Is informing the imam that the deceased was one who abandoned prayer, so that he does not pray over him, considered backbiting?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
May Allah reward you with good, O honorable scholar.The Shaykh : It is well known that one who abandons prayer is not prayed over. So, for example, if you inform an imam who intends to pray over one who abandoned prayer, is this considered backbiting?

The Shaykh : Yes, one who abandons prayer is not prayed over when he dies, because he is a disbeliever who has apostatized from the religion of Islam, may Allah protect us from that, based on the indications of the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the words of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). In fact, it is reported that the Companions reached a consensus that he is a disbeliever who has apostatized and exited the religion of Islam. If that is the case, then it is not permissible to pray over him, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: So, if one is brought to the imam and you know with certainty that he did not pray until he died, it is obligatory for you to inform the imam. This is not backbiting, but rather it is advice, because by informing him, you are warning him against an evil, since praying over him is forbidden. In this situation, if you inform him, the imam must stop and say, "I do not pray over one who does not pray." However, the dispute remains between his family and the imam, for example, because his family might deny that he did not pray; they might say that he did pray. So he says, "If you believe that he prayed, then go ahead and pray over him yourselves, and your account is with Allah. As for me, I have been informed by someone I trust, or I know his condition, that he does not pray, so I do not pray over him." A funeral was once brought to me, and they were saying that he did not pray. When it was brought and I asked, they said, "This is so-and-so." I said, "I do not pray over him." His family then said to me, "He used to pray and would not abandon prayer entirely." Then, after that, I advanced and prayed over him. There is no blame on the imam if he sees in the funeral something that necessitates not praying over it; there is no blame on him if he delays. One who is better than us did this: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did it when a man was brought to him, and he asked, "Does he have any debt?" They said, "Yes, two dinars," and he had no means to repay it. So he said: and he delayed until he saw that in the faces of the people. Then Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) stepped forward and said, "O Messenger of Allah, the two dinars are on me." When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was assured of Abu Qatadah and that he was committed to paying them, he advanced and prayed over him. So he had left and not prayed over him because he found in him something that necessitated not praying over him. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to not pray over one who had a debt with no means to repay it before Allah opened for him. This is because the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is intercession, and intercession does not benefit in the case of debt, because it is necessary that the right of the owner of the right be paid. Did you understand? So, informing the imam of this is advice, not disgrace. In fact, it is obligatory for one who knows his condition to clarify it. However, there are hadiths that some people imagine indicate that one who abandons prayer is not a disbeliever. We will summarize the statement regarding refuting the argument from them for the non-disbelief of one who abandons prayer. We say: The verses, hadiths, and words of the Companions regarding the disbelief of one who abandons prayer are clear texts, clear proofs, with no ambiguity. The other texts that those who do not consider one who abandons prayer a disbeliever have used as evidence do not fall outside of categories. The first is that there is no contradiction in them at all, such as the statement of some that Allah says: So he falls under His saying: abandoning prayer. We say: Abandoning prayer is not "other than" shirk, but rather it is from shirk, due to the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): Some also argued with the hadith of 'Utbah ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him): It is said that this is also not evidence, because his saying: prevents abandoning prayer. No one who seeks the Face of Allah can abandon prayer ever. That is, a man who is consistent in abandoning prayer while seeking the Face of Allah—by what path does he reach Allah if he abandons prayer? So there is no evidence in it. Some argued with the hadith of intercession that one who has never done any good will come out of the Fire. It is said: This is general; the Messenger did not say "one who did not pray," and the texts regarding the disbelief of one who abandons prayer are specific. The principle of usul al-fiqh is that the specific overrides the general. If it had come in the hadith that he came out and he had not prayed a prayer for Allah, that would have been clear. And the other texts must be understood as not being disbelief that expels one from the religion. But it says "he has not done any good," and "good" is an indefinite noun in the context of negation, so it is general, and the general is specified by the specific. Some argued with the hadith of the man with the card, which al-Tirmidhi narrated, that he is brought with a card containing "La ilaha illa Allah" and it outweighs his sins. They said there is no mention of prayer in it. It is said: There is no mention of prayer in it, neither affirming nor denying, so this hadith remains general and is specified by prayer. There are weak hadiths they argued with, and weak hadiths do not counter authentic hadiths, so they are not a contradiction, because they are not established, so they do not counter.
The conclusion is that the stronger position, by which we profess our faith to Allah and upon which we rely on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), is that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever with a disbelief that expels him from the religion, and that he is in a worse state than the Jews and the Christians. This is because the Jews and the Christians are allowed to remain on their religion according to what the Shari'ah requires, by paying the jizyah. As for this one, he is not allowed to remain on his religion. It is said to him: Either you pray, or we will kill you. It is not possible for you to remain on the earth while you do not perform this obligatory duty. So we ask Allah to guide us and you to His straight path. Yes.