What is the answer to the argument of those who do not declare the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever?
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The questioner : This is Jamal ibn Sa'id. What is the answer to the statement of those who say that the one who abandons prayer is not declared a disbeliever, based on the evidence
The Shaykh : based on the evidence that we command him to pray, but we do not command a disbeliever to pray. If what he did were disbelief, we would command him to embrace Islam. If what came from him were disbelief, we would command him to embrace Islam. Once he embraces Islam, we command him to pray. Yes,
The questioner : The difference is that this person is an apostate by abandoning prayer.
The Shaykh : He is an apostate by abandoning prayer, whereas the original disbeliever is not called an apostate; rather, we say he is a disbeliever with regard to all of Islam. So we first command him to embrace Islam, the two testimonies. As for this one, he is a disbeliever by abandoning prayer, so we say: return to Islam by doing what you left behind. This is the difference. For this reason, I urge you to read his writings; read them, just as our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him), urged them. He had a poem in which he encouraged reading the books of the two Shaykhs, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim,
The Shaykh : based on the evidence that we command him to pray, but we do not command a disbeliever to pray. If what he did were disbelief, we would command him to embrace Islam. If what came from him were disbelief, we would command him to embrace Islam. Once he embraces Islam, we command him to pray. Yes,
The questioner : The difference is that this person is an apostate by abandoning prayer.
The Shaykh : He is an apostate by abandoning prayer, whereas the original disbeliever is not called an apostate; rather, we say he is a disbeliever with regard to all of Islam. So we first command him to embrace Islam, the two testimonies. As for this one, he is a disbeliever by abandoning prayer, so we say: return to Islam by doing what you left behind. This is the difference. For this reason, I urge you to read his writings; read them, just as our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him), urged them. He had a poem in which he encouraged reading the books of the two Shaykhs, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim,
Source
الفتاوى الثلاثية (2) - 2 — binothaimeen.net (50:23)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.