Or the report is bound to a situation in which the person who neglects the prayer is excused—such as the ḥadīth of Ḥudhayfah, recorded by some of the compilers of the Sunan, about a people who know nothing of Islam except the statement lā ilāha illā Allah (there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah). That will occur when Islam has been effaced and nothing of it is known except lā ilāha illā Allah; this utterance will deliver them from the Fire because they have been kept from learning the obligations of Islam. We accept this: if a group living in some remote desert, far from towns and far from access to knowledge, understood nothing of Islam but lā ilāha illā Allah and died upon that, they would not be disbelievers.

They also cite ḥadīths with a general wording. One of the principles of uṣūl al-fiqh is that a general text is restricted by a specific one. Therefore, the general reports that state, “Whoever says lā ilāha illā Allah will enter Paradise,” and the like, are qualified and specified by the ḥadīths declaring that the abandoner of the prayer is a disbeliever.