and Muʿādh ibn Jabal, Abū Hurayrah, and other Companions as well. He said, “We are not aware of any Companion who opposed them in this matter.” Al-Munḏirī transmits this from him in al-Targhīb wa’l-Tarhīb ⦗1⦘, adding to the list of Companions ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah, and Abū al-Dardāʾ (may Allah be pleased with them). He then states: “Among those after the Companions who held the same view are Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Mubārak, al-Nakhaʿī, al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtaybah, Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī, Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī, Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, Zuhayr ibn Ḥarb, and others.” End of quote.

If someone were to ask, “How do we answer the proofs cited by those who do not deem the abandoner of the prayer to be a disbeliever?” we reply: None of those evidences ever affirm that the one who neglects the prayer is not a disbeliever, or that he is still a believer, or that he will be spared the Fire, or that he is assured Paradise, or anything of that sort.

On careful examination one finds that all such texts fall into just five categories, and none of them conflicts with the proofs advanced by those who judge him to be a disbeliever.