What Is Meant by Completely Abandoning the Prayer, and Does It Include Jumu'ah Prayer?
Question: A person who abandons performing the Prayers completely is a disbeliever. The Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “Between a man and disbelief – or polytheism – is discarding Prayers.” [Muslim I got the first part from islamweb.net. So my question is what meant by completely abondaning. Does it mean to completely not pray any prayer including Jummah prayer
Summary:
The scholars have differed regarding the ruling on the one who abandons prayer. The view held by a number of the Salaf, and it is a narration from Imam Ahmad and the choice of a group of scholars, is that whoever deliberately abandons prayer entirely such that he does not perform a single prayer for Allah is a disbeliever with major disbelief, due to the apparent meaning of the texts concerning this matter. What is meant by abandoning prayer completely is abandoning all of the obligatory prayers. Thus, a person does not pray Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, or Isha, nor does he regularly attend Jumuah prayer. Rather, he abandons prayer altogether. As for one who sometimes prays and sometimes abandons prayer, this is a matter concerning which there is a difference of opinion among the scholars, although his action is among the gravest sins and most dangerous of offenses.
Answer:
The Quran and Sunnah have established the great importance of prayer and clarified that it is the distinction between faith and disbelief.
From the Qur'an:
- [Surah al-Tawbah 9:11]
"But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then they are your brothers in religion."
- [Surah Maryam 19:59]
"Then there came after them successors who neglected prayer and followed desires."
From the Sunnah:
- Reported by MuslimJabir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Indeed, between a man and shirk and disbelief is abandoning the prayer."
- Reported by al-Nasai and al-TirmidhiBuraidah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
"The covenant that distinguishes between us and them is the prayer. Whoever abandons it has disbelieved."
A number of the Salaf understood from these texts that whoever abandons prayer completely is a disbeliever.
From the Scholars:
- Abdullah bin Shaqiq رحمه الله said:
"The Companions of Muhammad ﷺ did not regard the abandonment of any deed as disbelief except prayer."
From the Salaf:
- Imam Ahmad رحمه الله said:
"Whoever deliberately abandons a single prayer until its time expires is a disbeliever."
This is one of the narrations reported from him.
• As for your question regarding the meaning of complete abandonment, what is intended by many of the scholars who use this expression is that a person does not pray at all. He performs none of the obligatory prayers, is not known to prostrate to Allah, does not attend Jumuah prayer or the congregational prayers, and days, weeks, and months pass while he does not pray. • Therefore, if a man only performs Jumuah prayer and abandons the five daily prayers, it is not said that he has abandoned prayer completely, because he is still performing some prayer, even though he has committed a tremendous sin and his situation is extremely dangerous. • Likewise, if a person prays sometimes and abandons prayer at other times, or prays only during Ramadan, or performs some obligatory prayers while abandoning others, then according to many scholars he is not considered one who has completely abandoned prayer. Nevertheless, he has committed one of the gravest major sins and is deserving of the warnings mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah unless he repents to Allah. • For this reason, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah distinguished between the one who never prostrates to Allah at all and the one who prays sometimes and abandons prayer at other times. He mentioned that the texts concerning abandonment are to be understood as referring to complete abandonment in which a person does not perform any prayer for Allah. • Likewise, Ibn al-Qayyim stated that complete abandonment is different from occasionally performing prayer. • Nevertheless, it should be noted that the disagreement among the scholars regarding this issue is significant, and abandoning prayer even occasionally is among the gravest sins. A Muslim should not take the matter lightly merely because a scholarly difference of opinion exists. Final Answer: What is meant by abandoning prayer completely according to many scholars is abandoning all of the obligatory prayers such that a person does not perform a single prayer for Allah. This includes abandoning Jumuah prayer as well. As for one who performs some prayers, performs only Jumuah prayer, or prays sometimes and abandons prayer at other times, then according to these scholars he is not considered to have completely abandoned prayer. However, his action is among the gravest sins and most dangerous of offenses, and he must hasten to repent and maintain the five daily prayers at their prescribed times.
And Allah knows best.
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