The ruling on one who abandons the prayer after reaching puberty for several years

Question:
May Allah reward you with good, Honorable Shaykh. From a message that arrived from southern Morocco. A questioner named Ayn Rashid says: I have some questions, and my first question is: I started praying last Ramadan, and praise be to Allah. But I reached puberty about four or five years ago, and my question is: Is it obligatory for me to make up the prayers I did not pray since reaching puberty, or should I be content with repentance and seeking forgiveness from Allah and doing many voluntary prayers?

Answer:
If you abandoned it intentionally, and you knew that you had reached puberty, and that the prayer is obligatory upon you, and you abandoned it intentionally, then you must repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic and maintain the prayer in the future. As for your abandoning it intentionally after reaching puberty, that is disbelief; that is disbelief and apostasy from the religion of Islam. But if you repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, Allah will accept your repentance. However, if you abandoned it out of ignorance and did not abandon it intentionally, but rather abandoned it because of your ignorance that the prayer is obligatory upon you, then you make it up. Yes.