had he been an unbeliever, he would not have been forgiven, nor would he have inherited or been inherited from.” End of citation.

Fifth: Some scholars respond to several ḥadīths on this issue—ḥadīths that show the breadth of Allah’s pardon, forgiveness, and mercy for certain people who forsake the prayer, a sin still short of polytheism, as the Almighty says: “Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives whatever is less than that for whom He wills.” Among these texts are the ḥadīth of the parchment, the forthcoming ḥadīth on intercession, and others. Their answer is: “Those are general reports, whereas the ḥadīths that declare the abandoner of prayer a disbeliever are specific.”

I say: Had they—may Allah grant them success—reversed that claim, they would have come closer to the truth. This is clear from the principle of promise and threat recognized by Ahl al-Sunnah, as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah explains in many places in his works, such as Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (4/484; 8/270; 11/648; 23/305) and elsewhere.

In short, the upshot of this principle is that the texts of threat fall under the will of Allah, either… ⦗18⦘