If a man marries a girl who abandons prayer, they must be diligent in maintaining prayer so that their marriage is in accordance with the Sunnah of Allah and His Messenger.

The questioner : If a man marries a girl who abandons prayer, and they must be diligent in maintaining prayer so that their marriage is in accordance with the Sunnah of Allah and His Messenger, then the question here regarding the renewal of the marriage contract is: is it the written contract that the mu'adhdhin wrote with the old date, which was registered in the civil status records in the civil registry, or is it the marriage contract that takes place between the husband, the wali al-amr, and the witnesses, which is without a written contract, and the old contract remains as it is? Please inform us, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. This question, as our listening brothers hear, the questioner says in it that this contract that was made by a Muslim with a woman who does not pray, or by a person who does not pray with a woman who prays, is an invalid contract. And he is correct that it is an invalid contract, because it is between a Muslim and a disbeliever, and a contract between a Muslim and a disbeliever is invalid, except if the wife is from the People of the Book and the man is a Muslim. And we said that it is between a Muslim and a disbeliever because the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, according to the stronger opinion of the scholars, by the evidence of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the sayings of the Companions, and correct reasoning. As for the Book of Allah, Allah the Exalted said regarding the polytheists: The point of evidence from the verse is that Allah made brotherhood in religion conditional upon three conditions: that they repent from shirk (associating partners with Allah), that they establish prayer, and that they give zakah (the obligatory alms). And it is known that what is conditioned upon conditions is not completed except by their presence. And thus, brotherhood in religion is negated if one of these conditions is negated. And brotherhood in religion is not negated except where the entire religion is negated, because brotherhood in religion is established with sins, even if they are major. Do you not see Allah's saying in the verse of qisas (retaliation in kind), which is not established except by intentional killing: And intentional killing is among the major sins. Allah the Exalted said regarding it: And with this, the brotherhood between the killer and the killed is established by the text of this verse. And Allah the Exalted said regarding the group that reconciles between two groups of believers who fought: Allah the Exalted said: Even though fighting among believers is among the major sins. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called it kufr (disbelief) and said: .
So let us return to the verse we mentioned as evidence for the kufr (disbelief) of the one who abandons prayer, to clarify its point of evidence. Allah the Exalted said: meaning from shirk (associating partners with Allah), meaning they brought it established in the manner required of them, they gave it to its rightful recipient. If one of these three is disrupted, they are not our brothers in the religion of Allah. And this means that they are disbelievers, otherwise they would be our brothers even if they committed a sin.
So if they repent from shirk (associating partners with Allah) but do not establish prayer and do not give zakah (the obligatory alms), they are not our brothers. And if they repent from shirk and establish prayer but do not give zakah, they are not our brothers in the apparent meaning of the noble verse. But the Sunnah has indicated that the one who abandons zakah out of negligence and stinginess does not become a disbeliever, but he will be punished with a severe punishment. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, in what is authentic from him from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): So this hadith indicates that he is not a disbeliever, because the disbeliever has no way to Paradise. So the verse remains indicating that if they remain in their kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), they are disbelievers. And if they do not establish prayer while abandoning kufr and shirk, they are disbelievers.
And as for the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was narrated by Muslim from the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abdullah. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was narrated by the compilers of the Sunan from the hadith of Buraydah ibn al-Husayb (may Allah be pleased with him). So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made prayer a boundary separating faith and kufr (disbelief). And it is known that the boundary separates the two things it bounds, and the two things it bounds do not enter into each other, but each is distinct by itself. And this indicates that there is no faith with the one who abandons prayer.
And as for the sayings of the Companions, 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "There is no share in Islam for the one who abandons prayer". And "share" means portion, and "no" here is a negation of the genus, so its negation is general and comprehensive. And if a person has no share in Islam, not a little or a lot, that is evidence of his kufr (disbelief), because if he had faith, he would have a share in Islam according to its amount.
And likewise, it was narrated from other than 'Umar among the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) what indicates the kufr (disbelief) of the one who abandons prayer. Indeed, 'Abdullah ibn Shaqiq (may Allah have mercy on him), who is from the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions), said: "The Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not consider any of the deeds whose abandonment is kufr (disbelief) except prayer". And Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, one of the famous imams, transmitted the consensus of the Companions on this. And just as this is the implication of the evidence of the Book and the Sunnah and the sayings of the Companions, it is also the implication of correct reasoning. For it is not possible for a person who has the smallest mustard seed of faith in his heart, who knows the greatness of prayer and its status with Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and with His Messenger, and with the Muslims in general, and what follows from its performance of reward and from its abandonment of punishment, it is not possible for one who knows that and has the smallest mustard seed of faith in his heart to persist in abandoning it and leave it, not praying it, not at night or by day, not in the mosque or elsewhere. And if this is the implication of the four evidences we mentioned: the Book, the Sunnah, the sayings of the Companions, and correct reasoning, and these are evidences free from opposing resistance, because the opposing evidences do not escape four states: either there is no evidence in them at all that the one who abandons prayer does not become a disbeliever, or they are restricted by a description that prevents abandoning prayer, or they are restricted by a state in which one is excused for abandoning prayer, or they are general and specified by the evidences of the kufr (disbelief) of the one who abandons prayer. So they are evidences that do not resist the evidences that necessitate the kufr (disbelief) of the one who abandons prayer. And when the established evidence free from opposing resistance is found, it is obligatory to act upon it.
And the issue of takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) by action or omission is an issue in which only Allah and His Messenger judge, because takfir is a ruling from the rulings of the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law), and the servants have no entry into it. Rather, the servants say it according to their understanding and knowledge from the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. So when the texts become clear, it is obligatory for us to say according to their implication, and it is not permissible for us to contradict them out of fear of a critic's blame or favoring any of the people. Rather, it is upon us to say according to what the Book and the Sunnah indicate. And if we say that, people will stand by what came in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
And based on what has preceded, if a man who does not pray marries a Muslim woman, then the marriage is invalid. And if a Muslim man marries a woman who does not pray, then the nikah (marriage contract) is also invalid. And it is obligatory to renew the contract if he repents from abandoning prayer and enters the religion of Allah, whether the contract is renewed according to the followed system, by being renewed by a recognized mu'adhdhin, or the contract is renewed in the presence of the wali (guardian) and witnesses, even if it is not through the mu'adhdhin. The important thing is that the contract is renewed in a correct, lawful manner. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh. This listener is Muhammad Zayn al-Din from Ethiopia.