The One Who abandons Prayer is a Disbeliever

Question :

Many parents do not bother about instructing their children, especially with regard to religious matters and they are negligent about teaching them, excusing themselves on grounds of tiredness after toiling at work. And what is your opinion regarding those who claim to be Muslims, yet little do they fast Ramadhan or remember to pray?

Answer:

It is incumbent upon every believer to take great care regarding the instruction of their children, in order that they fulfill the Words of Allah, the Most High:
O you who believe! Ward off yourselves and your families against a Fire whose fuel is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who disobey not (from executing) the Commands they receive from Allah, but do that which they are commanded.

And to undertake the responsibility which the Messenger of Allah has placed upon him in his words:
A man is the guardian of his family and he is responsible for those in his care.

And this is why the Messenger of Allah said :
"Order your children to pray from seven years and beat them if they do not do so by ten years.

He should know that he will be asked about this responsibility which he has taken on the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, he should prepare the correct answer, so that he will be saved from having to answer for it on the Day of Resurrection and he will reap the reward of his actions, if good then good, and if evil, then evil. And he might be put to trial in the life of this world by having children who treat him badly and hinder him and do not give him his rights.

As for our opinion concerning those who claim to be Muslims, yet rarely fast the month of Ramadhan or remember to pray, if those who do not fast the month of Ramadhan believe that fasting is not obligatory, and that it is only a form of physical exercise, which a person may fast or not, as he wills, then they are disbelievers, because they have rejected one of the obligatory acts of worship in Islam, and there is no excuse for them due to ignorance of it, because they live in an Islamic environment.

However, if they do not fast the month of Ramadhan, although they know that it is an obligation and that they are therefore guilty of disobedience, then they are not disbelievers, according to the most authoritative saying of the scholars.

As for the prayer, if they do not pray ever, then they are disbelievers, whether they confirm its obligation or deny it; and the evidence for their disbelief is in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger; as for the Book of Allah, it is in the Words of Allah, the Most High, in Surah At-Tawbah:
But if they repent, offer prayers perfectly (Iqamatus-Salat) and give Zakah, then they are your brethren in religion. And His Words in Surah Maryam:
Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up prayers (i.e. made their prayers to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them at their fixed times, etc.) and have followed lusts. So they will be thrown in Hell, except those who repent and believe (in the Oneness of Allah and His Messenger Muhammad) and work righteousness. Such will enter Paradise and they will not be wronged in aught.

And the evidence in the second Verse from Surah Maryam is derived from the fact that Allah, the Most High said, regarding those who abandoned the prayer, that they followed vain desires:
except those who repent and believe.

This proves that when they abandoned prayer and followed vain desires, they were not believers. And the evidence in the first Verse from Surah At-Tawbah is derived from the fact that Allah imposed three conditions for the establishment of brotherhood between us and the polytheists; and they are: that they repent of their Shirk, establish prayer and pay Zakah. And if they repent of their Shirk, but do not offer prayer and pay Zakah, then they are not our brothers in religion. And brotherhood in religion is not invalidated unless the believer completely abandons the religion, and it is not invalidated by sins. Do you not see Allah's Words concerning justice in the matter of killing:
But if the relatives (or one of them) of the killed person forgive their brother (the killer) something (i.e. not to kill the killer by accepting blood money in intentional murders), then (the relatives of the killed person) should demand blood money in a reasonable manner and the killer must pay with handsome gratitude.

Allah has declared the murderer a brother to be the victim, even though killing someone intentionally is one of the greatest sins, according to the Words of Allah:
And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense

is Hell to abide therein, and the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for them.

Herein there is evidence that brotherhood of faith is not invalidated by any sin less than disbelief.

Based upon this, we may say that abandoning prayer necessitates the invalidation of religious brotherhood, as in the Verse in Surah At-Tawbah, and if abandoning prayer was lesser disbelief (i.e. disbelief of action, as opposed to disbelief of the heart) or a sin, religious brotherhood would not be invalidated by it, just as it is not invalidated by killing a believer. And if it were said: "Do you consider that one who abandons paying Zakah is a disbeliever, as it is understood from the Verse in Surah At-Tawbah?" We would say: "Some scholars say that one who abandons paying Zakah is a disbeliever, and it is one of the two sayings attributed to Imam Ahmad, but we consider that the most authoritative opinion is that he is not a disbeliever, but he will be punished with a terrible torment, which Allah has mentioned in His Book and the Prophet has mentioned in his Sunnah. Such as the Hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, in which he stated that the Prophet mentioned the punishment of the one who refuses to pay Zakah and at the end of it, he said:

Then he sees his way, either to Paradise or to the Fire.

