What is the response to those who deny that abandoning prayer is disbelief?
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Question:
The response to those who say that it is not well-known from the Salaf that they expelled the one who abandons prayer from the religion?
Answer:
One should review the words of the scholars of knowledge, reviewing the words of Ibn al-Qayyim regarding prayer, and in al-Mughni, and al-Muhalla by Ibn Hazm, and their like who mentioned the scholarly disagreement and cited the evidence of both parties. One should review the books of the scholars of knowledge and benefit from them.
Most of what those who do not declare the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever argue with are the hadiths of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the virtue of tawhid, and that whoever meets Allah with tawhid will enter Paradise, and whoever meets Him with shirk (associating partners with Allah) will enter the Fire. The answer to this is to say that the meaning is whoever meets Him with tawhid, safe from the nullifiers of Islam, whoever meets Him with tawhid while being safe from the nullifiers of Islam, this is the one who enters Paradise. As for the one who meets Allah with tawhid but has with him a nullifier from the nullifiers of Islam, his tawhid is invalidated. And there are many examples of this. We say to them: He met Allah with tawhid, but he denies the obligation of prayer? What do you say? Is he a disbeliever or not? Is his tawhid invalidated or not? He met Allah while being a monotheist, but he says: Zakah is not obligatory upon Muslims. Is he a disbeliever or not? He is a disbeliever. He met Allah while saying: The month of Ramadan is not obligatory. Is he a disbeliever or not? He is a disbeliever. He met Allah while saying: Hajj is not obligatory, even if people are able, Hajj is not obligatory; he is a disbeliever according to all scholars of knowledge, so tawhid does not benefit him as long as he has a nullifier with him. So likewise, if he meets Allah while not praying, the ruling is the same. Or if he meets Allah as a monotheist and sincere, but he says Muhammad is a liar, what happens? He becomes a disbeliever according to all scholars of knowledge. Or if he meets Allah as a monotheist and sincere, but he mocks the law of Allah in jihad, or in fasting, or in the prohibition of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), he mocks this and says this prohibition of zina is nonsense, what happens? He is a disbeliever. And so on. The response to them is easy, the response to them is easy.
The response to those who say that it is not well-known from the Salaf that they expelled the one who abandons prayer from the religion?
Answer:
One should review the words of the scholars of knowledge, reviewing the words of Ibn al-Qayyim regarding prayer, and in al-Mughni, and al-Muhalla by Ibn Hazm, and their like who mentioned the scholarly disagreement and cited the evidence of both parties. One should review the books of the scholars of knowledge and benefit from them.
Most of what those who do not declare the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever argue with are the hadiths of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and the virtue of tawhid, and that whoever meets Allah with tawhid will enter Paradise, and whoever meets Him with shirk (associating partners with Allah) will enter the Fire. The answer to this is to say that the meaning is whoever meets Him with tawhid, safe from the nullifiers of Islam, whoever meets Him with tawhid while being safe from the nullifiers of Islam, this is the one who enters Paradise. As for the one who meets Allah with tawhid but has with him a nullifier from the nullifiers of Islam, his tawhid is invalidated. And there are many examples of this. We say to them: He met Allah with tawhid, but he denies the obligation of prayer? What do you say? Is he a disbeliever or not? Is his tawhid invalidated or not? He met Allah while being a monotheist, but he says: Zakah is not obligatory upon Muslims. Is he a disbeliever or not? He is a disbeliever. He met Allah while saying: The month of Ramadan is not obligatory. Is he a disbeliever or not? He is a disbeliever. He met Allah while saying: Hajj is not obligatory, even if people are able, Hajj is not obligatory; he is a disbeliever according to all scholars of knowledge, so tawhid does not benefit him as long as he has a nullifier with him. So likewise, if he meets Allah while not praying, the ruling is the same. Or if he meets Allah as a monotheist and sincere, but he says Muhammad is a liar, what happens? He becomes a disbeliever according to all scholars of knowledge. Or if he meets Allah as a monotheist and sincere, but he mocks the law of Allah in jihad, or in fasting, or in the prohibition of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), he mocks this and says this prohibition of zina is nonsense, what happens? He is a disbeliever. And so on. The response to them is easy, the response to them is easy.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.