The Establishment of the Obligation of Prayer

This part belongs to the full section: All sections of this part.

This first part of the general principles on prayer covers the establishment of its obligation, the status of the one who abandons it, and then the legal times of the 5 prayers, one by one. The positions of the 4 schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali) are reported with their Quranic and prophetic proofs, their takhrij and their classical references. The order follows the encyclopedia: foundations of the obligation, the case of abandoning prayer, then the beginning and end of each prayer's time and its preferred time.

The Establishment of the Obligation of Prayer

In the linguistic sense, it is said: what is meant is the legal prayer with bowing and prostration, that is, occupying oneself with prayer to obtain its reward and so that the inhabitants of the place and those present be blessed (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 9/236).

In the technical sense, the majority of scholars (al-jumhur) defined it as words and acts that begin with the takbir and end with the salam, with specific conditions (Mawahib al-Jalil, 1/377; Nihayat al-Muhtaj, 1/359; Mughni al-Muhtaj, 1/120; Kifayat al-Akhyar, 190; Kashshaf al-Qina', 1/221; Al-Rawd al-Murbi', 1/118). The Hanafis, for their part, made it the name of those known acts: standing, bowing and prostrating (Al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 1/256; Fath al-Qadir, 1/191; Al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1/351).

Thus, whenever the Law contains a command to pray or a ruling attached to prayer, this refers by its apparent meaning to the legal prayer and not to the linguistic sense (Al-Mughni, 1/462). The obligation of prayer is established by the Book, the Sunnah, consensus and reason.

As for the Book, Allah says in many places of the Quran:

"And establish prayer"

Surah al-Baqarah, 110

His words, "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times," mean an obligation bound to fixed hours.

"Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times"

Surah an-Nisa, 103

And His words:

"Guard the prayers and the middle prayer"

Surah al-Baqarah, 238

Al-Kasani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the absolute name "prayer" refers to the habitual prayers, those performed every day and night.

And His words:

"And establish prayer at the 2 ends of the day and at the approaches of the night"

Surah Hud, 114

This verse gathers the 5 prayers: the dawn prayer is performed in one of the 2 ends of the day, and the Zuhr and Asr prayers in the other end. The day is 2 halves: the forenoon (ghadah), which runs from the beginning of the day until the meridian, after which comes the evening ('ashiyy). It is reported that whoever swears not to eat the evening meal and eats after midday has broken his oath: 3 prayers therefore fall within the 2 ends of the day. And His words "at the approaches of the night" include Maghrib and Isha, for they are performed in the early hours of the night.

And His words:

"Establish prayer at the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night and the recitation of dawn"

Surah al-Isra, 78

It is said: the decline of the sun (duluk) is its meridian passage (zawal), and the darkness of the night is its first darkening, so the Zuhr and Asr prayers fall within it. "The recitation of dawn" is the dawn prayer: the obligation of 3 prayers is thus established by this verse, and that of Maghrib and Isha by another proof.

It is also said: the decline of the sun is its setting, so the Maghrib and Isha prayers fall within it; the dawn prayer enters into "the recitation of dawn", and the obligation of the Zuhr and Asr prayers is established by another proof (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302; Ma'ani al-Athar, 1/300).

Then comes the condemnation of those who neglect them:

"Then there succeeded them a generation who neglected prayer and followed desires; so they will meet perdition"

Surah Maryam, 59

And the punishment of the one who abandons them:

"Except the companions of the right (39), in gardens, questioning one another (40) about the criminals (41): What put you into Saqar? (42) They will say: We were not of those who prayed (43)"

Surah al-Muddaththir, 39-43

As for the Sunnah: Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Messenger of Allah said:

Islam is built upon 5: the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger, establishing prayer, giving zakat, pilgrimage to the House, and fasting RamadanReported by al-Bukhari (8) and Muslim (16)

And the hadith of Abu Umama (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Messenger of Allah deliver a sermon at the Farewell Pilgrimage, and he said:

