in Ramadan deliberately has disbelieved.”

Saʿīd ibn Jubayr said:

“Whoever deliberately abandons prayer has disbelieved in Allah. Whoever deliberately abandons zakat has disbelieved in Allah. Whoever deliberately abandons fasting in Ramadan has disbelieved in Allah.”

Al-Dahhāk said:

“Prayer is not raised up unless zakat is paid.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said:

“Whoever performs prayer but does not pay zakat has no prayer.”

These reports were narrated by Asad ibn Mūsā.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr said:

“Whoever drinks wine in the evening enters the morning as a polytheist, and whoever drinks it in the morning enters the evening as a polytheist.”

Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī was asked, “How is that?”

He replied, “Because he abandons prayer.”

Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Akhnas said in his book:

“Whoever drinks an intoxicant exposes himself to abandoning prayer, and whoever abandons prayer has departed from faith.”

What further clarifies this is that Gabriel questioned the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about Islam, faith, and excellence in worship towards the end of his life, after pilgrimage had been made obligatory. Pilgrimage was only made obligatory in the ninth or tenth year. There is agreement that it was not made obligatory before the sixth year after the Hijrah. It is well known that the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not command people to believe, nor explain its meaning to them, until that time; rather, they already knew its basic meaning. A detailed discussion of these questions belongs elsewhere.

The point here is that anyone whom the Messenger denied the designation of “faith” or “Islam” must have neglected some of its obligations, even if some remained. This is why the Companions and the early generations would say that faith and hypocrisy can coexist in a person.

Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī said:

“Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Shaqīq, from Abū al-Miqdām, from