What is the ruling on one who abandons prayer out of laziness? Is the funeral prayer performed for him?

The questioner : The questioner asks: What is the ruling on one who abandons prayer without an excuse, rather abandoning it out of laziness? If he is not killed for abandoning it, is the funeral prayer performed for him or not?

The Shaykh : The one who does not pray falls into two categories. The first is that he does not pray because he does not acknowledge its obligation. This person is a disbeliever from two angles. The first angle is his denial of this obligatory act, which is known necessarily from the religion of Islam. The second angle is that he abandoned it. Accordingly, the man in this state is an apostate who has exited Islam, whether the measures that must be taken against him—such as calling him to return to Islam or killing him—are carried out or not, and even if the authorities do not know about him and he remains in this state, he is a disbeliever and an apostate. It is not permissible for his wife to remain with him if he is married, and it is not permissible for him to have guardianship over any of his children, whether in the marriage contract of a daughter, for example, or in the guardianship of minors. It is also not permissible for him to enter Makkah or the entire sacred precinct, because he is among the polytheists about whom Allah said: after this year of theirs. If he dies, he is not washed, not shrouded, the funeral prayer is not performed for him, and he is not buried in the graves of Muslims. Rather, he is taken out and buried in a pit so that people may be relieved of his smell and so that his family may not be distressed by seeing him. This issue is a consensus among the scholars that one who abandons prayer while denying its obligation is a disbeliever. The second category is one who abandons prayer while acknowledging that it is obligatory, but he abandons it out of negligence and laziness. This issue is a matter of disagreement among scholars, but what the evidence indicates, and what I believe, is that he becomes a disbeliever in Allah and exits Islam. If he says that he believes in its obligation, we say: If you believe in its obligation, why do you not pray? If he abandons it out of negligence, he is a disbeliever. The Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) indicate this, and some scholars have reported it as a consensus of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). As for the Qur'an, Allah says: So these people are not our brothers in religion except through repentance from shirk (associating partners with Allah), establishing prayer, and giving zakah. If any of these three descriptions is missing, they are not our brothers in religion. Religious brotherhood is not negated except by kufr (disbelief). It is not negated by major sins. Killing is the greatest of major sins in dealings with people. And yet, Allah says regarding qisas (retaliation in kind): . So He did not make intentional killing a cause for exiting Islam.
Rather, He affirmed faith-based brotherhood despite the presence of this major sin. As for giving zakah, the texts indicate that one who does not pay his zakah out of stinginess and negligence will be punished for it, but he does not exit Islam. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Between a man and shirk and kufr is the abandonment of prayer." This is established in... This interpretation requires the invalidation of the hadith's indication, because one who abandons it while acknowledging its obligation is a disbeliever, and one who denies its obligation is a disbeliever whether he performs it or not. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever abandons it," which indicates that the basis for the ruling of disbelief is the abandonment, not the denial. Because the denier, even if he prays—if he says, "I will pray Zuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, 'Isha', and Fajr, but I believe they are not obligatory"—we would say to him: You are a disbeliever even if you pray. And the hadith says "whoever abandons it," not "whoever denies it." It is thus clear that one who abandons prayer out of negligence is a disbeliever. It is not permissible for his wife to remain with him, it is not permissible for anyone to marry his daughter to him, and he has no guardianship over his children. It is not permissible to supplicate for mercy for him. Rather, if he dies while abandoning prayer, it is not permissible to say "May Allah forgive him," because Allah says: