Explanation of the author's statement: "… and whoever denies its obligation is a disbeliever …"

The Shaykh : Now, the author said: "And whoever denies its obligation is a disbeliever". Whoever denies its obligation, meaning the obligation of prayer, is a disbeliever. The prayer upon which the Muslims have agreed is the five daily prayers and the Friday prayer. The Muslims have agreed upon their obligation by a definitive, necessary consensus that is not hidden from any Muslim. Whoever denies the obligation of these five prayers and the Friday prayer has become a disbeliever, because he is denying Allah and His Messenger and the consensus of the Muslims. The definitive consensus—what greater disbelief is there than for a person to deny Allah, His Messenger, and all the Muslims? If he denies it and says, "It is not obligatory, but I pray. I pray. From the time the call to prayer is made, I perform ablution and go to prayer with humility, and I remember Allah after the prayer, but I see this as a recommended practice," we say this man is a disbeliever. If he says, "I see that only three prayers are obligatory from among them," is he a disbeliever? Yes. If he denies one of them, he is a disbeliever. If he denies one rak'ah from these rak'ahs, he is a disbeliever. If he says, "I believe that the obligatory part of the Zuhr prayer is two rak'ahs," we say he is a disbeliever, because he is contradicting the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Muslims. The Book does not mention the number of prayers or the number of rak'ahs, but it states that whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah. The scholars have made an exception to this in one case: if a person is a recent convert from disbelief and denies its obligation because he does not know the rulings of Islam, he is not declared a disbeliever. However, he must be taught and the truth must be made clear to him. If the truth is presented to him in a clear manner, and he still denies it after that, he is a disbeliever. If he denies it after that, he is a disbeliever. If the truth is made clear to him in a distinct, clear way, there is no need for him to say, "It has become clear to me," because he might say, "It has not become clear to me yet," and persist in his stubbornness and arrogance. But if the truth is presented to him in a clear, distinct manner, and he denies it, he is a disbeliever. In this matter which the scholars excepted, there is evidence that there is no difference.