Muslim has narrated in a long Hadith in the chapter entitled: "The Sin of One Who Refuses to Pay Zakah," and this is a proof that he is not guilty of disbelief, for if he were a disbeliever, he would not have a way to Paradise, therefore the wording of this Hadith takes precedent over the understanding of the Verse in Surah At-Tawbah, because the obvious meaning of the words take precedence over one's understanding, as is well known in Usulul-Fiqh.

As for the evidence for the disbelief of one who abandons prayer, it is the Hadith of the Prophet which states:
"Between a man and disbelief and Shirk is abandoning the prayer.

This was narrated by Muslim in the 'The Book of Faith', on the authority of Jabir bin 'Abdullah and on the authority of Buraidah bin Al-Hasib, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah saying:

"The covenant which is between us and them is the prayer, and whoever abandoned it, has disbelieved.

What is meant by disbelieved here is that which takes one out of the fold of Islam, because the Prophet declared the prayer to be what separates the believers from the disbelievers - and it is well known that the community of disbelief is not the community of Islam; therefore, whoever does not fulfill this covenant is one of the disbelievers. It is reported in Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Umm Salamah, may Allah be pleased with her, that the Prophet said:
«There will be rulers whom you will know and censure, and whoever knows them will be innocent of them, and whoever censures them will be saved. But whoever accepted them and followed them..."

They said: "Shall we not fight them?" He replied:
"No, as long as they pray.

There is also the Hadith of 'Awf bin Malik in which he said that the Prophet said:

"The best of your leaders are those whom you love and who love you, who pray for you and for whom you pray. And the most evil of your leaders are those whom you hate and who hate you and whom you curse and who curse you.»

They said: "O Messenger of Allah! Shall we not oppose them with the sword?" He said:
"No, so long as they establish the prayer among you,» In these two Hadiths, there is evidence that leaders should be opposed and fought with the sword if they do not establish prayer, and it is not permissible to oppose the leaders or fight them unless they are guilty of open disbelief for which we have evidence from Allah, the Most High, according to the Hadith of 'Ubadah bin As-Samit who said: "Allah's Messenger called us (to Allah) and we swore an oath of allegiance to him, including an oath to hear and obey, whether in times of activity or times of laziness, in times of difficulty and times of ease, even if he did not give us all of our rights, and that we not oppose any order which he gave us. And he said:
Unless you see open disbelief for which there is evidence from Allah.

Based upon this, their rejection of prayer - which the Prophet made a justification for opposing them and fighting them with the sword is open disbelief, for which there is evidence from Allah.

It has not been reported in the Book (of Allah) or the Sunnah that the one who abandons prayer is not a disbeliever, or that he is a believer, or that he will enter Paradise, or that he will not enter the Fire, or the like. And the intent of what has been narrated in this matter are those texts which prove the virtue of Tawhid, the testimony that none is worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and the reward of it; and they (the narrations) are either tied to a description which precludes abandoning prayer or were narrated in particular circumstances, in which a person was excused for abandoning prayer, or they are general and are tied to evidences which prove the disbelief of one who abandons prayer, because the evidences for the disbelief of one who abandons prayer are specific and the specific takes precedence over the general, as is well known in Usulul-Fiqh and Mustalahul-Hadith.

If someone said: "Is it not permissible to restrict these narrations which prove the disbelief of one who abandons prayer to one who rejects the obligation of prayer?" We say: This is not permissible, because there are two difficulties in this: The first difficulty is the negation of the description which the Legislator (Allah) has tied to the legal judgement, because the Legislator has tied the legal judgement to the disbelief of one who abandons the prayer, regardless of whether he denies its obligation or not. And He has linked brotherhood in religion to establishing prayer, without the acknowledgement that it is obligatory, and Allah, the Most High did not say: "But if they repent and acknowledge the obligation of prayer," and the Prophet did not say: "Between a man and Shirk and Kufr is the rejection of prayer's obligation, so whoever rejected its obligation has committed an act of disbelief." And if this was what Allah, the Most High and His Messenger intended, then understanding it as meaning renouncing it would be in conflict with the evidence in the Qur'an. Allah, the Most High says:
And We have sent down to you the Book (the Qur'an) as an exposition of everything.

