Al-Subkī, in his biography of Imām al-Shāfiʿī in Tabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah al-Kubrá (1/220), relates:

“It is reported that Aḥmad debated al-Shāfiʿī about the one who abandons the prayer. Al-Shāfiʿī said to him, ‘O Aḥmad, do you say he becomes a disbeliever?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ Al-Shāfiʿī asked, ‘If he is a disbeliever, how does he re-enter Islam?’ Aḥmad answered, ‘He says: Lā ilāha illā Allah, Muḥammadun rasūl Allah.’ Al-Shāfiʿī responded, ‘The man constantly maintains that statement; he has never abandoned it.’ Aḥmad said, ‘He enters Islam by performing the prayer.’ Al-Shāfiʿī replied, ‘The prayer of a disbeliever is invalid, and no judgement of Islam is based upon it.’ At that point Aḥmad fell silent.”

I say: This does not undermine Imām Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him—for two reasons:

1. The report is not authenticated. Al-Subkī himself alluded to this by prefacing it with the phrase “It is reported,” which signals a disconnected chain.

2. The anecdote rests on the notion that Aḥmad held a Muslim to be an unbeliever merely for abandoning the prayer, and, as has already been shown, this position is not reliably attributed to him.

Accordingly, the objection applies only to certain shaykhs who still insist on takfīr merely for non-performance of the prayer. My hope is that, once they examine the matter, they will withdraw that view ⦗59⦘