Fear Allah, your Lord; pray your 5 prayers, fast your month, pay the zakat of your wealth and obey those in authority among you, and you will enter the Paradise of your LordAuthentic hadith: reported by al-Tirmidhi (616), who said hasan sahih, and by Ahmad (5/251), al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak (1/52, 547) and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (10/426)

Then the famous hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal when he was sent to Yemen:

Ibn Abbas reported that Mu'adh said: The Messenger of Allah sent me and said: You will come to a people of the People of the Book; call them to testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah; if they obey you in that, inform them that Allah has obligated 5 prayers upon them each day and night; if they obey you in that, inform them that Allah has obligated upon them a charity taken from their rich and returned to their poor; if they obey you in that, beware of the best of their wealth; and fear the supplication of the wronged, for there is no veil between it and AllahReported by al-Bukhari (1331) and Muslim (19)

As for consensus: the ummah agreed on the obligation of the 5 prayers and on declaring a disbeliever whoever denies them. Al-Kasani said: the ummah agreed on the obligation of these prayers (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302). Ibn Qudama said: the ummah agreed on the obligation of the 5 prayers day and night (Al-Mughni, 1/462). Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed that prayer is one of the 5 pillars of Islam, citing the words "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times" (Surah an-Nisa, 103), and they agreed that they are 5 (Al-Ifsah, 1/113).

As for reason, it establishes this obligation by several considerations:

• The 5 prayers were prescribed as gratitude for blessings, first among them the blessing of creation: the human essence was favored with the finest form and the best proportion, as in "He fashioned you and made excellent your forms" (Surah Ghafir, 64) and "Certainly We created man in the best proportion" (Surah at-Tin, 4), to the point that no one wishes to have been created otherwise.
• The blessing of sound limbs free of defects, by which a man manages his interests; Allah granted all this as pure favor, deserving nothing in return, so he was commanded to employ these blessings in the service of the Benefactor, for the gratitude of a blessing is employing it in the Benefactor's service. Prayer gathers the use of all the outward limbs (standing, bowing, prostrating, sitting, placing the hands properly, restraining the gaze) and the inner ones (the heart occupied with intention, fear and hope, presence of mind through glorification and exaltation), so that the act of every member becomes gratitude for what was granted.
• The blessing of supple joints and obedient limbs, which allow their use in the different states of prayer: standing, sitting, bowing, prostrating. Prayer embraces these states, and the gratitude of blessings is an obligation by reason and by Law.
• Prayer, like every act of worship, is service of the Lord; a slave's service to his master can only be an obligation, for a slave to volunteer toward his master is impossible. The norm ('azima) is occupying all times with worship as far as possible and without hardship; Allah, by His grace and generosity, allowed His slave to leave this service at certain times as a concession (rukhsa): had he taken the resolution, he could not have left it, for in taking the resolution he chooses the norm and abandons the concession, and the norm's ruling returns. The slave must therefore display the mark of servitude, against the one who disobeyed his Lord: standing before the Master on the knees, bending the back toward Him, pressing the face to the earth, kneeling, praising and extolling Him.
• Prayer restrains the worshiper from sins: when he stands before his Lord humbly, feeling his Lord's majesty and fearing his shortcomings in worship 5 times each day, this protects him from rushing into sins; and abstaining from disobedience is an obligation, as in "Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing" (Surah al-Ankabut, 45).
• Prayer was made an expiation for sins, faults, lapses and shortcomings: the slave, in the times of his night and day, is never free of sin, error, lapse or shortcoming in worship and in gratitude for blessings; Allah has granted him so many blessings and favors that he could not thank a single one of them, let alone all of them: he therefore needs an expiation, which is an obligation, and so the 5 prayers were prescribed, as in "Establish prayer at the 2 ends of the day... indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds" (Surah Hud, 114). Allah grants success (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 1/302, 304).

Imam Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni said: this book of prayer is a book of immense standing.

The Status of the One Who Abandons Prayer: the Denier

In the Law, no foundation of the legal obligations has branched out as much, and no pillar of religion has been studied with such refinement. The reason is that prayer is one of the greatest rites of Islam: people, in their diversity and their different classes, are constant in the duties of the prayers, diligent in observing their times, and seek what concerns them of conditions, pillars and descriptions. Hence its study never ceased through the ages, and the memory of its foundations was never erased from hearts (Ghayath al-Umam, 523).

