Question: I am now forty-five years old. Four full years of my life passed during which I neither performed the prayer nor fasted the month of Ramadan, yet last year I fulfilled the obligation of Hajj. Will that pilgrimage expiate the prayers and fasts I missed? If it does not, what must I do now? Kindly direct me, and may Allah grant you success.

Answer: Deliberately abandoning the prayer is extremely serious, for the prayer is the second pillar of Islam. When a Muslim leaves it on purpose, that is disbelief. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Between the servant and disbelief is abandoning the prayer,” and he also said, “The covenant that lies between us and them is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved.” Concerning the disbelievers, Allah the Exalted says, “But if they repent, establish the prayer, and give the zakah, then let them go their way” (at-Tawbah 9:5). He likewise says about the people of Hellfire, “What has landed you in Saqar? They will say, ‘We were not among those who prayed, nor did we feed the poor’ ” (al-Muddaththir 74:42-44). Other texts carry the same meaning, all showing that the one who abandons the prayer is a disbeliever even if he does not deny its obligation; this is the sounder of the two opinions among the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them.

Therefore, your admission that you intentionally left the prayer for three years entails disbelief. However, if you repent to Allah—Mighty and Majestic—with a genuine repentance and henceforth guard the prayer for the rest of your life, Allah will erase what came before, for sincere repentance wipes away whatever preceded it.