Chapter One: The Ruling on the One Who Abandons the Prayer

This question ranks among the major issues of Islamic scholarship, and the scholars—early and later—have differed over it. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Whoever leaves the prayer is an unbeliever—an act of disbelief that removes him from the religion; he is to be executed unless he repents and resumes the prayer.”

Abu Hanifah, Malik, and al-Shafiʿi, however, maintained, “He is a flagrant sinner but does not become an unbeliever.” They then diverged: Malik and al-Shafiʿi ruled that he is to be put to death as a legal punishment, whereas Abu Hanifah held that he should be disciplined but not executed.

Because this matter is disputed, it must be referred to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, as He says, “And in whatever you differ, the final judgment belongs to Allah” ⦗Ash-Shura: 10⦘, and, “If you disagree about anything, then refer it to Allah and the Messenger—if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day—for that is better and yields the best result” ⦗An-Nisaʾ: 59⦘.

Moreover, the statement of none of the disputants constitutes decisive proof against the other, for each believes the truth is with him, and neither has more right to be accepted than the other. It is therefore obligatory to return the case to an arbiter between them: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ.

And when we submit this dispute to the Book