'Between us and them is the abandonment of prayer, so whoever abandons it has disbelieved.' These were narrated by Muslim (17). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: 'The first thing you will lose of your religion is trustworthiness, and the last thing you will lose is prayer' (18). Ahmad said: 'Everything whose end is gone leaves nothing remaining of it.' Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 'There is no share in Islam for one who abandons prayer.' Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 'Whoever does not pray is a disbeliever.' Ibn Mas'ud said: 'Whoever does not pray has no religion.' Abdullah ibn Shaqiq (19) said: 'The companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not consider the abandonment of any deed to be disbelief, except for prayer.' This is because it is an act of worship through which one enters Islam, and by abandoning it one exits from it, just like the Testimony of Faith (Shahadah). The second narration is that he is killed as a legal penalty (Hadd), while still being judged as a Muslim, like the married adulterer. This is the choice of Abu Abdullah ibn Batta, who rejected the statement of those who said he becomes a disbeliever. He mentioned that the school is based on this, and that he did not find any disagreement within the school regarding it. This is the opinion of the majority of jurists, and the opinion of Abu Hanifa, Malik, and al-Shafi'i. It is narrated from Hudhayfah that he said: 'A time will come upon the people when nothing will remain of Islam with them except the saying "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah).' It was said to him: 'What good will that do them?' He replied: 'It will save them from the Fire, may your father not be bereaved of you.' From Walan (20), he said: 'I returned to my house and found a slaughtered sheep. I said: "Who slaughtered it?" They said: "Your young servant." I said: "By Allah, my young servant does not pray." The women said: "We taught him, he invokes the name of Allah (yu-sammi)" (21). So I went to Ibn Mas'ud and asked him about that, and he commanded me to eat it.' The evidence for this is the statement of the Prophet
(17) The second (narration) had its documentation (takhrij) previously provided on page 353, and the first is with it in the documentation. As for the third, it was not documented by Muslim. See Tuhfat al-Ashraf, 2/81. It was documented by al-Tirmidhi, in: Chapter on what has been narrated regarding the abandonment of prayer, from the Chapters of Faith. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi, 10/90. And al-Nasa'i, in: Chapter on the ruling regarding the abandonment of prayer, from the Book of Prayer. Al-Mujtaba, 1/187. And Ibn Majah, in: Chapter on what has been narrated regarding the one who abandons prayer, from the Book of Establishing Prayer. Sunan Ibn Majah, 1/342. And Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad, 5/346. (18) Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti attributed it to al-Tabarani, on the authority of Shaddad ibn Aws, in a summarized form. Jam' al-Jawami', 1/339. (19) Abdullah ibn Shaqiq al-'Uqayli al-Basri, he heard from Umar and the elders, and died after the year 100 AH. Al-'Ibar, 1/122. (20) Al-Bukhari said in Al-Tarikh al-Kabir, 2/4/185: Walan al-Hanafi, he heard Ibn Mas'ud regarding the slaughter of a young boy, he said: 'There is no harm in it.' (21) In M: "fa-samma" [he invoked/said the name].
