THE PERSON WHO NEGLECTS THE PRAYER WITH NO EXCUSE
Praise be to Allah. May His mercy be upon Muhammad (SAW), His household, companion and the Muslims in general.                                Salaah, the second pillar of Islam is ordained by Allah to be compulsorily observed by Muslims five times a day at their various stipulated times. . Allah says: “…and observe salaah (prayer), verily salaah is compulsory on  Muslims at the stipulated time” Q4vs103”The prophet also said: “the promise between us and them is salaah whoever observe it has indeed observe the deen (religion) “(Bukhari)       He (SAW) also said :”between a man and Kufr (disbelief) there stand As-salaah..”(Muslim). There is no differences of opinion among the scholars as regards the person who neglect the salaat rejecting that it is compulsory but they differ about he who neglects it out of laziness. Imam Ahmad(one of the four Imaams) for instance said that the one who does not pray because of laziness is kaafir. This is the more correct view and is that indicated by the evidence of the book of Allah and sunnah of His messenger, and by the words of the salaf and the proper understanding. (Al Sharh al-Mumti`’Ala Zaad al-Mustanqi’,2/26). Anyone who examines the text of the Quran and Sunnah will see that they indicate that the one who neglects the prayer is guilty of kufr Akbar (major kufr) which puts him beyond the  pale of  Islam. Among the evidences to be found in the Quran is the aayah: “But if they repent, perform As-Salaat and give Zakaat, then they are your brethren in religion “ (al- Tawbah  9: 11). The evidence derived from this aayah is that Allah defined three things that the Mushrikeen have to do in order to eliminate the differences between them and us: they should repent from Shirk, they should perform prayer and pay Zakaah. If they repent from Shirk but they do not perform prayer or pay Zakaah, they are not our brethren in faith. Brotherhood in religion cannot be effaced except when a person goes out of the religion completely; it cannot be effaced by fisq (immoral conduct) or lesser types of kufr. Allah also says: “Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up As-Salaah (the prayers ) [i.e. made their Salaah (prayers ) to be lost, either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times ]  and have followed lust. 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 aught.” [Maryam 19: 59-60 ]. The evidence derived from this aayah is that Allah referred to those who neglect the prayer and follow their desires, Except those who repent and believe, which indicates that at the time when they are neglecting their prayers and following their desires, they are not believers. The evidence of the Sunnah that proves that the one who neglects the prayers is a Kaafir includes the hadeeth of the prophet (SAW):  “Between a man and shirk and kufr there stand his neglect of the prayer.” ( Narrated by Muslim in Kitaab al-Eemaan from Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allah from the prophet (SAW). It was narrated that Buraydah ibn al-Husayb ( r.a) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (SAW)) say: ‘ The covenant that distinguishes between us and them is the prayer, and whoever neglects it has disbelieved (becomes a kafir). ’” (It was narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nisaa’i and Ibn Maajah). What is meant here by kufr or disbelief is the kind of kufr which puts a person beyond the pale of Islam, because the prophet (SAW) made prayer the dividing line between the believers and the disbelievers. It is known that the community of kufr is not the same as the community of Islam, so whoever does not fulfill this covenant must be one of the kaafireen (disbelievers). There is also the Hadith of ‘Awf ibn Maalik (r.a) “The best of your leaders are those whom you love and who love you, who pray for you and you pray for them. The worst of your leaders are those whom you hate and who hate you, and you send curses on them and they send curses on you.” He was asked, “O messenger of Allah, should we not fight them by the sword?” He said, “Not as long as they are establishing prayer amongst you.”                                                       The above hadith indicates that those in authority should be opposed and fought if they do not establish prayer, but it is not permissible to oppose and fight them unless they make a blatant show of kufr and we have evidence from Allah that what they are doing is indeed kufr’”. [Agreed upon]. On this basis, their neglecting the prayer, for which the prophet (SAW) said we should oppose them and fight them by swords, constitutes an act of blatant kufr for which we have evidence from Allah that it is indeed kufr.
 If someone were to say it is not permissible to interpret the texts about a person who neglects prayer being a kaafir as referring to the one who neglects the prayer because he does not think it is obligatory? We would say it is not permissible to interpret the text in this way because there are two reservations about this interpretation: (1) it involves ignoring the general description that the Lawgiver took into consideration and to which the ruling was connected. The ruling that the person who neglects prayer is a kaafir is connected to the action of neglecting prayer, not to his denial of it being obligatory. Brotherhood in religion is based on performing the prayer, not on whether a person declares it to be obligatory, Allah did not say, “If they repent and state that the prayer is obligatory”, and the prophet (SAW) did not say “Between a man and shirk and kufr there stands his denial that the prayer is obligatory” or “The covenant that distinguishes between us and them is our statement that the prayer is obligatory. So whoever denies that it is obligatory has disbelieved”. If this is what Allah and His messenger had meant, then not stating it clearly would have contradicted what is said in the Quran. For Allah says: “And we have sent down to you the Book (the Qur’aan) as an exposition of everything” [al-Nahl 16:89]. “And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad) the Dhikr [reminder and the advice (i.e. the Qur’aan )] that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them” [al-Nahl 16:44] (2). It is not correct to refer to a reason which the Lawgiver did not make a factor in ruling a person to be a kaafir, because if a person who does not have the excuse of ignorance denies that the five daily prayers are obligatory then he is deemed to be a kaafir, even if he prays he salaat fulfilling all its condition, but he denies that the prayers are obligatory, then he is a kaafir. From this, it is clear that it is not correct to interpret the texts about neglecting the prayers as referring to denying that they are obligatory. The correct view is that the person who neglects the prayers is a kaafir beyond the pale of Islam, as is also clearly stated in the report narrated by Ibn Abi Haatim in his Sunan from ‘Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit (r.a), who said: “The Messenger of Allah (SAW) exhorted us: ‘Do not associate anything in worship with Allah, and do not neglect the prayers deliberately, for whoever neglect the prayer deliberately puts himself beyond the pale of Islam”.
            Conclusively, any body who neglects sallaah (denying its obligation or by laziness)
  is not a Muslim. Hence, Muslims are advised to duely observe salaat    and prevent anything that will derail them from its observation as this is the determinant for their Islaam  and the condition of their admission into paradise.
                                                                         Abdulhakim Ismaeel
                                                                         500L Agric. Eng.