Is the declaration of disbelief for one who abandons prayer withheld until the proof is established against him?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Do you not see that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, but a disbelief other than major disbelief, and that it is necessary not to declare him a disbeliever until we establish the proof against him? For he may be one who abandons prayer not because he denies its obligation, but rather out of laziness or negligence.
Answer:
One who denies the obligation of prayer is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Muslims; whoever denies its obligation is a disbeliever by consensus. The disagreement is only when he abandons it out of laziness. The correct view is that he is also a disbeliever if he abandons it out of laziness, due to the generality of his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): which Imam Muslim recorded in his Sahih, and his statement: Sunan Ibn Majah 1079Sahih (Darussalam) which the compilers of the Sunan recorded, and Imam Ahmad narrated it with a sound chain from Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him).
Do you not see that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, but a disbelief other than major disbelief, and that it is necessary not to declare him a disbeliever until we establish the proof against him? For he may be one who abandons prayer not because he denies its obligation, but rather out of laziness or negligence.
Answer:
One who denies the obligation of prayer is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Muslims; whoever denies its obligation is a disbeliever by consensus. The disagreement is only when he abandons it out of laziness. The correct view is that he is also a disbeliever if he abandons it out of laziness, due to the generality of his statement (peace and blessings be upon him):
Between a man and disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the abandonment of prayer.
بين الرجل وبين الكفر والشرك ترك الصلاةThe covenant that distinguishes between us and them is prayer; so whoever leaves it, he has committed Kufr.
العهد الذي بيننا وبينهم الصلاة فمن تركها فقد كفر
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.