5. They also rely on weak hadiths that are no match for the authentic reports which establish that the one who abandons the prayer is a disbeliever; such weak narrations can neither confront nor override the hadiths proving his disbelief. When some of them failed to present evidence that neglecting the prayer does not amount to disbelief, they claimed that the Prophet’s words, “Between a man and shirk (polytheism) and kufr (disbelief) lies abandoning the prayer,” refer only to minor shirk and minor kufr, equating it with Ibn ʿAbbās’s statement, “Kufr short of (major) kufr.” We respond: What obliges us to interpret the hadith that way? Whenever the term kufr is used without qualification and no contrary text exists, it denotes real, major kufr. Moreover, the Messenger said, “Between a man and kufr and shirk,” establishing a clear boundary with the word “between,” which implies two distinct, separate entities; thus the kufr intended is major kufr. Accordingly, the proofs that the abandoner of the prayer is a disbeliever are decisive, unopposed, and unchallenged.

It is therefore obligatory upon the believing servant, whenever the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger indicate a ruling, to affirm it, for we are not lawmakers—the Lawgiver is Allah. Whatever Allah has said and whatever His Messenger has said is the Sacred Law; we accept it, judge by it, and believe in it, whether it accords with our desires or clashes with them. We must adhere to whatever the Law dictates.