The rulling
on the one who abandons prayer (Part 1)
source:
silsilat ul-hudā wa nnūr ~ the series of guidance and light
~ tape no. 8
Question #5: “What is the ruling on the one who abandons the
prayer? And what is the difference between al-kufr
ul-ʽamalī[1] (the disbelief related to actions) and al-kufr
ul-ʽitiqādī[2] (the disbelief related to faith)?”
Shaykh al-Albānī answers:
“The one who abandons the prayer has two states: either he
believes in its legislation, or he denies its legislation.
So regarding this second state, he is a disbeliever by the
consensus of the Muslims. And likewise, whoever denies a
matter from the religion that a Muslim cannot be ignorant
about – for example, whoever denies (the legislation of)
fasting, Hajj and whatever else there is of matters known by
all the Muslims to be necessities of the religion – then he
is a disbeliever. So there is no difference of opinion about
this: whoever denies the legislation of the prayer is a
disbeliever.
But if there is a man who does not deny (the legislation) of
the prayer and who acknowledges its legislation, but with
respect to action, he does not perform it, he does not pray
– maybe he does not pray at all and maybe he prays sometimes
– so in this case, if we said that this man has disbelieved,
this statement would not apply to him at all, because kufr
(disbelief) is denial, and he is not denying the legislation
of the prayer, as (Allāh), the Most High, said with regard
to the disbelievers: {And they denied them (those Āyāt)…,
though their ownselves were convinced thereof}.[3]
So if we take as an example so-and-so from the people who
does not pray, but when he is asked ‘Why don’t you pray O my
brother?’, he says to you, ‘Allāh will forgive me, by Allāh
the worldly life has kept me busy, these children have kept
me busy,’ and this type of talk. Of course, this talk is not
an excuse for him at all, but he presents us a benefit which
we didn’t know because we can’t know what is in his heart.
He presents us a benefit that the man believes in the
legislation of the prayer, as opposed to if the answer was,
may Allāh forbid: ‘O my brother, the time for this prayer is
gone; this was during a time when the people were not
educated, they were unclean, they were in need of a specific
nature of cleanliness, purity and exercise, and now the time
for this has gone; now there are new means that free us of
prayer’ – this (man) has disbelieved and thus (goes) to
{Hell, and worst indeed is that destination}.[4] As for if
the answer is the first (example): ‘Why don’t you pray?’
(and he says,) ‘Allāh will forgive us, may Allāh curse the
shaytān,’ and this type of talk that informs us that the man
is not denying the legislation of the prayer, then if we
said that this man is a disbeliever, we would be
contradicting the reality, because this man is a believer, a
believer in the legislation of the prayer and a believer in
all of Islām, so how can we declare him a disbeliever?
Therefore, we say that there is no difference between the
one who abandons the prayer and the one who abandons fasting
and the one who abandons Hajj and the one who abandons
anything from the acts of worship related to actions –
(there is no difference) with regard to (judging whether) he
is to be declared a disbeliever or not. When is he declared
a disbeliever? If he denies. When is he not declared a
disbeliever? If he believes. So it is not allowed – by
consensus – to declare the believer to be a disbeliever.
Also, many narrations have come…: ‘(Allāh will say:) Make
whoever (sincerely) said lā ilāha illAllāh (none has the
right to be worshiped but Allāh) enter Paradise,’ while he
does not have a (good) deed equal to the weight of an atom,
but he has the weight of an atom of īmān (faith), so this
īmān is what prevents him from dwelling in the Fire forever,
and he enters Paradise even if it is after he becomes a
black coal.[5] However, this is the one who bears witness
that none has the right to be worshiped but Allāh and that
Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is the Messenger of Allāh, and
he believes in all that has come from Allāh and His
Messenger; but he does not pray, or does not fast or does
not perform Hajj or the like, or he steals or fornicates –
there is no difference with regard to all these affairs when
placed on the scales of disbelief related to actions and
disbelief related to faith [because since he has faith,
these impermissible actions do not fall under disbelief
related to faith / major kufr].
For instance, a man commits fornication; do we declare him a
disbeliever? You will say, no. I say, no. Don’t be hasty. We
have to see, does he say that zinā (fornication) is
prohibited? Does he say as some of the ignorant ones say:
‘there is no harām and there is no halāl’? If he says to me
(such a) statement, he has disbelieved. Likewise, the one
who steals and any (other) sin – for example, the man who
backbites people, and we say to him: ‘Fear Allāh, the
Messenger (of Allāh) said: ‘Backbiting is you mentioning
about your brother that which he dislikes,’[6] and he says:
‘There is no ‘the Messenger said’ and such-and-such,’ (then)
he has disbelieved. In this manner, (the same applies to)
all the Islamically legislated rulings, whether it is a
positive ruling, i.e., one of the obligatory duties, or a
negative ruling, i.e., the prohibitions that he must keep
away from. So, if he regards any of these prohibitions to be
permissible in his heart, he has disbelieved. But if he
falls into it by way of action while believing that he is
disobeying (Allāh), he has not disbelieved.
So there is no difference with regard to this between all
the Islamically legislated rulings, whether they are from
the obligatory duties or prohibitions. The obligatory duties
must be carried out and it is not permissible to leave them
off, but whoever leaves them out of laziness, it is not
allowed to declare him a disbeliever. Whoever leaves them
out of denial has disbelieved; whoever regards any of the
forbidden things to be permissible has likewise disbelieved.
There is no difference with regard to this at all between
the obligations and prohibitions.”
~ asaheeha translations ~
[1] i.e., minor kufr
[2] i.e., major kufr
[3] Sūrat un-Naml, 27:14
[4] Sūrah Āl ʽImrān, 3:162
[5] Sahīh al-Bukhārī #7439, #7510, #6560; Sahīh at-Targhīb
#3639, #3641
[6] Sahīh Muslim #2589
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