all confirm that such a person is of wretched fortune. So what should be done?
I am his son, twenty years old, and for years—using every possible means—I have tried to persuade him. The people in the village want him to come to the mosque and pray with them or even lead them, yet he keeps ignoring and neglecting this divine duty. He repeatedly says, “Most of those who pray nowadays are wicked and hypocrites.” Now some men have said to me, “If your father dies, who will wash him and perform the funeral prayer for him while he is in this state?” Guide me as to what I must do regarding my father, and what the ruling is on him should he die like this.
Answer: The person you describe—who possesses knowledge yet neither prays nor fasts nor acts on the rulings of the religion—is misguided, and we seek refuge with Allah. His misguidance is manifest: if he deliberately abandons the prayer, then, according to the sounder opinion, such deliberate abandonment constitutes disbelief even if he does not deny that it is obligatory. Should he deny its obligation altogether, he is a disbeliever by the consensus of the Muslims.
In short, the man who, as the questioner states, neither prays nor fasts is a disbeliever if he rejects the obligation of prayer and considers it non-compulsory—his disbelief is beyond doubt. If he acknowledges its obligation yet neglects it out of laziness, the scholars differ, but the correct view is that he is still a disbeliever.
Nevertheless, your duty, O son, is to keep advising him and never despair of his guidance; perhaps Allah will guide him through you. Repeat your counsel to him. If you find him persistent in his state and unwilling to accept advice, then you must leave him and avoid his company. There is no objection to treating him kindly in whatever worldly needs he may have—indeed, you are obliged to show him kindness and maintain the ties of kinship—but do not sit with him or live with him unless he needs you, and even then continue to advise him earnestly, hoping that Allah will guide him.