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: the Muslims do not differ that deliberately abandoning the obligatory prayer is among the greatest sins and the gravest of major sins; its sin with Allah is greater than the sin of killing a soul and taking wealth, and greater than the sin of zina, theft and drinking wine; it exposes to the punishment of Allah, His wrath and His humiliation, in this world and the hereafter (As-Salah wa hukm tariha, 29).

The one who abandons prayer either abandons it while denying (juhud) its obligation, or out of laziness.

First: abandoning it while denying its obligation. The men of knowledge agreed that whoever upon whom prayer became obligatory, among those addressed by the Law, then refuses it while denying its obligation, not being newly converted to Islam, is an apostate who must be killed as an apostate.

Ibn Abd al-Barr said: the Muslims agreed that whoever denies the obligation of prayer is a disbeliever, killed if he does not repent of this disbelief (Al-Istidhkar, 2/149). Al-Mawardi said: if he abandons it while denying it, he is a disbeliever and the ruling of apostasy applies to him by consensus (Al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/525). Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed on this ruling (Al-Ifsah, 1/79). Al-Shirazi said: whoever upon whom prayer became obligatory and who refrains from performing it, if he denies its obligation, is a disbeliever and must be killed as an apostate, for he has belied Allah the Most High in His report (Al-Muhadhdhab, 1/51).

Al-Nawawi said: if he abandons prayer while denying its obligation, or denies its obligation without ceasing to perform it in form, he is an apostate by the consensus of the Muslims, and the imam must kill him as an apostate unless he returns to Islam; all the rulings of apostates apply to him, whether this denier is a man or a woman; this is when he was raised among the Muslims. As for one newly converted to Islam, or raised in a remote desert where its obligation may be hidden from him, he is not a disbeliever by mere denial: we explain to him its obligation, and if he denies it after that, he is an apostate (Al-Majmu', 3/15).

Ibn Qudama said: the one who abandons prayer falls into one of 2 cases.

The One Who Abandons Prayer While Believing in Its Obligation

He abandons it either while denying its obligation or otherwise. If he denies it, he is examined: if he is ignorant of it, being among those who may be ignorant, like the recent convert or the one raised in the desert, its obligation is explained to him and he is taught it, and he is not ruled a disbeliever, for he is excused. If he is not among those who may be ignorant, like one raised among the Muslims in cities and villages, he is not excused: his claim of ignorance is not accepted and he is ruled a disbeliever, for the evidences of the obligation are manifest in the Book and the Sunnah, and the Muslims perform it constantly; he only denies it by belying Allah, His messenger and the consensus of the ummah. He becomes an apostate, with the ruling of the other apostates regarding the call to repentance and execution, and I know of no disagreement on this (Al-Mughni, 3/180).

Second: abandoning it while believing in its obligation. The jurists differed over the ruling on the one who abandons prayer while believing in its obligation: does he become a disbeliever and is killed as an apostate, or is he not a disbeliever but killed by the legal punishment (hadd), or is he neither a disbeliever nor killed but only imprisoned and beaten?

First view: that of the Hanbalis in the madhhab, the choice of Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn al-Qayyim and some Shafi'is. The one who abandons prayer out of laziness and negligence is called by the imam or his deputy to perform it, for he may have left it for an excuse he believes valid, such as illness; he is threatened in these terms: pray, or we kill you. If he refuses until the time of the next prayer narrows, he must be killed, and not before he is given 3 days to repent, like the other apostates. If he repents of abandoning prayer by performing it, he is freed; otherwise, he is killed by the sword for his disbelief like the apostate: he is neither washed nor shrouded nor buried among the Muslims, no one inherits from him and he inherits from no one.

