The Ruling on One Who Abandons Prayer and Whether the Funeral Prayer Is Performed for Him If He Dies?

This is the first message sent to the program by the brother Sabri al-Jaburi from the Iraqi Republic. The message contains several questions; the first question says: Please clarify for us the ruling on one who abandons prayer, and is it permissible to perform the funeral prayer for him if he dies? Please inform us, may Allah reward you.
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his companions, and whoever follows his guidance.
As for what follows: Prayer is the pillar of Islam, and it is the most important of the obligatory acts and the greatest of the duties after the two testimonies. The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed regarding one who abandons it out of negligence and laziness, while he acknowledges its obligation and that it is a right and an obligatory duty, but he is lax in abandoning it. A group of scholars held that he does not become a disbeliever, but rather he has committed a great sin and a great transgression, greater than adultery and theft, and greater than usury or interest, sodomy, and the like.
Others among the scholars held that he becomes a disbeliever with major shirk (associating partners with Allah), and this is the correct opinion, and the truth is that he becomes a disbeliever with major shirk due to many pieces of evidence; among them:
His saying (Exalted and Majestic is He) regarding the people of the Fire when they were asked: [Surah al-Muddaththir: 42-43]. This indicates that one who abandons prayer is not among the people of Paradise, but rather he is among the people of the Fire.
And among them is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): When the pillar is abandoned, what rests upon it falls.
And among them is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih.
This is disbelief with the definite article (al) and shirk with the definite article (al), and this indicates that it is major disbelief and major shirk. Muslim narrated it in his Sahih.
And among them is what Imam Ahmad and the people of the Sunan narrated with a sound chain from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: There are many other pieces of evidence.
Accordingly, the funeral prayer is not performed for him, nor is he washed, nor shrouded, nor buried in the cemeteries of the Muslims. Rather, a grave is dug for him in any direction and he is buried as other disbelievers are buried, so that people are not harmed by his stench and corpse. This is the correct opinion in this serious issue, in which much has been said today, and few are those who maintain prayer in congregation and at its time, except those whom Allah has guided.
The point is that abandoning prayer is a serious matter. If it is due to denial of its obligation, then he is a disbeliever by consensus. As for if it is due to negligence and laziness, the correct opinion is that he is a disbeliever with major shirk. As mentioned, many have committed this act and been lazy about prayer. It is obligatory to be cautious, it is obligatory to be cautious. It is obligatory for one who claims Islam to fear Allah, and to maintain prayer at its time and to perform it in congregation in obedience to Allah and His Messenger. Indeed, whoever preserves prayer preserves his religion, and whoever neglects it is more neglectful of what is besides it. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.