Is it permissible to eat with one who abandons prayer, and if the answer is no, what should one do with those who share circumstances and times with us, such as celebrations, good times, and bad times?

The questioner : Is it permissible to eat with one who abandons prayer? And if the answer is no, what should we do with those who share circumstances and times with us, such as celebrations, good times, and bad times, and the neighbor and the friend who brings you food when guests and brothers come? Please inform us about this, may you be rewarded?

The Shaykh : The answer is that if one abandons prayer absolutely, not praying it in his house or in the mosques, he is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, as indicated by the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the statements of the Companions, and the meaning and consideration.
As for the indication from the Book of Allah the Exalted regarding the disbelief of one who abandons prayer, it is in His saying about the polytheists: So Allah the Exalted made the establishment of brotherhood in religion conditional upon these three things: repentance from shirk (associating partners with Allah), establishing prayer, and giving zakah (the obligatory alms). If brotherhood in religion is not established except by these three things, then if one lacks them or lacks one of them, it takes the person out of brotherhood in religion. And nothing takes a person out of brotherhood in religion except disbelief. Otherwise, the believers are brothers, even if sins occur among them, or even if major sins occur from them, except for disbelief. So if the polytheists repent from shirk but do not establish prayer, they are not our brothers in religion. And if they establish prayer but do not give zakah, they are not our brothers in religion. And if they are not our brothers in religion, they are disbelievers. This is its clear indication from the noble verse. However, withholding zakah out of stinginess and negligence has been indicated by the Sunnah to not be disbelief, as in what Abu Hurayrah narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: And the fact that this one who does not pay its right can see a way for him to Paradise is an indication that he is not a disbeliever, since a disbeliever cannot see a way for him to Paradise. And from the proofs of the Qur'an is also His saying: And the way of indication is that Allah said: And this indicates that they were not believers when they neglected prayer.
And as for the indication from the Sunnah, among it is what Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Jabir ibn 'Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in what the people of the Sunan narrated from the hadith of Buraydah: And the way of indication is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made prayer the divider between disbelief and faith, and between Muslims and disbelievers. And the divider between two things necessitates that each one of them be other than the other. And as for the reports from the Companions, among them is what was narrated from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "There is no share in Islam for one who abandons prayer" And 'Abdullah ibn Shaqiq transmitted the consensus of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) on the disbelief of one who abandons prayer, where he said: "The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not consider any of the deeds whose abandonment is disbelief except prayer" And Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, the famous imam, also transmitted their consensus, and others transmitted it as well. And as for the meaning, the way it necessitates the disbelief of one who abandons prayer is that every believer in what came regarding the care and attention for prayer, and the urging to it, and its being singled out with characteristics not found in other acts of worship, cannot with this abandon prayer while having something of faith in his heart. So the connection between faith in the heart and the action of prayer is an apparent matter, and it is not known except by the owners of hearts. And with these four proofs—the Book, the Sunnah, the statements of the Companions, and the meaning—it becomes clear that the stronger position regarding one who abandons prayer is that he is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, and that it is obligatory that he be called to repent. If he repents and returns to Islam by prayer, otherwise he is killed as a disbeliever apostate, not washed, not shrouded, not prayed over, and not buried in the graves of Muslims. And Allah knows that I have researched this issue much and looked at the proofs of those who say that one who abandons prayer does not disbelieve, and I did not see for them a proof that can oppose the proofs we mentioned regarding the disbelief of one who abandons prayer. All the proofs they cited do not exceed one of four things: either there is no proof in them at all, or they are restricted to a state in which one who did not pray is excused, as in the hadith of Hudhayfah, for these people who were saved by the word "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah) reached Islam while they knew nothing about it. Or they are restricted to a description with which abandoning prayer is not possible, as in the hadith of 'Atban ibn Malik: Or they are general and specified by the proofs of the disbelief of one who abandons prayer. And if there is a text that one who abandons prayer does not disbelieve, or that one who abandons prayer enters Paradise, or that one who abandons prayer is a believer, or something similar to that, then this is impossible. And if such a proof were found, the reconciliation between it and the proofs indicating his disbelief would be sought, or the stronger one would be chosen. But this type of proof has never been found. And it is not possible to interpret the proofs of the disbelief of one who abandons prayer as applying to one who abandoned it out of denial, because if we interpreted them as such, we would abolish the description that the Shari'ah considered, which is abandonment, and bring a new description from ourselves, which is denial. So in that there is an encroachment on the text from two aspects: one is abolishing what the Lawgiver considered, and the second is considering a description that the Lawgiver did not consider.
Then, denial is a cause of disbelief in itself, or in other words, denial is a cause of disbelief on its own, even if abandonment does not occur with it. So if one of the people maintained the prayers at their times with the congregation, while believing that they are not obligatory but voluntary, and that it is up to the person to abandon them, if one were in this state, he would be a disbeliever even if he did not abandon prayer. This indicates that restricting these texts to one who abandons prayer while denying its obligation is a restriction with no basis. And when we declare one who abandons prayer a disbeliever in accordance with the proofs from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the statements of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), we have not exceeded what is required of us regarding the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And that is because the ruling on declaring someone a disbeliever or not is referred to the Shari'ah, just as the ruling on permissibility, prohibition, obligation, and recommendation in the rulings of the Shari'ah is referred to the Shari'ah. So likewise is the ruling on declaring someone a disbeliever. If the texts indicate the disbelief of one of the people by an action or by abandoning an action, we have no choice but to submit to what the text indicates, because all are slaves to Allah Mighty and Majestic, and He is the One who judges between them and among them with what His wisdom dictates. Allah the Mighty said: And He said: And He said: And other verses indicating that it is not for the slaves to go out from what the proofs of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) necessitate, and that the ruling by what they indicate is determined, whether that is something people disapprove of and find strange, or something they do not disapprove of but are accustomed to.

The questioner : The listener Muhammad Abu al-Fadl from the Holy City of Madinah says in his message.