The ruling on one who does not pray and denies the obligation of prayer

Q: A. A. M. from Ta’if in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia says in his question: What is the ruling of the pure Shari’ah regarding each of the following: a person (man or woman) who never prays and denies the obligation of prayer; a person who never prays but acknowledges the obligation of prayer; a person who prays sometimes and deliberately leaves it off sometimes while acknowledging its obligation; a person who deliberately left off prayer once or more and then became upright and persisted in prayer; and a person who was negligent in performing the prayer and did not pray it until its time had passed? I ask your Eminence to elaborate on this, may Allah reward you.

A: One who denies the obligation of prayer, while being of age and sound mind, commits major disbelief by consensus, even if he performs it; because he is lying to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
As for one who leaves it off out of laziness and does not deny its obligation, there is disagreement among the scholars regarding his disbelief, and the stronger position is that he is a disbeliever committing major disbelief; due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Narrated by Imam Ahmad and the compilers of the four Sunan collections with a sound chain, from the hadith of Buraydah ibn al-Husayb (may Allah be pleased with him), and Muslim narrated in his Sahih, from Jabir ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: And the hadiths indicating this meaning are numerous.
Accordingly: if a Muslim man who prays marries a woman who does not pray, or vice versa, and then Allah guides the one of them who does not pray, the marriage contract must be renewed; because it is an invalid contract due to the difference in religion; and because the one who leaves off prayer is not in the category of the People of the Book; therefore, in the most correct of the scholars’ opinions, the marriage must be renewed. However, if both of them were not praying at the time of the contract, and then Allah guided them and they became upright in prayer, the marriage is valid, just as if other disbelievers had converted to Islam; in that case, their marriage is not renewed if there is no legal impediment to the continuation of the marriage; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order the disbelievers who converted to Islam in the Year of the Conquest and other years to renew their marriages. But if there is an impediment to its continuation, such as her being his foster sister, or if he had married his son’s or father’s wife, then they must be separated; due to the presence of an impediment to the validity and continuation of the marriage.
And success is from Allah.