What is the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whoever has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of faith will come out of the Fire”?

The questioner : May Allah reward you. It is known that faith has branches, the highest of which is “La ilaha illa Allah” (There is no deity but Allah) and the lowest is removing a harmful object from the path. It is also known that these branches are not necessarily all present together; some may exist without others. The question is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned that whoever has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of faith will come out of the Fire. This encompasses all branches, every branch of faith. So, what about a person who does not pray but has other righteous deeds, such as charity or tawhid (the oneness of Allah)? How do we respond to this objection?

The Shaykh : We respond to this objection by stating that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: or . This is more eloquent than the previous hadith because that one is general, whereas the hadiths and texts regarding prayer are specific. Yes, if it had been reported that “whoever does not pray will come out of the Fire,” we would say that the disbelief mentioned in the texts regarding prayer refers to the kind of disbelief that does not take one out of the religion. However, not a single letter has come stating that whoever does not pray will come out of the Fire, or that whoever does not pray will enter Paradise, to the extent that we would have to interpret the hadiths as meaning the opposite of their apparent meaning. This is a point that a student of knowledge should be aware of: one should not argue with the ambiguous against the clear, but rather argue with the clear against the ambiguous. This is the method of those firmly grounded in knowledge, while arguing with the ambiguous against the clear is the method of others.
There are many examples of this, meaning in matters of creed and other matters, where some people argue with the ambiguous against the clear.
I show you an example in creed. Those who denied the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) argued using the saying of Allah the Exalted: . They argued with His saying: . They said that any attribute possessed by a created being is one from which Allah the Exalted is free, because if He possessed it, He would be what? Similar to the created being. Look how they argued with the ambiguous against the clear, even though the clear is alongside the ambiguous. And what did Allah say? .
Similarly, some people said that combining the two prayers is permissible without a reason. Permissible without a reason? What is the evidence? That Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) said: .
So, is combining permissible without a reason, or is combining permissible for light rain that does not make it difficult for anyone to pray with the congregation? This is an example of arguing with the ambiguous against the clear. Furthermore, there is no evidence in the hadith itself, because when Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) narrated it, they asked: What was the intention behind that? Meaning, why did the Messenger do this? He said: . This indicates that combining is permissible if there is hardship in leaving it. As for the clear texts, the five prayers are time-bound, and each prayer has its time. . The time for the midday prayer is until the sun passes its zenith, and it begins when the sun has risen the length of a spear. Yes?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Did you hear the answer? It says: The time for the midday prayer is until the sun passes its zenith, and it begins when the sun has risen the length of a spear. So, we have a time for the midday prayer. This is a statement.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. Correct, the time for the midday prayer is from the sun passing its zenith until everything becomes like it. Good.
What is the time for the afternoon prayer? Please.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : or?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Or until the sun turns yellow, meaning until near the time of dire necessity. Good, you have done well. What about the sunset prayer?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : What? From the setting of the sun.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Correct. Rest. From the setting of the sun until the twilight disappears. What about the night prayer?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : From the disappearance of the twilight until the middle of the night. May Allah bless you. Rest. This is how the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) defined it. And Allah the Exalted said: .
They are defined, clear, and distinct. How do we permit ourselves to bring a prayer forward from its time or delay it from its time without a legal reason? This is not permissible.
So, the hadith of combining narrated by Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father), first: it does not indicate that combining is permissible without a reason, because he was asked about it and said: . Second: even if we assume there is ambiguity in it, we have what? Clear texts indicating the obligation of performing each prayer in its time.
So, my brother, adhere to this rule: whenever you find a text that is potentially ambiguous, you have a clear text. Interpret the ambiguous in light of the clear, and do not interpret the clear in light of the ambiguous.