The Ruling on One Who Completely Abandons the Prayer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.

According to Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah, faith (iman) is not merely belief in the heart. Rather, it consists of belief in the heart, affirmation by the tongue, and actions performed by the limbs. It increases through obedience to Allah and decreases through sin, and its completeness depends upon the presence of all these components.

As for the hadith:

"Whoever has an atom's weight of faith in his heart will not enter the Fire."

its meaning is that whoever dies upon true faith will not remain in Hell eternally as the disbelievers do. If such a person enters Hell because of their sins, they will eventually be brought out by Allah's mercy and through the intercession of those whom Allah permits to intercede, and they will then enter Paradise. Everlasting residence in Hell is only for those who die upon disbelief.

Regarding the person who completely abandons the prayer, the scholars have differed concerning their ruling. One of the strongest scholarly opinions is that such a person falls into disbelief because of abandoning the prayer, based on explicit textual evidence. According to this view, they no longer possess the faith that would entitle them to the hadiths concerning intercession and being brought out of Hell.

Those who hold this opinion cite the statement of the Prophet ﷺ:

"The covenant that distinguishes us from them is the prayer. Whoever abandons it has committed disbelief."

They also cite his statement:

"Between a man and polytheism and disbelief is the abandonment of the prayer."

They further argue that sincere testimony of faith naturally leads a believer to establish the prayer, since it is the greatest practical pillar of Islam. Therefore, it is inconsistent for someone to claim sincere faith while completely abandoning the prayer until death.

For this reason, many scholars stated that the hadiths concerning intercession and the removal of monotheistic believers from Hell apply only to those who still retain the fundamental basis of faith and have not committed what nullifies it. According to this opinion, the person who completely abandons the prayer is not included in that promise.

Nevertheless, this issue is one over which there is a well-known scholarly disagreement. However, all scholars agree that abandoning the prayer is among the gravest and most dangerous sins, and that no Muslim should ever treat it lightly.

In summary: The hadith, "Whoever has an atom's weight of faith in his heart will not enter the Fire," is not used by those who regard the complete abandonment of prayer as disbelief to prove the salvation of such a person. According to their view, such a person no longer possesses the faith that qualifies them for this promise. In any case, abandoning the prayer is among the greatest causes of destruction, so every Muslim must diligently preserve the prayer and sincerely repent to Allah if they have been negligent regarding it.

And Allah knows best.