And whenever a man refuses to perform the prayer until he is put to death, it is clear that, inwardly, he neither acknowledges its obligation nor commits himself to carrying it out. Such a person is an unbeliever by the unanimous agreement of the Muslims, as the reports from the Companions declaring him a disbeliever are widely transmitted, and as the sound texts attest—for example, the Prophet’s saying ﷺ: “Nothing stands between a servant and disbelief but abandoning the prayer,” recorded by Muslim.

Therefore, whoever persists in leaving the prayer until he dies, never prostrating to Allah even once, can never be counted among the Muslims who affirm its obligation. Believing in the obligation of prayer—and believing that the one who abandons it deserves execution—constitutes a complete incentive to perform it; when such an incentive exists together with the ability to act, the action necessarily follows. If a person is able to pray yet never does so, this proves that the incentive was absent in his case, for true conviction that the abandoner will be punished is itself a powerful spur to action.

To be sure, this incentive may at times be countered by other factors that lead someone to delay the prayer, omit some of its duties, or even miss it on occasion.

As for the one who is firmly resolved to forsake it altogether—never praying at all and dying upon that resolve and neglect—such a person is not a Muslim.

Most people, however, pray at times and neglect it at times; these are not ⦗44⦘