You said that the one who does not pray invalidates his marriage contract and his wife becomes a stranger to him, and it is well known that this is the view of Imam Ahmad, but al-Shafi'i and Abu Hanifa

The questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Your Eminence, the Shaykh — with the fathah.

The questioner : You said that the one who does not pray invalidates his marriage contract and his wife becomes a stranger to him, and it is well known that this is also the view of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), but al-Shafi'i, Abu Hanifa, and Malik (may Allah have mercy on them) disagree with this view. Their view is that if he does not deny the prayer, then if he repents, he does not have to renew the contract, nor anything of that sort. What is your opinion on this, Your Eminence?
And do they have evidence? And if all their opinions are correct, do we sin if we follow their opinion?

The Shaykh : Yes, disagreement among the Ummah is a reality, and Allah the Exalted has referred to it in His Book. But Allah Mighty and Majestic has made for us a reference to which we return disagreements, and He said:
.
By what did Allah judge in the matter in which there is disagreement?
, because it is not possible for us to make the opinion of one of us a proof against the opinion of the other.
And let us suppose that I say: This is lawful, and you say: This is forbidden.
You say: You must take my opinion, and I say: You must take my opinion.
And we remain from the beginning of the day to the end of it.
I say: You must say this is lawful, and he says: You must say this is forbidden.
And I say: You must say this is lawful, and you say: You must say this is forbidden.
So there must be a reference.
What is the reference?
The Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
And if we return this issue to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), it becomes clear to us that the Qur'an and the Sunnah indicate that the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, a disbelief that takes him out of the religion.
So let us look at the Qur'an. Allah the Exalted says regarding the polytheists: .
So Allah made three conditions for brotherhood in religion:
If they repent from what? From shirk (associating partners with Allah).
And they establish prayer, and they give zakah (the obligatory alms), then they are your brothers in religion.
This conditional sentence: if one of the conditions is not met, the consequence is not met. That means, if they do not repent from shirk, they are not our brothers in religion. If they do not establish prayer, they are not our brothers. If they do not give zakah, they are not our brothers.
Now, does brotherhood in religion cease by committing a major sin, or does it not?
You say: No. And I demand proof from you, otherwise say: Allah knows best.
Does brotherhood in religion cease by committing a major sin, or does it not?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Even if it is great?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Now, stand up and give us the proof.
The student: The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. If a Muslim commits a major sin, he does not exit except according to the view of the Mu'tazilah (a rationalist theological sect).

The Shaykh : The Mu'tazilah? No, that is the view of the Khawarij (an early sect that declared sinners disbelievers), and the Mu'tazilah are those who say: He exits from Islam, but he does not enter into disbelief.
Now, what is the proof that committing a major sin does not take one out of faith?
You raised your hand. Now.
The student: The saying of Allah the Exalted, Glorified and Exalted is He: .
...
What is the indication from the verse?
, what is the indication?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Correct, the verse this is the verse of retaliation (qisas): .
Is the killing of a believer intentionally a major sin or a minor one?
It is among the greatest of major sins. So it is a major sin, and yet He said: the one killed .
So brotherhood in faith does not cease by committing major sins. Brotherhood in faith does not cease except by exiting from faith.
And if Allah says: , then its implication is: if it is not so, they are not our brothers in religion. And in that case, they are disbelievers, because there is no brotherhood between us and them.
Is it clear?
The students: Yes.

