What is the ruling on the one who abandons prayer?

The questioner : Regarding the one who abandons prayer, may Allah reward you with good: Now, of course, many of the scholars, some of them say that he is a disbeliever, and some of them say: he is an open sinner. So what is his ruling in this issue, and is it disbelief that does not take one out of the religion, or is it disbelief that takes one out of the religion?

The Shaykh : We mentioned this issue in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah* (The Chain of Authentic Hadiths), and we stated that whoever abandons prayer intentionally, deliberately, and denying its obligation is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Ummah. However, if he abandons it out of laziness while acknowledging its obligation and hoping that Allah the Exalted will guide him and enable him to pray, then he is not a disbeliever in a way that constitutes apostasy and takes him out of the religion. This is because the disbelief that takes its owner out of the religion is established in the heart. So if this one who abandons prayer is a believer in his heart, acknowledging what Allah has made obligatory upon him of obligations, but he acknowledges that Satan, the soul that commands evil, trade, and so on—there is no doubt that this excuse is rejected against him—however, it serves as a mitigating factor so that he is not declared a disbeliever as long as he believes in what Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has legislated. The verified scholars, such as Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, and others, have established a general rule, which is distinguishing between practical disbelief and creedal disbelief. So whoever falls into creedal disbelief is the one who apostatizes from the religion. As for whoever falls into practical disbelief, he is not ruled to have apostatized, but rather to be an open sinner and a transgressor. Thus, the one who abandons prayer is not ruled to be a disbeliever unless he denies it with denial. In that case, he becomes a disbeliever. Therefore, the school of the majority of scholars is not to declare the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever except with denial. This is a narration from Imam Ahmad himself, and the majority of the Imams agreed with him that if the abandonment is not due to denial, it is open sinfulness and not disbelief.


The questioner : Okay, regarding the hadith, may Allah bless you, regarding the hadith , I wish you would explain the hadith?

The Shaykh : What is it? May Allah bless you. This is not the first hadith in which it is said: "Whoever does such-and-such has disbelieved." You have the famous hadith . Do we say: "Whoever says: 'By the life of my father,' has apostatized from his religion?" And you know, for example, the hadith of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab in *Sahih al-Bukhari* when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) heard him swearing by his father, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And in the hadith of his son, 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, it was said: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And in another narration: . So it is not necessary that the coming of the phrase means that he disbelieved the disbelief of apostasy. Rather, it has many meanings, for example: , meaning he is on the verge of disbelief; , practical disbelief; and similar meanings that the scholars are compelled to use to reconcile the texts. We say: , as came in the hadith of al-Bazzar and others: . These are many phrases, and very many indeed: . And there is no hadith that is interpreted literally when it comes with the phrase . This hadith, the hadith of , is treated with the same treatment as the other hadiths that share with the hadith of prayer the phrase "has disbelieved." Here, many interpretations of this text come, like many of the hadiths, for example: . Does that mean he disbelieved because of his backbiting? The answer is: If he considers it permissible in his heart, then Paradise is forbidden to him. If he acknowledges the prohibition of it and acknowledges that he is wrong and that he is a sinner and a criminal, then his affair is with Allah, as He the Exalted said: . So abandoning prayer is an act that exposes its owner to dying—may Allah protect us—from faith. And abandoning prayer is among the characteristics of the disbelievers who do not pray, do not give zakah, and do not pray. So if a Muslim does not pray, he resembles the disbelievers, and his disbelief here is practical disbelief. And there are many, very many hadiths that must be interpreted, for example, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the Farewell Pilgrimage, and he delivered a sermon to them and ordered Jarir ibn 'Abdullah al-Bajali to make the people listen, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ... And his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: . So if a Muslim kills a Muslim or fights him—may Allah have mercy on you—does he apostatize from his religion? The answer is: No; because Allah said: . So He considered both parties—the rebellious one and the one against whom rebellion is committed—to be among the believers, even though the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the previous hadith: . So how do they interpret the disbelief? Disbelief that does not take one out of the religion, practical disbelief, and so on. Likewise, the hadiths of prayer that explicitly state that whoever abandons prayer has disbelieved: either it is said that he is on the verge of creedal disbelief, on the verge of dying on other than the religion of Islam, or that he disbelieved practical disbelief. This interpretation is necessary so that we do not strike the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) against each other. Yes.