The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (Between a man and disbelief is the abandonment of prayer)

The questioner : The last question, O Shaykh, that I have is: You mentioned this morning when you spoke about the issue of the one who abandons prayer in a "Sahih Muslim" hadith from Jabir: , and you mentioned that there are hadiths that came with the wording like and other hadiths, but the word "disbelief" with the definite article (al) has not been reported except in the issue of prayer in this hadith. So, based on the meanings of "al" in the language, whether it is comprehensiveness (istighraq) or covenant (covenant), how do we derive the ruling? Is not the covenantal disbelief, which is the disbelief of exiting the religion, or comprehensiveness, more severe in argument? How is it refuted to the one who argues with this hadith that the intended disbelief is major disbelief?

The Shaykh : What does the hadith say?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : And whoever abandons prayer.

The questioner : He has disbelieved.

The Shaykh : Where is the definition? Comprehensiveness and inclusiveness, where?

The questioner, this is in the word "disbelief" and "shirk"; this does not have comprehensiveness?

The Shaykh : If he intended practical disbelief, the expression would not differ.

The questioner : But... I heard a long time ago that the ruling is always taken as the highest, meaning, for example, here we now have , this can be interpreted as practical, but I am asking now about disbelief and shirk; knowing that there is no hadith in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) specified that it is disbelief or shirk except in the issue of abandoning prayer, so is it not possible to argue with it that the disbelief of the one who abandons prayer is creedal disbelief?

The Shaykh : I think you know that any hadith has an apparent indication to which the mind turns, but if a legal obstacle prevents the mind from turning to this apparent indication; then here comes what is called ta'wil (interpretation) and reconciliation between hadiths; for example, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , if we look at this generality; does it not mean that he is a disbeliever; because he negated faith absolutely?

The questioner : Faith here is indefinite.

The Shaykh : Yes, indefinite; does it not imply comprehensiveness?

The questioner : It implies comprehensiveness, yes.

The Shaykh : So then, he negated faith absolutely, no absolute faith for one who has no trustworthiness, and no religion for one who has no covenant, and like this is much in the legal texts, but when a person combines this text with another text, he is forced to say: no complete faith, no complete religion, and on this basis many hadiths are interpreted, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) according to the majority of the imams: , so he has no prayer, this is a negation of prayer; meaning: the prayer is invalid, but those who say that this prayer with the congregation is obligatory, but it is not a condition or a pillar of the pillars of prayer, are forced to interpret this hadith in light of the other hadiths; the prayer of the congregation is individual, and the prayer of the individual is twenty-seven degrees, and the intention here now is not to finalize the statement for such a hadith, but the intention is to remind of the methods of scholars in the path of reconciling a hadith that indicates something by its apparent meaning, then when they add to it the other hadiths, they are forced to depart from this apparent indication and understand that the indication of the hadith is in light of the other hadiths, and how many hadiths are for this purpose; for example: ; what...?

The questioner : That he does not enter it ever.

The Shaykh : He does not enter it ever, but when... the hadiths that indicate the non-eternal abode of the Muslim in the Fire, no matter how much he sins, and he mentions, for example, the hadith of the card and the like: , all these hadiths, when these are combined with a hadith like: or or to the end, he is forced to understand the hadith other than what is immediately suggested, the famous hadith may be like this; because there is absolutely nothing in the Shari'ah that a person disbelieves by abandoning an act, while he believes that this act is a sin.

The questioner : Fine; some narrations that support this statement, such as the saying of Abdullah ibn Shuqayq: "They did not consider any act whose abandonment is disbelief except prayer," and like the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): to the end, the saying of Imam Ahmad said: "A thing whose end has gone, nothing remains of it."

The Shaykh : All this is not a text in declaring someone a disbeliever.

Another questioner : The hadith of Hudhayfah, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : And it is exiting the religion, and we said in the session that the mention of prayer alone.

Another questioner : They differ.

The Shaykh : No problem, why did they differ?

The questioner : In their understanding of the issue , whether abandoning it entirely or abandoning some of it?

The Shaykh : Fine; so there is no decisive text in the matter; otherwise they would not have differed.

The questioner : Definitive from the aspect of disbelief, not from the aspect of the amount of abandonment, this is the view of the scholars.

The Shaykh : You say the scholars, most of the scholars say the opposite of what the scholars say!!

The questioner : Yes, but I mean, they are those who said it, and they are many of the later scholars.

The Shaykh : Understood, but I say: such an issue, it is not permissible to discard the theory of others to such hadiths, the hadith of Abdullah ibn Shuqayq, if you look at it in light of no, what is the hadith?

The questioner : They did not consider any of the acts whose abandonment is disbelief.

The Shaykh : Fine; is this correct, do you think? Correct, I mean in terms of meaning? Now here is disbelief, and the saying of the Messenger: ; do the Companions not see that?

The questioner : Disbelief that expels from the religion, meaning.

Another questioner : This became clear... the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) also, so they clarified that this disbelief is the disbelief that expels from the religion; therefore.

The Shaykh : Who clarified - may Allah bless you -?

The questioner : The Companions.

The Shaykh: No.

The questioner : The Companion says: "They did not consider anything whose abandonment is disbelief except prayer," hadiths were reported from the Messenger that this is disbelief, and fighting a Muslim is disbelief, and... disbelief; so we say: the Companions understood that that is disbelief that expels from the religion from the hadiths that they understood from the Messenger's other hadiths like the hadith of disbelief and shirk and and to the end, and they understood that...

The Shaykh : My brother, your saying "they understood" requires something other than this text, they did not consider anything of the acts whose abandonment is disbelief except what? Prayer, fine; abandoning zakat, for example?

The questioner : They did not consider.

The Shaykh : And Hajj?

The questioner : If it means that he intends that...

The Shaykh : Of course, the research is in prayer; starting from prayer is not deniable, because if he denied it, the matter ended, fine: , what is the difference?
O Allah, Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdika, ashhadu an la ilaha illa Anta.