Is a ritual bath obligatory for one who repents from abandoning the prayer?

The questioner : The questioner says: A person repented regarding the prayer, but he is distracted and neglects it, and he sees the ruling regarding it and the ruling regarding lengthening the prayer, and he eats haram (forbidden) things and shortens it.

The Shaykh : And what else? It is not permissible for you, and I do not know if you should sit and shorten it, then do what Allah the Exalted has made obligatory upon him: that he take the two testimonies and perform ghusl (the full ritual bath), or is istighfar (seeking forgiveness) and nearness sufficient? Yes. If a person abandons the prayer in a manner that constitutes disbelief, then repents to Allah and returns, he must perform ghusl because he repented from disbelief. It is prescribed for one who enters Islam from the gate of disbelief to perform ghusl, whether it is obligatory or recommended, according to the scholarly disagreement on this. As for the two testimonies, there is no need for him to mention them because he already acknowledges them.