The Shaykh : It remains that you must tell me: So, the one who does not give zakah is a disbeliever, just as the one who does not pray is a disbeliever, and the one who does not repent from shirk is a disbeliever. Do you tell me this or not?
You must say it, Ya Mashal. You must say it. You must say it regarding the verse. We are not talking about another proof.
The verse indicates that the one who does not give zakah is a disbeliever.
And some scholars said this, and it is a narration from Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) that the one who does not give zakah, even if he acknowledges the obligation of zakah, is a disbeliever.
So whoever holds this view, there remains no difficulty in the verse.
But whoever says: The one who withholds zakah does not become a disbeliever, but he is fought to compel him to pay it, must answer the verse by saying that the Sunnah has come with what indicates that the one who withholds zakah does not become a disbeliever.
Listen. It is established in Sahih Muslim from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that he said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
And this indicates that the one who withholds zakah does not become a disbeliever, because if he became a disbeliever, he would have no way to Paradise. His way would be to the Fire in any case.
No questions until we finish.
As for the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, in what Muslim narrated from the hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him):
.
So he said: Between a man and shirk and disbelief is the abandonment of prayer. And "between" implies that everything of the two opposites is separated from the other. So the one who prays is a believer, and the one who does not pray is a disbeliever or a polytheist, because the word "between" is a dividing limit; this does not enter into this.
. And the hadith is authentic in Muslim.
And in the Sunan, from the hadith of Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: . This is from the Sunnah.
But someone might say to me: The meaning of disbelief here is disbelief less than disbelief, like the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): and his saying: . So the meaning of disbelief here is the disbelief that is less than disbelief.
So we answer him and say: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and . Here, the definite article indicates that the intended meaning is the disbelief that is opposite to Islam, which is true disbelief.
As for , the disbelief here is indefinite, meaning that these are two things of disbelief, and the doer does not become a disbeliever, but he has a characteristic of the characteristics of disbelief. And similarly his saying: . So he distinguished between the two expressions.
And the separation in or is apparent in that this is distinguished from this.
And as for the sayings of the Companions, Abdullah ibn Shaqiq — and he is from the trustworthy 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, the abandonment of which is disbelief, except prayer".
And Imam Ishaq ibn Rahawayh (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted the consensus of the Companions on the view that the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever.
So if we have, O brothers, the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the sayings of the Companions, is it possible to oppose this with the saying of so-and-so or so-and-so?
Never is it possible.
And if the truth becomes clear, it is not permissible for anyone to follow anyone in opposing it, ever, whoever he is. It is even narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he said: . So if this is the case for one who opposes the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with the saying of Abu Bakr and Umar, how about one who opposes the saying of Allah and His Messenger and His Companions with the saying of so-and-so or so-and-so?
And if the truth becomes clear, it is obligatory for the Muslim to follow it. And Allah Mighty and Majestic says in the Qur'an: Who? .
And He did not say: And on the Day they will be called and He will say: What did you answer so-and-so and so-and-so?
You will not be asked on the Day of Resurrection about what you answered al-Shafi'i or Malik or Abu Hanifa or Ahmad ibn Hanbal or Ishaq ibn Rahawayh or Sufyan al-Thawri or others.
Rather, you will be asked on the Day of Resurrection what you answered Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
And if Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) says to you: or .
Then you have no excuse in opposing this saying with the saying of any person, whoever he is.
And based on this, if a man marries a Muslim woman while he does not pray, the contract is not valid, because it is a contract for a disbeliever with a Muslim woman. And Allah the Exalted said: .
So if you say: Is it not possible to interpret the texts regarding the disbelief of the one who abandons prayer as applying to the one who denies its obligation?
The answer is: It is not possible, because this is a distortion of the text from two aspects:
The first aspect: It is interpreting the text in a way it does not indicate.
And the second: It is taking the text away from what it indicated.
I don't know if this is understood or not understood, or if you are sleepy?
I say: If we interpret the hadith as applying to the one who abandons it while denying it, we have distorted the text from two aspects:
The first: We turned it away from its apparent meaning.
The second point: We have established a difference from the apparent meaning, based on the evidence of the text, which says . So if I say, "Whoever denies its obligation," do you exclude him or not?
You exclude him from its apparent meaning.
The text says: "Whoever abandons it has committed disbelief." So if you exclude "abandons," you have distorted it from its apparent meaning to a non-apparent meaning.
And we also say: What do you say about a man who prays the five daily prayers, comes at the time of the adhan, and prays behind the imam, and does not neglect any of the conditions, obligations, or pillars of the prayer, but says, "I pray, and I believe that this prayer is a voluntary prayer (nafilah) and not an obligatory one (fard)"?
So what do you say?
Is he one who abandons it?
He is not one who abandons it; he prays and is keen on the prayer, but he says it is a voluntary prayer. He is a disbeliever.
So the claim that "abandoning it" means denying its obligation is invalid, because this man who prays does not fall under the hadith , and yet we all rule that he is a disbeliever.
When it was said to Imam Ahmad regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: , it was said to him: So-and-so says that this refers to one who considers it permissible to kill a believer.
Imam Ahmad was surprised and laughed, and said: "Glory be to Allah! Whoever considers it permissible to kill a believer is eternally in the Fire, whether he kills or not".