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Fatwa CenterDoing obligatory worship only and dedicating time to worldly advancement
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Is it permissible for someone to just limit themselves to the obligatory duties of Islam to dedicate most of their time to a wordly, permissible field that they think they will do exceptionally well in? For example, someone wants to be a great mathematician, so they spend almost all their time to be the best at it without neglecting the obligatory duties? Can the fact that Khalid Bin Walid's, may Allaah be pleased with him, engagement in jihad prevented him from many other acts of worship be taken as an example of a wordly occupation in this case?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, it should be noted that there is a mistake in your question; Khalid ibn Al-Waleed, may Allah be pleased with him, was not preoccupied by worldly matters over religious matters; rather, he was preoccupied with jihaad, which is one of the greatest acts of worship.
On the other hand, if someone limited themselves to performing obligatory acts of worship, performing them all, and refrained from committing all the prohibitions and did not do any supererogatory acts of worship, then they will be among the saved – Allah willing. The Prophet once enumerated the obligatory acts of worship to a man, and the latter said, “I will neither make any addition to this nor will I decrease anything from it.” (Upon hearing this) the Prophet remarked, “He is successful if he proves truthful (to what he is saying).” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Nonetheless, this does not mean neglecting or underestimating the recommended acts of worship and not sticking to them; rather, a Muslim should be keen on following the Sunnah of the Prophet in words and deeds. Besides, observing the Sunnah acts (supererogatory acts of worship) leads to maintaining the obligatory acts of worship, as performing the Sunnah acts is a protection between the person and them abandoning the obligations. Also, abandoning what is disliked as well as doubtful matters is a protection between a person and what is clearly forbidden.
On the other hand, abandoning the acts of the Sunnah out of negligence indicates that the person is abstinent about acts of goodness and is not willing to get a reward. It is for this reason that some scholars are of the view that if a person abandons the acts of the Sunnah out of negligence, he deserves punishment. Even though this view contradicts the view of the majority of the scholars, it proves what we have already mentioned about the importance of not neglecting the performance of the confirmed acts of the Sunnah of Prophet .
Ibn Rajab 
said in Sharh Al-Bukhari:
“Qaadhi Abu Ya’la said, 'A person who continuously abandons the Sunnah is sinful; this is the view of Is-haaq ibn Raahawayh. He said in Kitaab Al-Jaami’, 'No one is punished for abandoning supererogatory acts of worship, but the Prophet recommended some acts other than the obligatory acts of worship which Allah imposed on us, so it is not permissible for a Muslim to neglect the acts of the Sunnah which the Prophet recommended for us to do, such as the Fitr and Al-Adh-ha prayers, the Witr prayer, offering the sacrifice of 'Eed Al-Adh-ha, and the like. If he abandons them out of negligence, then he is punished unless Allah forgives him. Indeed, I fear to be punished if I abandon the two Rak'ahs (units of prayer) of the Sunnah of the Fajr and Maghrib prayers as Allah described them in His Book and urged us to perform them, as He says: {exalt Him and after prostration.} [Quran 50:40] Allah also says (what means): {And in a part of the night exalt Him and after [the setting of] the stars.} [Quran 52:49] Sa’eed ibn Jubayr said, “I fear not to be forgiven if I abandon the two Rak’ahs of the Sunnah after Maghrib.”"
Hence, we advise every Muslim to be keen on performing the acts of the Sunnah as much as he can, and he should know that this does not prevent him from any progress or development in worldly sciences and the various fields of this world. A Muslim wastes so much time, and if he organizes his time well, avoids idle talk, and engages himself in doing what benefits him in his religious and worldly matters, then he would find enough time to perform the supererogatory acts of worship, which are complementary to the deficiencies in the obligatory prayers and are a veil between a person and them abandoning the obligatory acts of worship.
Allah knows best.
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