4:48, 116).

Allah may pardon him and not punish him, or He may punish him; yet even if He does punish him, his final destination is Paradise, for everyone who does not associate partners with Allah and does not commit an act that nullifies faith will ultimately enter Paradise.

As for the one who does commit such a nullifier—like the person who abandons the prayer, may Allah protect us—he is condemned to everlasting Fire. Whoever does not pray is a disbeliever, an apostate, doomed to remain in Hell forever, even if he says, “I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; I believe in Allah and in the Last Day,” yet refuses to pray. He is an apostate because the hypocrites used to say to the Messenger ﷺ, “We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah” (al-Munafiqun 1). They remembered Allah, but only rarely; they prayed, but “when they stand up for prayer, they stand lazily” (al-Nisa 4:140). Nevertheless, they will be in the lowest depth of the Fire.

All the narrations that follow Abu Dharr’s report likewise teach renunciation of this world: a person should not let his heart become attached to it. Let the world remain in your hand, not in your heart, so that your heart may turn fully to Allah—this is the height of asceticism. It does not mean you must take nothing from the world; rather, take from it what is lawful and do not forget your share of it, but keep it in your hand and not in your heart. That is what truly matters. We ask Allah to grant well-being and safety to us and to all Muslims.