This rests on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

The covenant that stands between us and them is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelievedAuthentic hadith: reported by al-Tirmidhi (2621), Ibn Majah (1079) and Ahmad (22987)

And Jabir ibn Abdallah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say:

Between a man and shirk and disbelief stands the abandonment of prayerReported by Muslim (82)

Likewise the saying: "Do not abandon prayer deliberately; whoever abandons it deliberately leaves the religion," a weak hadith reported by Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi in Ta'zim qadr al-salat (920). Umar ibn al-Khattab said: "No share in Islam for the one who abandons prayer"; Ali said: "Whoever does not pray is a disbeliever"; Abdallah ibn Mas'ud said: "Whoever does not pray has no religion."

Since he is a disbeliever, no ransom is accepted from him and neither his family nor his children are enslaved, as with the other apostates. He is not killed before being called while in his state, and his abandonment must be publicized until he prays; he is not greeted nor is his invitation answered (Al-Mughni, 3/180, 184; Kashshaf al-Qina', 1/267, 269; Mutalib Uli al-Nuha, 1/282; Al-Majmu', 3/16).

Second view: that of the Hanafis and al-Muzani among the Shafi'is. The one who deliberately abandons prayer out of laziness is a defiant sinner (fasiq): he is imprisoned until he prays, for imprisonment concerns the right of the slave, and the right of a right is the most binding; he is beaten until blood flows, as an exaggeration in deterrence; he is not left alone, but his state is followed up with exhortation, deterrence and blows, until he prays or dies in prison. He is not a disbeliever for this, and this is his recompense in this world. In the hereafter, if he dies upon Islam, disobedient by abandoning it, he undergoes a long punishment in a valley of hell, the hottest and deepest, in which are wells into which pus and blood flow, prepared for the one who abandons prayer.

But if he belittled prayer negligently or uttered words indicating that, his ruling becomes that of the apostate: his false excuse is removed, he is imprisoned, then killed if he persists; this is the same ruling as for the one who abandons the fast of Ramadan (Al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1/352-353; Majma' al-Anhar, 1/218; Durrar al-Hukam, 1/219; Hashiyat al-Tahtawi, 373). Al-Quduri said: if he abandons prayer while believing in its obligation, he is imprisoned and punished until he prays.

Their proof is the saying of the Prophet: "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of 3 cases: disbelief after faith, adultery after chastity, and killing a soul without right." They then answer: a fourth case cannot be added by another hadith, as the prohibition of killing every fanged beast was added to "unless it dies a natural death", for combining is only valid when nothing of the first report drops; otherwise the words "except in one of 3 cases" would be void and the ruling would concern one of 4 cases.

It cannot be said either that the Prophet made the killing of a Muslim obligatory for a disbelief coexisting with Islam, which occurs only in abandoning prayer: this does not require their combination. Abandoning prayer is the omission of a legal act of worship, like hajj, fasting and zakat, and does not carry killing; nor does it require the like of zina, which is not an omission of worship. Prayer is a worship that has a time during which performing it is disliked, like hajj; a worship that transfers, like fasting; or a worship with times of prohibition and permission; or one upon which corruption may occur; or one that is performed and made up, like hajj; and faith is not indispensable to it, for he can be made to perform wudu and compelled to stand, bow and prostrate behind an imam, without needing recitation. Nor can he be killed for the first missed prayer, for its time has passed without narrowing, nor for the second, for it has not left its time. And if you beat him, that does not oblige us to the same: with us, the one resolved to abandon prayer is beaten for his very resolution (Al-Tajrid al-Daruri, 2/1024 ff.).

Third view: that of the Malikis, the Shafi'is and some Hanbalis, such as Abu Abdallah Ibn Battah and Ibn Qudama. The one who abandons prayer out of laziness and negligence is given the call to repentance: if he repents, otherwise he is killed by the legal punishment (hadd) and not as an apostate. He is washed, prayed over and buried in the graveyards of the Muslims, and his heirs inherit from him, for he is not killed for disbelief: he affirms what Muhammad brought of monotheism, the laws and the religion of Islam, affirms the obligation of prayer and fasting, but refuses to perform them while affirming their obligation and believing in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers and the resurrection after death.

