Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and it is likewise one of the two positions ascribed to al-Shāfiʿī, as Ibn Kathīr noted while commenting on the Almighty’s words, “Then there succeeded them a generation who neglected the prayer and followed their desires” (Maryam 59). Ibn al-Qayyim, in Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, states that this is one of the two views within the Shāfiʿī school, and al-Ṭaḥāwī traces it back to al-Shāfiʿī himself.

The majority of the Companions adopted this view; indeed, more than one scholar has reported their consensus upon it.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Shaqīq said, “The Companions of the Prophet ﷺ did not regard the abandonment of any act as unbelief except the prayer.” Al-Tirmidhī and al-Ḥākim narrated this ḥadīth, and al-Ḥākim graded it authentic according to their criteria.⦗1⦘

The renowned imām Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh declared, “It has been authentically confirmed from the Prophet ﷺ that whoever abandons the prayer is a disbeliever; this has likewise remained the opinion of the people of knowledge from the time of the Prophet ﷺ up to this very day: anyone who deliberately omits the prayer without a valid excuse until its appointed time has elapsed is a disbeliever.”

Ibn Ḥazm further cited that this verdict was transmitted from ʿUmar and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf.