What is the ruling on one who sets out for jihad to attain martyrdom and to exalt the word of Allah, but who does not pray?

The questioner : You mentioned in the course of your speech that some of those who fight and say that we are fighting in the path of Allah do not pray.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So here a question arises: If there is jihad in the path of Allah under the banner of "There is no god but Allah," and the Muslims go out responding to the call of jihad, and among them is one who does not pray, who strives to attain martyrdom, and who intends by his fighting or his jihad to exalt the word of Allah, and it is written for him to be killed in this battle while he is directed toward exalting the word of Allah, but he does not pray, what is said about him?

The Shaykh : It is said about him that the one who abandons prayer, as is known to everyone, is such that the scholars of the Muslims are divided between those who declare him a disbeliever and expel him from the religion, and those who declare him an open sinner and fear that he may die upon other than the religion. And I do not imagine such a person to be a mujahid, because I do not imagine a person—this is a very clear material example—a person who, if told to lift this light weight, says, "I want to lift what is heavier than it and beyond the capacity of the ordinary person." This is not credible. This is said to him: Lift this light weight so that we will believe beforehand that you may be able to lift the heavy weight. So we cannot imagine a Muslim who has lived, what Allah willed, for a long or short time, at the very least having reached the age of understanding the prayers and the festivals' prayers, and who is in the battlefield, and then he does not pray. How can this be a mujahid in the path of Allah when he does not struggle against his desire in obedience to Allah in what is easier for the soul that commands evil than to place, as it is said in some lands, "his blood in his hand on his hand"? Therefore, I do not imagine that one who is apparent in abandoning prayer can be a true mujahid in the path of Allah. These are two opposites that never come together. And if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and debt has rulings in some circumstances that our Lord pays on his behalf, how can be the state of this one who abandons prayer, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) inspired His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in another matter to say: ? Therefore, I do not imagine the existence of a true mujahid in the path of Allah and, in contrast to this, that he is one who abandons prayer for Allah. This is a matter that cannot be imagined.