Ibn Abd al-Barr said: among the proofs of those who follow this madhhab is the act of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq with the gathering of the Companions, who returned to his word when Umar asked him: how shall we fight people when the Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, is safe from me regarding his blood and wealth, except by its right, and his reckoning is with Allah"? Abu Bakr replied: by Allah, I will fight whoever separates prayer and zakat. Umar said: I then knew that Allah had opened his heart to the truth.

Abu Bakr therefore fought with the Companions those who withheld zakat when they refused to pay it, for they had separated prayer and zakat: they prayed but refused zakat; whoever refuses to perform prayer and withholds it is all the more worthy of being killed. Now those people, among the seceders, had not disbelieved after their faith nor associated anything with Allah: they said to Abu Bakr, we did not disbelieve after our faith, but we were miserly with our wealth, as the verse of their poet shows: "We obeyed the messenger of Allah while he was among us... Strange then the state of the kingdom of Abu Bakr... What they asked of you and we withheld is like dates, or dearer to them than dates."

As for the inheritance of their heirs: when Umar ibn al-Khattab assumed the caliphate, he returned to these people whatever of their wealth remained in people's hands, whereas Abu Bakr had enslaved them like the other seceders. The scholars of siyar said: Umar sent to the women the Muslims had captured among the wives of those who withheld zakat, and gave them the choice of staying with their husbands in marriage with a dowry, or returning to their families for ransom; they chose to stay with their husbands in marriage with a dowry. The dowry set for the one who chose her family was 10 awqiya for each woman, the awqiya being 40 dirhams.

Among the proofs of Malik and al-Shafi'i in this too is the hadith of Umm Salama from the Prophet: "You will have leaders whose deeds you will approve in part and disapprove in part; whoever disapproves is absolved, whoever objects is safe, but whoever approves and follows. They said: Messenger of Allah, shall we not fight them? He said: No, as long as they pray the 5 prayers." This shows they are neither fought nor killed as long as they pray the 5, and hence that whoever does not pray them is fought and killed.

And his words about Malik ibn al-Dukhshum: "Does he not pray? They said: yes, but he has no prayer. He said: those are the ones Allah forbade me to kill"; this shows that were he not to pray, he would not be among those Allah forbade to kill, but among those Allah commands to kill. And he said: "I have been forbidden to kill those who pray"; he was therefore commanded to kill whoever does not pray, as he was forbidden to kill whoever prays, and nothing prevents the execution except the performance of prayer. And Allah knows best.

They said: all of this proves the execution, not the disbelief. They interpreted the reports whose apparent meaning declares the abandoner of prayer a disbeliever as they interpreted the believer's zina, his theft, his drinking of wine, his robbing of people's goods, the contempt of parents, the fighting of some against others, the judging by other than what Allah revealed, and their like. Ibn Uyayna reported from Hisham ibn Hujr, from Tawus, from Ibn Abbas that he said: "It is not the disbelief you think; it is not a disbelief that removes one from the religion," then he recited "Those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down, it is they who are the disbelievers" (Surah al-Ma'idah, 44). For all this they made the heirs of the one who abandons prayer inherit when he is killed (Al-Istidhkar, 2/151, 153).

Al-Mawardi said: the abandoner of prayer is of 2 kinds. The first: abandoning it while denying its obligation, in which case he is a disbeliever and the ruling of apostasy applies to him by consensus. The second: abandoning it while believing in its obligation. He is then asked: why do you not pray? If he answers, I am ill, he is told: pray as you can, standing, sitting or lying down, for prayer does not fall from one of sound intellect; if he says, I am not ill but I forgot it, he is told: pray it now, you remembered it; if he says, I will not pray it out of laziness nor perform it negligently, he is the abandoner without excuse, and the call to repentance must be made to him. If he repents and agrees to perform it, he is left; if he says, I will perform it in my house, he is taken at his word; if he does not repent and persists in his refusal, the people differ over him in 3 madhhabs.

The first, the madhhab of al-Shafi'i and Malik: his blood is lawful and his execution obligatory, without his becoming a disbeliever for it. The second, the madhhab of Abu Hanifa and al-Muzani: his blood is protected, he is not killed, but he is beaten at the time of every obligatory prayer by way of discipline and deterrent punishment. The third, the madhhab of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh: he is a disbeliever like the denier, and the rulings of apostasy apply to him.

Abu Hanifa and his supporters argued for the protection of his blood from the saying of the Prophet: "I have been commanded to fight the people until they say: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah alone; when they say it, their blood and wealth are protected from me, except by its right, and their reckoning is with Allah"; this man has said it, so his blood must be protected. There is also what Uthman ibn Affan reported: "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of 3 cases: disbelief after faith, adultery after chastity, and killing a soul without right"; this man has done none of the 3, so his blood must be protected. And because prayer is a worship that is performed and made up, one must not be killed for abandoning it, like fasting; and because it is a legal worship, like all worships, one does not incur death for leaving it.

The proof of the party that mandates execution is the word of Allah: "Kill the polytheists wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them and lie in wait for them at every watchtower; then, if they repent, establish prayer and give zakat, let them go their way" (Surah at-Tawbah, 5). He commanded their killing, then exempted whoever combined 2 conditions: repentance and the establishment of prayer; it is thus known that for whoever brings only one of them, the command to kill remains. It is reported from the Prophet: "Indeed, I have been forbidden to kill those who pray"; as the performance of prayer protects his blood, its abandonment causes it to be shed. And because it is one of the pillars of Islam that cannot be substituted by proxy or wealth, one is killed for abandoning it as for faith. Prayer and faith share the name and the meaning: prayer is called faith, as in "And Allah did not let your faith be lost" (Surah al-Baqarah, 143), meaning your prayers; and in meaning: whoever faith is required of, the performance of prayer is required of, and the forms of prayer occur only as obedience to Allah, like faith; so the 2 share the ruling.

Answers to the objections: to the first report it was answered, "except by its right," and prayer is of its right, as Abu Bakr said about those who withheld zakat. To the second and to his words, "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of 3 cases, among them disbelief after faith": Allah made the blood lawful on account of the disbelief coexisting with Islam, and that occurs only in abandoning prayer, for he remains a Muslim and the rulings of disbelief apply to him regarding the shedding of his blood. To the analogy with fasting and the worships: the point is that the full performance of prayer is not possible (of itself), like faith. Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his supporters prove his disbelief by the report of Jabir from the Messenger of Allah: "Between disbelief and faith stands the abandonment of prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved"; and the proof of his Islam: the Law contains commands and prohibitions, and one is not a disbeliever for doing a forbidden thing while believing in its prohibition, just as one is not for leaving a commanded thing while believing in its obligation; and were he a disbeliever for abandoning it, he would be a Muslim for performing it.

To his words "whoever abandons it has disbelieved," there are 2 answers: he said it as deterrence, as in "No faith for the one who has no trust"; or he meant that his ruling is that of the disbeliever in the shedding of blood (Al-Hawi al-Kabir, 2/526-528; see Al-Muhadhdhab, 1/51; Al-Majmu', 3/14, 17). Ibn Qudama said: according to the second transmission, he is killed by the legal punishment while being judged a Muslim, like the married adulterer; this is the choice of Abu Abdallah Ibn Battah, who rejected the view of those who declare him a disbeliever and said the madhhab knows no disagreement on it; this is the view of most of the jurists, and the view of Abu Hanifa, Malik and al-Shafi'i.

It is reported from Hudhayfa: "A time will come upon the people in which nothing of Islam will remain with them but the words: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah. He was asked: what good will that do them? He said: it will save them from the Fire, by my father." And Wa'ilan said: "I returned home and found a sheep slaughtered; I asked: who slaughtered it? They said: your boy. I said: by Allah, my boy does not pray. The women said: we taught him and he pronounced the formula. I went back to Ibn Mas'ud, questioned him about it, and he ordered me to eat of it."

The proof of this is the saying of the Prophet: "Allah has forbidden the Fire to whoever says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, seeking thereby the face of Allah"; and from Abu Dharr: "There is no slave who says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and then dies upon that, except that he enters Paradise"; and from Ubada ibn al-Samit: "Whoever testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger, that 'Isa is the slave of Allah and His messenger, His word that He cast to Maryam and a spirit from Him, and that Paradise is true and the Fire is true, Allah will admit him to Paradise regardless of his deeds"; and from Anas: "Whoever says: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and has in his heart goodness the weight of a grain of barley, will come out of the Fire"; all these hadiths are mutually corroborated, and many similar ones exist.

From Ubada ibn al-Samit also, the Prophet said:

Five prayers Allah has prescribed upon the slave day and night: whoever performs them, not neglecting any of them out of contempt of their right, has with Allah a covenant to admit him to Paradise; whoever does not perform them has no covenant with Allah: if He wills He punishes him, and if He wills He admits him to ParadiseAuthentic hadith: reported by Malik in al-Muwatta (268), Abu Dawud (1420), al-Nasa'i (461), Ibn Majah (1401) and Ahmad (22745)

Were he a disbeliever, Allah would not admit him to Paradise by His will. Al-Khallal reported in his Jami', from Hisham ibn Hassan, from Abdallah ibn Abd al-Rahman, from Abu Shumayla: the Prophet went out to Quba and a group of Ansar met him carrying a bier on a door; he said: what is this? They said: a slave of such a family, who has died. He said: did he testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah? They said: yes, but he was neglectful, he was neglectful. He said: did he pray? They said: he prayed and supplicated. He said to them: take him back, wash him, shroud him, pray over him and bury him; by Him in Whose hand is my soul, the angels almost came between him and me. And it is reported with his chain, from Ata', from Abdallah ibn Umar: the Messenger of Allah said: "Pray over whoever said: there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah."

This also by the consensus of the Muslims: we know of no era in which an abandoner of prayer was not washed, prayed over and buried in the graveyards of the Muslims; his heirs were never prevented from their inheritance, nor he from the inheritance of his testator, and spouses were never separated for abandoning prayer, despite the great number of abandoners; were he a disbeliever, all these rulings would have been established. And no disagreement is known among the Muslims that the abandoner of prayer must make it up; were he an apostate, neither prayer nor fasting would be made up.

As for the hadiths cited earlier, they are of the kind of severity in warning and comparison with the disbelievers, not the literal sense, as in: "Insulting a Muslim is defiance, and fighting him is disbelief"; "Repudiating kinship, however slight, is disbelief in Allah"; "Whoever says to his brother, O disbeliever, one of the 2 has deserved it"; "Whoever approaches a woman during her menses or through the back has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad"; "Whoever says: rain came by the movements of the stars, has disbelieved in Allah and believed in the stars"; "Whoever swears by other than Allah has associated"; "The drinker of wine is like the worshiper of idols"; and their like, meant as severe warning; this is the sounder of the 2 views, and Allah knows best (Al-Mughni, 2/157-158).

Al-Wazir Ibn Hubayra said: they agreed that whoever upon whom prayer became obligatory, among those addressed by the Law, then withheld it while denying its obligation, is a disbeliever and must be killed as an apostate. They then differed over the one who abandoned it without praying while believing in its obligation: Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad said he is killed, by consensus among them; Abu Hanifa said he is imprisoned forever until he prays, without execution. Those who mandate his execution then differed in detail: Malik said he is killed by the legal punishment; Ibn Habib, one of his companions, said he is killed as a disbeliever, and the transmission from Malik did not differ that it is by the sword. When he is killed by the legal punishment according to the madhhab of Malik, he is inherited from, prayed over, and has the status of the dead Muslims.

Al-Shafi'i said: if he abandons prayer while believing in its obligation and the punishment is established against him, he is killed by the legal punishment, with the status of the dead Muslims. His companions differed over the time of execution: Abu Ali ibn Abi Hurayra said that the apparent meaning of al-Shafi'i's words is that he is killed when the time of the first missed prayer narrows, as the author of al-Hawi mentioned. Abu Sa'id al-Astakhri said: he is killed for abandoning the fourth prayer when its time narrows, and the call to repentance is made to him before the execution. They also differed on how he is killed: Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi said the text establishes that he is killed by the sword; but Ibn Surayj said he is not killed by the sword, rather he is imprisoned and beaten with sticks until he prays or dies.

