for it is not permissible to declare a Muslim who affirms the oneness of God an unbeliever on account of an act he commits, unless it becomes clear that he rejects even some part of what Allah has legislated—as in the case of one who is called to prayer: if he responds, otherwise he is killed, as stated above.

In this connection, I find particularly apt what al-Hafiz cites in al-Fath (12/300) from al-Ghazali, who said:

“What must be guarded against is declaring others unbelievers whenever there is any way to avoid it. For deeming the blood of Muslims who affirm the oneness of God lawful to shed is an error; and erring by leaving a thousand unbelievers alive is lighter than erring by shedding the blood of a single Muslim.”

Moreover, I have learned that, when some people were apprised of this hadith, they doubted that it proves the salvation of the Muslim who abandons prayer from abiding eternally in the Fire with the unbelievers. They claimed that one who abandons prayer is not mentioned in any of the groups brought forth from the Fire. This is a remarkable display of obstinacy, recalling the obstinacy of fanatical adherents of the legal schools when they reject the implications of the texts in support of their school. For the hadith explicitly states that the first group included those who prayed, as indicated by the fact that the Fire had not consumed their faces. It is thus self-evident that none of those brought out in the subsequent groups were among those who prayed. If something so clear does not benefit certain rigid imitators, then all we can say is: “Peace be upon you; we seek not the ignorant.”

Note: Ibn Qudamah, may Allah have mercy on him, was among those who missed citing this authentic hadith in support of the sound position that one who abandons prayer out of laziness is not to be declared an unbeliever. Yet remarkably, he mentioned another hadith which, if authentic, would have decisively settled the disagreement. It states that a client of the Ansar died, having prayed at times and omitted prayer at times; nevertheless, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered that he be washed, that the funeral prayer be offered for him, and that he be buried. Although Ibn Qudamah made no comment on it, he did well to mention it along with its chain of transmission, as reported by al-Khallal. This enabled me to study it and judge it to be weak and objectionable, and I therefore included it in my other work, al-Da'ifah (6036).