disbelief: seeking lineage and wailing over the dead," and similar things that are minor disbelief. If they consider it to be of this nature and pray over him out of eagerness for good for him and mercy for him, perhaps Allah will benefit him through that, then it has a basis due to the strength of the disagreement on the issue. However, as for the evidence, the most likely and closest opinion, and Allah knows best, is that it is major disbelief. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.
May Allah keep you safe, Your Eminence
The Shaykh:
There is no power or strength except by Allah.
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, we would like to ask about these hadiths regarding the hesitation some people feel when they hear the rulings concerning the one who does not pray, such as washing him, instructing him, and praying over him. It is difficult for them not to do this for their deceased relative. How do we answer their question?
The Shaykh:
This is the default ruling. The default ruling regarding the disbeliever is that he is not washed and no prayer is offered over him. However, if they wash him and pray over him out of consideration for the opinion of others, the majority say that he is not declared a disbeliever unless he denies the obligation of prayer. This has a basis if some scholars advised them to do so, or if they themselves were in doubt about the matter and acted on that doubt, in which case there is no blame on them. However, the stronger opinion, and the stronger of the opinions, is that he commits major disbelief. But if his family is in doubt about that, or they hope that his disbelief is minor, and they wash him and pray over him hoping for good for him, I do not know of any blame in that. As for the stronger opinion based on the evidence, it is that he is a disbeliever, a major disbeliever. But the second opinion is that of those who said it is minor disbelief, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Do not return after [becoming] disbelievers, striking one another and confronting one another,
لا ترجعوا بعد كفار يضرب بعضه ويقابل بعض،
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم [ برنامج إذاعي ]، بداية من بيان فضل الصلاة، وباب قتل تارك الصلاة — islamhouse.com (15:32)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.