Continuation of the explanation of the statement of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "."

The Shaykh : : The prayer is the bond between the servant and his Lord, and it is the most emphatic of the pillars of Islam after the two testimonies. By it, the believer is distinguished from the disbeliever; it is the covenant between us and the polytheists and disbelievers, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: meaning: disbelief that takes one out of the religion, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the dividing line between the believers and the disbelievers. And whoever among the scholars said that the meaning of disbelief here is minor shirk, like that in the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , has strayed far from the truth, because whoever reflects on the hadith knows that this is a wrong interpretation, and that the correct and necessary meaning is that the disbelief referred to here is major shirk that takes one out of the religion, because the dividing line between two things, between faith and disbelief, must distinguish one from the other, otherwise it would not be valid as a dividing line, like the boundaries between two lands, one belonging to Zayd and the other to 'Amr; these boundaries are a divider that does not allow Zayd's land to enter 'Amr's land, nor 'Amr's land to enter Zayd's land. Likewise, prayer is a dividing line: whoever is outside of it is not included among those who are within it.
Thus, prayer, among all other deeds, if a person abandons it, he is a disbeliever. If a person abandons fasting in Ramadan and starts eating and drinking during the day and does not care, we do not say he is a disbeliever; we do not say he is a disbeliever. But if he abandons prayer, we say he is a disbeliever. If he abandons zakah, so he does not pay it, and he accumulates wealth without paying zakah, we do not say he is a disbeliever. But if he abandons prayer, we say he is a disbeliever. If he does not perform Hajj despite his ability to do so, we do not say he is a disbeliever. But if he abandons prayer, we say he is a disbeliever. 'Abdullah ibn Shaqiq (may Allah have mercy on him), who is a well-known one of the Tabi'un, said: : Thus, the prayer that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded, if a person abandons it, he is like one who abandons tawhid, meaning he becomes a disbeliever and a polytheist, may Allah protect us from that. For this reason, the hadith of Jabir, which Muslim narrated from Jabir from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), points to this, in which he said: , : And this is the point of the hadith. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded his Ummah to be truthful, and this is like the saying of Allah the Exalted: Truthfulness is an excellent character trait, and it has been mentioned before that it is divided into two categories: truthfulness with Allah, and truthfulness with the servants of Allah, and both are among the excellent character traits. The opposite of truthfulness is lying, which is reporting something contrary to reality. Lying is a despicable character trait among the traits of the hypocrites, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and some people, may Allah protect us, are afflicted with this disease; they do not feel at ease or have their hearts open except by lying. They lie constantly; if they tell you a story, it turns out to be a lie. If they sit in a gathering, they fabricate actions to make people laugh. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: twice, "Woe to him" three times, . This is what the Messenger commanded, and I will come, if Allah wills, with the rest of the hadith.
The reader: The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in what he quoted: " from Abu Sufyan Sakhr ibn Harb (may Allah be pleased with him) in his long hadith about the story of Heraclius:

Heraclius said: 'What does he command you to do?' meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Abu Sufyan said: 'I said: He says: Worship Allah alone and do not associate anything with Him, and leave what your fathers used to say. And he commands us to pray, to be truthful, to be chaste, and to maintain family ties'

قال هرقل : فماذا يأمركم ؟ يعني النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ، قال أبو سفيان قلت : يقول اعبدوا الله وحده لا تشركوا به شيئاً ، واتركوا ما يقول آباؤكم ، ويأمرنا بالصلاة والصدق والعفاف والصلة

, agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim " .