What does a wife do if her husband does not pray?
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Question : May Allah reward you. A woman asks: her husband does not pray, so what is the ruling on her remaining with him? And what should she do?
Answer : If he does not pray, neither in the mosque nor at home, then remaining with him is forbidden, and it is obligatory for her to separate from him and flee from him until he repents to Allah and enters the Islam from which he has exited. This is because the one who does not pray has exited Islam, may Allah protect us from that; he is an apostate from the religion of Allah, as indicated by the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Companions. As for the Book, Allah the Exalted said regarding the polytheists:[At-Tawbah 9:11] meaning that otherwise they are not our brothers in religion, and they will not be separated from us in religious brotherhood except by one who is a disbeliever. As for the sinner, no matter what his sin is, he is our brother. Therefore, we heard in the surah we are discussing now: [Al-Hujurat 49:9]. The fighting of the believers among themselves, what is it? A sin or a major sin? Disbelief? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called it disbelief, so it is a major sin. And yet, he said: [Al-Hujurat 49:10] So it is not possible for the brotherhood of faith to be absent between us and any person except one who is a disbeliever in a disbelief that takes him out of the knowledge of Allah. As for the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sahih Muslim 82b And the covenant between Me and them is prayer, so whoever abandons it has disbelieved.
As for the consensus of the Companions, it was transmitted by more than one scholar, such as Ibn Hazm and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh. It is not reported from any of the Companions that he said, "The one who abandons prayer is never a disbeliever." Either they explicitly stated his disbelief, or we do not know of any contrary statement from them. So, in answer to the question the woman asked: if your husband does not pray, neither in the mosque nor at home, then it is forbidden for you to remain with him. You must get rid of him by every means. Yes.
Answer : If he does not pray, neither in the mosque nor at home, then remaining with him is forbidden, and it is obligatory for her to separate from him and flee from him until he repents to Allah and enters the Islam from which he has exited. This is because the one who does not pray has exited Islam, may Allah protect us from that; he is an apostate from the religion of Allah, as indicated by the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Companions. As for the Book, Allah the Exalted said regarding the polytheists:
But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then they are your brothers in religion
فَإِن تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَإِخْوَانُكُمْ فِي الدِّينِAnd if two factions among the believers should fight, then make settlement between the two
وَإِن طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اقْتَتَلُوا فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَهُمَاThe believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْBetween man and polytheism and unbelief is the abandonment of salat.
بين الرجل وبين الشرك والكفر ترك الصلاةAs for the consensus of the Companions, it was transmitted by more than one scholar, such as Ibn Hazm and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh. It is not reported from any of the Companions that he said, "The one who abandons prayer is never a disbeliever." Either they explicitly stated his disbelief, or we do not know of any contrary statement from them. So, in answer to the question the woman asked: if your husband does not pray, neither in the mosque nor at home, then it is forbidden for you to remain with him. You must get rid of him by every means. Yes.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[20 من 42] ماذا تفعل الزوجة إذا كان زوجها لا يصلي؟!! الشيخ ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
