What is the ruling on the one who abandons prayer? And what is the difference between practical disbelief and creedal disbelief?

The questioner : You said in some of your gatherings that the error in the issue of declaring the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever is the key to a door of misguidance. We ask you to elaborate on this issue for us.

The Shaykh : The elaboration of this issue is what we have spoken about repeatedly in distinguishing between creedal disbelief and practical disbelief, because the one who abandons prayer has two states:
1 - Either he believes in it, he believes in its lawfulness.
2 - Or he denies its lawfulness.
In the second case, he is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Muslims, and likewise anyone who denies a matter known from the religion by necessity. For example, one who denies fasting is a disbeliever, or one who denies Hajj, and so on, among the matters known to all Muslims to be necessities of the religion. There is no disagreement in this: one who denies the lawfulness of prayer is a disbeliever.
But if there is a man who does not deny prayer, who acknowledges its lawfulness, but in terms of action he does not perform it, he does not pray, perhaps he does not pray at all, or perhaps he prays sometimes and not others, then in this case, if we say: this man is a disbeliever, that statement does not apply to him absolutely, because disbelief is denial, and he does not deny the lawfulness of prayer. As Allah the Exalted said regarding the disbelievers: If we take an example, say Zayd from among the people, who does not pray, but when asked, "Why do you not pray, my brother?" he says, "May Allah accept my repentance, and the world has occupied me, these children have occupied me," from this kind of speech. This speech, of course, is not an excuse at all, but it gives us a benefit that we do not know, because we do not look into what is in his heart. It gives us the benefit that the man believes in the lawfulness of prayer, unlike if the answer were, may Allah forbid: "My brother, the time for this prayer has passed; this was in the time when people were not educated, they were dirty, they needed a type of cleanliness and purity and exercise, and that time has gone. Now there are new means that suffice us for prayer." This is disbelief, so to But if the answer is the first one, "Why don't you pray?" "May Allah accept our repentance," "May Allah curse the devil," from this kind of speech that indicates to us that the man does not deny the lawfulness of prayer, then if we say this man is a disbeliever, we would be contradicting reality, because this man is a believer, a believer in the lawfulness of prayer and a believer in all of Islam. So how can we declare him a disbeliever?!
From here, we say there is no difference between the one who abandons prayer, the one who abandons fasting, the one who abandons Hajj, and the one who abandons any of the practical acts of worship, in that he is declared a disbeliever or that he is not declared a disbeliever. When is he declared a disbeliever? When he denies. When is he not declared a disbeliever? When he believes. It is not permissible to declare a believer a disbeliever, without any doubt. And thus came the many hadiths, the last of which is: But he has the weight of a mustard seed of faith. This faith is what prevents him from abiding in the Fire forever, and he enters Paradise, even if after he has become black charcoal. But this is the one who testifies that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and believes in everything that came from Allah and His Messenger, but does not pray, or does not fast, or does not perform Hajj, or the like, or steals, or commits unlawful sexual intercourse. There is no difference in all these matters if they are placed on the scale of practical disbelief and creedal disbelief. A man, for example, commits unlawful sexual intercourse; do we declare him a disbeliever? You will say: No. I say: No, wait, let us look. Does he say that unlawful sexual intercourse is forbidden? Or does he say, as some of the ignorant say: "No forbidden, no lawful"? If he says to me a word of disbelief, likewise the thief, or any sin of a man—for example, one who backbites many people—we say: Fear Allah. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He says: "No, the Messenger said no such thing," Disbelief. Thus it is with all the rulings of the Shari'ah, whether they are positive rulings, meaning an obligation from the obligations, or negative rulings, meaning the forbidden things from which one must stay away. If one makes permissible any of these forbidden things in his heart, he is a disbeliever. But if he commits them practically while believing that he is a sinner, he is not a disbeliever. There is no difference in this between all the rulings of the Shari'ah, whether they are obligations or forbidden things. Obligations must be performed, and it is not permissible to abandon them. But one who abandons them out of laziness, it is not permissible to declare him a disbeliever. One who abandons them out of denial is a disbeliever. One who makes permissible any of the forbidden things is likewise a disbeliever. There is no difference in this—absolutely—between the obligations and the forbidden things. This is what I intended with my previous word.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: Yes.