What is the ruling on the one who abandons prayer? With an explanation of the difference between doctrinal disbelief and practical disbelief.

The Shaykh : It is known... When your wind blows, seize the opportunity.
Al-Halabi : And the people of major sins are in the will of Allah (Mighty and Majestic)...

The Shaykh : Did you hear, Shaykh Dawud, this commentary?

The Shaykh : Dawud: Yes.

The Shaykh : This concerns you.
Dawud: And what is it?

The Shaykh : It is that intercession also includes the Muslims who abandon prayer, and therefore we consider the general statement that the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever to be an exaggeration by our scholars in this land; an abominable exaggeration, not one to be praised.

The Shaykh : Did you hear, Shaykh Dawud, this commentary?

The Shaykh : Dawud: Yes.

The Shaykh : This concerns you.
Dawud: And what is it?

The Shaykh : It is that intercession also includes the Muslims who abandon prayer, and therefore we consider the general statement that the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever to be an exaggeration by our scholars in this land; an abominable exaggeration, not one to be praised. How so?

The questioner : There is a hadith ?

The Shaykh : The hadith is valid, yes. His disbelief may be doctrinal disbelief, in which case the hadith is to be taken at its apparent meaning. Or his disbelief may be practical disbelief, in which case it is interpreted to mean that he does the deeds of the disbelievers who do not pray. Not every hadith that contains the word "disbelief" or the word "disbeliever"—which is more emphatic than the word "disbelief"—is to be taken at its apparent meaning by the people of knowledge. So, his statement (peace and blessings be upon him) in the Farewell Sermon during the Farewell Pilgrimage, when he said to Jarir ibn Abdullah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him), "Let the people be quiet for me," and then he delivered the sermon (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: And, unfortunately, some of that has happened; some of them have struck the necks of others. Did they return to being disbelievers? His statement (peace and blessings be upon him) in that sermon was: And some of that has happened; some of them have struck the necks of others, and trials have occurred that we have no need to mention. No one from the people of the Sunnah and the community, truly, considered those who fought each other—specifically the rebellious faction among them—to be disbelievers, as is apparent from the hadith. Rather, they considered them to be in error first. Then they placed the one in error among them in two categories: a first category of error for which he is not held accountable because he was under the delusion that he was correct, and an error that intended evil, which is certainly blameworthy, yet he is not a disbeliever. Therefore, it is not the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community that whenever we encounter the phrase "so-and-so is a disbeliever" or "he is a disbeliever," we are obligated to adhere to the apparent meaning of this phrase without referring to the other evidence that indicates decisively that a Muslim does not exit the religion except by denying what he had previously entered into. Therefore, disbelief is of two types: doctrinal disbelief and practical disbelief. Doctrinal disbelief is that which exits the religion, while practical disbelief does not exit the religion, but the person is in danger that his negligence in performing some of the practical pillars of Islam may lead him into the group of disbelievers in reality. Before you came, we were discussing with some of our brothers, and I clarified to them: a man delivered a long sermon here after the midday prayer, may Allah reward him with good. He addressed the rituals of Hajj after reminding the attendees of the virtue of the ten days of Dhul Hijjah and the virtue of deeds therein. He encouraged many deeds, including reminding them of the Duha prayer, stating that this prayer has such virtue that it is sufficient for a Muslim to know it so that he does not neglect performing the Duha prayer every day. He referred to a hadith that in every human being, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, there are three hundred and sixty joints, and on every joint there is a charity every day, on every day, on every day, and on every joint every day there is a charity. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) specified that in every glorification and praise of Allah there is a charity, in every saying of Allahu Akbar there is a charity, enjoining good is a charity, forbidding evil is a charity, reconciling between two people is a charity, removing a harmful object from the road is a charity, and carrying your brother's luggage on the back of his mount is a charity. He (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned many of these noble deeds, then said, "And all of this is gathered in two rak'ahs of Duha." He briefly referred to this hadith and mentioned that the charity referred to in this hadith is a good deed. So I said to our brothers, "I missed some of his speech; did you notice anything about it?" The brother, may Allah reward him with good, mentioned that what was cast into my mind was his mention of the hadith that the one who abandons prayer will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection with Haman, Qarun, and Pharaoh. This is known to us as a hadith with a defective chain of narration. At that time, then, what I intended to say was cast to me: that one of the things we can take after leaving is the hadith of intercession as evidence for the denunciation of this hadith. How can one who is reached by intercession be gathered with Pharaoh and Haman, while those will not be reached by intercession?
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, the hadith has a defect that I still remember from you: Isa ibn... is unknown...

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. The point is that the term "disbelief" is used to mean apostasy, and it is used to mean resembling the disbelievers. So his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): is not a decisive text that his disbelief is doctrinal disbelief, or to say that it is apostasy from the religion, because it allows for the two meanings mentioned previously: apostasy and practical disbelief; because he resembles the disbelievers who do not pray. And if the matter is so, and it has been established that intercession includes those who abandon prayer...