They also differed: does he become a disbeliever by abandoning it while believing in its obligation? Some said he is a disbeliever by mere abandonment, according to the apparent meaning of the hadith; others said he is not ruled a disbeliever and interpreted the hadith as referring to belief. Ahmad said: whoever abandons prayer negligently and lazily, without denying its obligation, is killed, in one transmission. Three transmissions are reported from him on when his execution becomes obligatory. The first: as soon as he leaves one prayer and the time of the second narrows, and he is called to it and does not pray, he is killed; this is his explicit text and the choice of most of his companions. Abu Ishaq ibn Shaqala made a distinction: if he leaves a prayer until another that cannot be combined with it, like leaving Fajr until Zuhr, or Asr until Maghrib, he is killed; if he leaves a prayer until the time of another that can be combined with it, like Maghrib until Isha or Zuhr until Asr, he is not killed.

The second: if he leaves 3 consecutive prayers and the time of the fourth narrows, and he is called to it and does not pray, he is killed. The third: he is called for 3 days; if he prays, otherwise he is killed; reported by al-Marwazi and chosen by al-Kharqi, and he is killed by the sword in one transmission. They also differed: is he killed by the legal punishment or as a disbeliever? According to 2 transmissions. The first: he is killed for his disbelief, like the apostate, and the rulings of apostates apply to him: no inheritance, no funeral prayer, and his wealth is booty (fay'); this is the choice of the majority of his companions. The second: he is killed by the legal punishment, with the status of the dead Muslims; this is the choice of Abu Abdallah Ibn Battah. They agreed that the obligatory prayer is among the duties in which substitution by a person or by wealth is not valid (Al-Ifsah, 1/79-82).

Ibn Rushd said: fourth question: the status of the one who abandons it deliberately, is ordered to pray and refuses, without denying its obligation. Some said he is killed; others, that he is punished and imprisoned. Among those who mandate his execution, some make it an execution for disbelief, like Ahmad, Ishaq and Ibn al-Mubarak; others an execution by the legal punishment, like Malik, al-Shafi'i, Abu Hanifa and his companions, and the literalists, who prescribe imprisonment and punishment until he prays. The cause of this disagreement is the disagreement of the reports.

It is established from him (peace and blessings be upon him): "It is not lawful to shed the blood of a Muslim except in one of 3 cases: disbelief after faith, adultery after chastity, and killing a soul without right"; and from Burayda: "The covenant that stands between us and them is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved"; and Jabir reported from the Prophet: "Between the slave and disbelief (or association), there is only the abandonment of prayer." Whoever understands here real disbelief makes this hadith an explanation of his words "disbelief after faith"; whoever understands here severity and reproach, that is, that his deeds are the deeds of a disbeliever, as in "The adulterer does not commit adultery while he is a believer, nor does the thief steal while he is a believer," does not rule his execution for disbelief. As for the one who says he is killed by the legal punishment, his view is weak, with no support but a nearly weak analogy: likening prayer and killing, prayer being the chief of the commanded duties and killing the chief of the forbidden things.

In sum, the name of disbelief is applied literally only to belying; the abandoner of prayer is known not to be one of those, unless he abandons it while believing he may abandon it thus. We are therefore between 2 things: either we understand real disbelief in the hadith, and we must then interpret that he meant: whoever abandons prayer while believing he may abandon it has disbelieved; or we apply the name of disbelief elsewhere than its first object, in one of 2 senses: his ruling is that of the disbeliever, in execution and the other rulings, even though he does not belie (Allah); or his deeds resemble those of a disbeliever, by way of severity and deterrence, the disbeliever not praying. Applying to his status the ruling of the disbeliever requires a proof, for it is a ruling not established thereafter in the Law by any path requiring it; the hadith rather leads to metaphorical disbelief, not to a meaning that would impose a ruling not established in the Law and contradicting it where it is explicit; ponder this, it is clear, and Allah knows best; this latter view coincides with the view of those who declare the sinner a disbeliever (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/133-134).