“O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are allies of one another. Whoever among you allies himself with them is indeed one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.” [al-Mā’idah: 51] (1).
4 - A Muslim’s abandoning prayer altogether, praying only to go along with others when he is among them, even without ritual purification. Abandoning prayer in this manner does not occur in someone who inwardly acknowledges its obligation. His disbelief therefore lies in his failure to acknowledge that prayer is obligatory, not in merely abandoning prayer, concerning which Ahl al-Sunnah have differed.
A distinction must therefore be made between such a person and someone who prays but does not observe prayer consistently, sometimes omitting it and falling short in fulfilling its obligatory requirements,
(1) The author’s discussion here is brief. In al-Sharh (The Commentary), he states: “Allegiance to disbelievers has degrees: some entail disbelief and apostasy, while others fall short of that.” He then says: “If someone supports them out of a desire to humiliate and undermine Islam = this undoubtedly nullifies Islam. But if such support is motivated by desire or fear = this is a matter for examination and scholarly judgment; the stronger view, in my assessment, is that it does not entail apostasy.” Lesson 5, minute 52.
See also his similar discussion in his commentary on Nawāqid al-Islām (The Nullifiers of Islam), p. 35.
The author has a detailed fatwa on this issue and another concerning the kind of act committed by Hātib, may Allah be pleased with him. The author, may Allah preserve him, considered it important to append both to the end of the book; see pp. 49 and 53.