The Ruling on Delaying the Prayer Beyond Its Time and Abandoning the Congregation
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Question:
A man prays, but he does not maintain the congregation, nor does he maintain the time. He often prays after the time has passed. Is the funeral prayer performed for him, and is he considered a Muslim?
Answer:
Delaying the prayer beyond its time is abandoning it. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Mishkat al-Masabih 574 So, for example, delaying the Fajr prayer until the time of Duha, or delaying the 'Asr prayer until night, this is intentionally abandoning it. The hadith includes him, and it indicates his disbelief. We ask Allah for safety. It is as if such a person is not to be prayed over. As for his not praying in the congregation, this is a sin, and the funeral prayer is performed for him. If he is lazy and prays at home, this is a sin. If he dies, the funeral prayer is performed for him. But his abandoning it entirely is major shirk (associating partners with Allah). We ask Allah for safety. It is obligatory to advise one another, cooperate in good, warn him, and forbid him from it, so that perhaps he will respond and perhaps he will accept the advice.
A man prays, but he does not maintain the congregation, nor does he maintain the time. He often prays after the time has passed. Is the funeral prayer performed for him, and is he considered a Muslim?
Answer:
Delaying the prayer beyond its time is abandoning it. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Between a man and disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the abandonment of the prayer. And he said: "The covenant between us and them is the prayer, so whoever abandons it has committed disbelief."
بين الرجل وبين الكفر والشرك ترك الصلاة، ويقول صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ الْعَهْدُ الَّذِي بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمْ الصَّلَاةُ فَمَنْ تَرَكَهَا فَقَدْ كَفَرَ،
Source
فتاوى الصلاة — islamhouse.com (2:18)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.