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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the ruling on boycotting one who abandons prayer?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
A message from one of the noble listeners, in which he says: I am sending you this letter and I hope that Allah will guide me to the right path. I am a man who strives in what my Lord has commanded me, and my family—praise be to Allah—shares in that with me to the best of their ability. However, I have a sister who has not prayed for a long time, and her husband also shares in that state with her. Many people have informed me that this is their behavior and that they do not please Allah in that regard. When I personally learned that she was in that state, I took her and informed her of what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden. She told me herself that she had indeed been doing that. After this incident, she stood up and pledged to me by the Book of Allah and promised me that she would repent from that moment. But unfortunately, she did not fulfill the pledge. So at that time, I cut off ties with her until she returns like the other believing women who seek the Face of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Please inform me, may Allah reward you with good, about the ruling on what I did, and especially about the ruling on my boycotting that sister of mine, may Allah reward you with good?
Answer: You have done well in what you did of advising her and calling her to good. And she has done wrong in her return to falsehood and her abandonment of prayer; because prayer is the pillar of Islam. Whoever neglects it neglects his religion, and whoever abandons it commits disbelief. We seek refuge in Allah from that. It is authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
The 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
Sunan Ibn Majah 1079Sahih (Darussalam)
, and this includes men and women. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The head of the matter is Islam, and its pillar is the Salat, and its hump is Jihadرأس الأمر الإسلام، وعموده الصلاة، وذروة سنامه الجهاد في سبيل الله
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2616Hasan (Darussalam)
, and he also (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Between a man and disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the abandonment of prayer.بين الرجل وبين الكفر والشرك ترك الصلاة
. So you have done well in boycotting her and abandoning her until she repents to Allah ; because this is a great evil, indeed it is disbelief. So it is obligatory to abandon her and her husband until they repent to Allah . And if their matter becomes apparent and it is known that they do not pray, then their matter must be referred to the authorities if they are in an Islamic land that establishes prayer and punishes for it. Their matter is to be raised so that they become deserving of being punished for that by killing. For whoever abandons prayer is given the opportunity to repent, and if he repents, otherwise he is killed. The one in authority kills him, the one in authority of the Muslims or his deputy.
So the point is: It is upon you to take care of advising them both, even by way of telephone or correspondence, or by appointing someone to advise them, perhaps Allah will guide them by your means.
As for your cutting off ties with them and abandoning them, all of this is good and obligatory if good is expected from it. But if you do not expect any good from the abandonment, then there is no harm in contacting them, not for eating at their place, drinking, or enjoying their company, no, but merely for calling, directing, and guiding. Not for eating with them or laughing with them, or enjoying their company, no, but rather meet them with a face that is not relaxed, but a gloomy face, until they return to the truth, until they repent to Allah .
And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) abandoned three of the Companions in less than this, they lagged behind an expedition without an excuse
on the day of Tabuk. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) abandoned them and ordered the Muslims to abandon them. So they were abandoned for fifty nights until Allah accepted their repentance. If one who lags behind an expedition without an excuse is abandoned, then one who lags behind prayer, which is the pillar of Islam, is more deserving and more deserving of this. But if you hope for good in them, then there is no harm in contacting them and calling them to Allah and advising them, perhaps Allah will guide them by your means. Yes.
Source binbaz.org.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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