And Allah, the Most High said, addressing His Prophet SAW:
"And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad) the Reminder and the Advice (i.e. the Qur'an), that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them.

The second difficulty is giving a description which the Legislator has not given a place in the legal ruling. For the rejection of the obligation of the five prayers necessitates a ruling of disbelief on one who is not excused due to his ignorance in the matter, whether or not he prays. And if a person prayed the five prayers, fulfilling all of its conditions, its pillars, its obligations and its preferred acts, but he denied its obligation without any excuse, he would be a disbeliever, even though he had not abandoned it. Thus, it is clear from this that confining these narrations to those who abandon prayer because they reject its obligation is not correct, and that the truth is that he who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, whose disbelief takes him out of the fold of Islam, as is made perfectly clear in the Hadith narrated by Ibn Abi Hatim in his Sunan, on the authority of 'Ubadah bin As-Samit, in which he said: "Allah's Messenger advised us:
"Do not associate any partners with Allah and do not deliberately abandon the prayer, because whoever abandons prayer deliberately, has left the fold of Islam.

Also, if we confine it to abandoning prayer due to denial of its obligation, there would be no benefit in the special reference to prayer in the narrations, because this ruling is general in prayer, Zakah and Hajj, whose obligation in the religion is known. So whoever abandoned a single prayer, denying its obligation, he would be a disbeliever, unless he was excused by ignorance.

Just as the disbelief of one who abandons the prayer conforms with the evidence from the Qur'an and Sunnah, it conforms with the evidence of logic: How could a person have faith, when he abandons the prayer which is a pillar of the religion and the encouragement to perform it has been reported in a manner which necessitates the acceptance of every logical believer that he must perform it and hasten to do so? And the threat of punishment for one who abandons it has been reported in a manner which necessitates the acceptance of every logical believer that he must beware of abandoning it and losing it. And abandoning it therefore means that the one who abandons it has no faith.

As for the saying of the Companions, the majority of them, indeed, more than one reported that all of them regarded the one who abandons prayer as a disbeliever: 'Abdullah bin Shaqiq said: "The Companions of the Prophet did not regard the abandonment of anything to be disbelief except prayer." And Imam Ishaq bin Rahwayh, the famous scholar:

"It has been authentically reported from the Prophet that the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever." Likewise, the view of the people of knowledge from the time of the Prophet until our time has been that whoever deliberately abandoned prayer, until after its time had elapsed, without any legal excuse, is a disbeliever.

Ibn Hazm mentioned that it has been reported from 'Umar, 'Abdur-Rahman bin 'Awf, Mu'ath bin Jabal, Abu Hurairah and others from among the Companions, and he said: "And we know of no one among the Companions who contradicts them." This was reported from him by Al-Munthiri in At- Targhib wat-Tarhib, who added the following Companions to the list: 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud, 'Abdullah bin 'Abbas and Abu Ad-Darda'. And he said: "And from among other than the Companions there is: Ahmad bin Hanbal, Ishaq bin Rahwayh, 'Abdullah bin Al-Mubarak, An-Nakha'i, Al-Hakam bin 'Utaibah, Ayyub As-Sakhtiyani, Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi, Abu Bakr bin Abi Shaybah, Zuhair bin Harb and others."

I say: This is what is well known from the Mathhab of Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, and it is one of two sayings attributed to Ash-Shafi'i, as mentioned by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir of the Words of Allah, the Most High:
Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up prayers and have followed lusts.

Ibn Al-Qayyim mentioned in his book, As-Salah that it is one of the views held by the Shafi'i Mathhab and that At-Tahawi reported it from Ash-Shafi'i himself.

If it is asked: What is the reply to the evidences of those who do not consider that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever? - we say: The reply to that is that the evidences of those people are either not evidences in the first place, or they are limited to a description which does not include abandoning prayer, or else they are limited to situations in which it is permitted to leave the prayer, or else they are general, made particular by evidences of the disbelief of one who abandons prayer. The evidences used by those who do not consider one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, do not fall outside these four categories.

This question is a most important question and it is incumbent upon every person to fear Allah, the Most High and guard carefully the prayers, so that he be one of those about whom Allah said:
Successful indeed are the believers, those who turn away from Al-Laghw (dirty, false, evil, vain talk, falsehood and all that Allah has forbidden) and those who pay the Zakah and those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual intercourse), except from their wives or (the captives and slaves) whom their right hands possess for them, they are free from blame.