The Ruling on One Who Abandons Prayer Out of Laziness
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Is one who abandons prayer out of laziness a disbeliever? And if so, does he leave the religion? And if so, we ask for clarification regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Nisa: 48]?
Answer:
You have heard the lecture and the commentary on this, and that whoever abandons it; disbelieves, whoever abandons it intentionally; disbelieves according to the correct opinion of the scholars, whoever abandons it; disbelieves, and apostatizes from Islam, and he does not approach his wife until he repents to Allah from that, and he is not washed, and no funeral prayer is performed over him, and he is not buried with the Muslims, this is the most apparent and the most correct of what has been said by the scholars.
And some of the scholars hold that it is disbelief less than disbelief, and that it is like the other major sins, but abandoning prayer is greater and more serious, but it does not become apostasy, however this is the weaker opinion.
And the correct view: that it is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), and a great apostasy, falling under His saying -Exalted and Majestic is He-: [Al-An'am: 88] because abandoning it is disbelief, it is shirk (associating partners with Allah) -we ask Allah for safety- and it falls under His saying, Glorified is He: [Al-Nisa: 48].
So one who abandons prayer is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) and a disbeliever, and falls under the noble verse, and is not under His saying: [Al-Nisa: 48] abandoning prayer is not less than shirk (associating partners with Allah), rather it is part of shirk (associating partners with Allah), for this reason the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said we ask Allah for safety, and when the people asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about fighting the rulers and rebelling against them, he said: Sahih al-Bukhari 7055, 7056 then he said in another hadith: Sahih Muslim 1855a so that indicates that abandoning prayer is open disbelief, we ask Allah for safety.
Is one who abandons prayer out of laziness a disbeliever? And if so, does he leave the religion? And if so, we ask for clarification regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُAnswer:
You have heard the lecture and the commentary on this, and that whoever abandons it; disbelieves, whoever abandons it intentionally; disbelieves according to the correct opinion of the scholars, whoever abandons it; disbelieves, and apostatizes from Islam, and he does not approach his wife until he repents to Allah from that, and he is not washed, and no funeral prayer is performed over him, and he is not buried with the Muslims, this is the most apparent and the most correct of what has been said by the scholars.
And some of the scholars hold that it is disbelief less than disbelief, and that it is like the other major sins, but abandoning prayer is greater and more serious, but it does not become apostasy, however this is the weaker opinion.
And the correct view: that it is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), and a great apostasy, falling under His saying -Exalted and Majestic is He-:
But if they had associated others with Allah, then worthless for them would be whatever they were doing.
وَلَوْ أَشْرَكُوا لَحَبِطَ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَIndeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِSo one who abandons prayer is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) and a disbeliever, and falls under the noble verse, and is not under His saying:
And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.
وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُBetween a man and disbelief and shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the abandonment of prayer
بين الرجل، وبين الكفر، والشرك ترك الصلاةunless we noticed him having open Kufr (disbelief) for which we would have a proof with us from Allah
لا، إلا أن تروا كفرًا بواحًا عندكم من الله فيه برهانNo, as long as they establish prayer among you.
لا، ما أقاموا فيكم الصلاة
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.