Some people begin praying when the month of Ramadan arrives, and when Ramadan ends, they abandon prayer, saying, “We do this so that our fasting will be accepted.”

The questioner : He says: We see that when the blessed month of Ramadan approaches, we see some people preparing themselves for prayer so that they fast the month of Ramadan. And when Ramadan ends, we see them abandoning prayer, and they do not pray except in the month of Ramadan. They justify this and say: “We pray in this month so that our fasting will be accepted.” Will such fasting be accepted from them? And will their prayer in this month be accepted, given that they do not make up the prayers they missed? Please inform us, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : As for those who do this believing that there is no obligatory prayer except in Ramadan, these are disbelievers by the disbelief of belief, a disbelief that takes one out of the religion. This is because whoever denies the obligation of any of the five prayers, while being in the lands of the Muslims, becomes a disbeliever, because the entire Ummah is in consensus on the obligation of the five prayers, so no one has an excuse for abandoning them, whether by figurative interpretation or otherwise. And as for those whose action is not based on belief, meaning that they believe in the obligation of the five prayers but they are negligent regarding them and do not perform them except in Ramadan, I refrain from declaring these people disbelievers.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.