The Ruling on the One Who Abandons Prayer

The questioner : I understood from you that one who abandons prayer out of laziness for his entire life, after the argument has been established against him, is a disbeliever. Is this understanding correct?

The Shaykh : Did you understand this from me?

The questioner : I understood the opposite from you.

The Shaykh : Who was it that understood this?

The questioner : You said that if he is brought and told, "You must pray," and he does not pray, and he is given the choice between being killed and praying, and he chooses being killed, then he has reached the level of disbelief.

The Shaykh : That is correct.
The student : No, you mean the one who abandons it out of laziness for his entire life.
Another student: No, I was talking about something else. I mean, a man who has never prayed, but he testifies to "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." This is the action I want to understand.

Another questioner : One who has not prayed for his entire life out of laziness does not become a disbeliever.

The Shaykh : No, there is no issue with him in that regard. The legal ruling is that he does not become a disbeliever. But in terms of reason, is he a true Muslim and believer when he says, "I testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," and he lives, for example, fifty or sixty years without praying to Allah? It is far from reason that this person is truly sincere in his faith. But the issue of declaring someone a disbeliever is another matter. I am saying, between me and my Lord, that this person who is among the believers and Muslims—Allah knows best—does not believe in Allah and His Messenger. He may be among the hypocrites. But do I rule that he is a disbeliever? No. The issue is that the ruling of disbelief does not lead to a legal ruling. What is the consequence of the error in saying that so-and-so, who abandons prayer, is a disbeliever? In our current life, nothing results from it. But if there were a legal ruling, the ruler would demand it: "Will you pray or will you be killed?" No, he would pray. He would return and pray, if Allah wills, even if he prays out of hypocrisy. The important thing is that society must proceed on a unified path where everyone prays, as you see in Saudi Arabia, for example. The one who is clean-shaven, the open sinner, and the wicked person—when the call to prayer is made, they all close their shops. There is no doubt that some of them may pray without ablution, but this is for the unity of the community and strengthening the community. It is stronger than having some people leave and others remain, selling and buying, and so on. Because if these negative aspects are declared in some parts of the Muslim society, it will weaken it. Therefore, nothing results in the permissive society today where there is no ruler ruling by what Allah has revealed. So we say, "My brother, this man is sixty years old and has not prayed, so he is a disbeliever," but nothing results from this that concerns the society, as long as there is no one to establish the limits of Allah. But if this existed, they would call him and offer him the choice: "Will you pray or not?" No, I will not pray. Then this is a disbeliever in his heart. This is practical proof of his disbelief. But in this permissive society, we cannot say that he is a disbeliever in his creed. But from another angle, I say that something results from our knowledge that so-and-so does not pray. For example, I do not keep his company, I do not eat his food, I do not drink his drink, let alone marry into his family, and so on. So whoever says this person is a disbeliever, many harms result from this, especially in this permissive society. The calamity turns back on us, as you have known now, on the occasion of exploiting our fatwa on the obligation of migration, because there is no [place]. He will deliver a long and wide sermon containing ignorance, slander, and lies. And who said that the rulers are Jews and traitors, and the Shaykh of the devils and the Dajjals, and so on? So, I do not want from this that we suppress knowledge. I want from this that we do not rush to issue fatwas of declaring people disbelievers. But the summary of the matter is that the issue you heard from him—there is no doubt in declaring him a disbeliever. But as for the one we know who does not pray, his matter is with Allah. We cannot say that he is a disbeliever who has apostatized from his religion. But in terms of personal dealings, we treat him as if he were a disbeliever. We do not marry our daughters to him.