What to say if you are told that you don't pray

24-5-2005 | IslamWeb

Question:

If you are good Muslim and some say you don't pray what should you say?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

Islam means submission to Allaah, believing in Him Alone without any associates or partners, and fulfilling His Commandments and declaring oneself free from Shirk (associating partners to Allaah) and those who associate partners to him. So a true Muslim obeys Allaah, and performs his religious obligations continuously, the most important of which is the prayer which is the second pillar of Islam and it is the act by which a slave keeps contact with His Lord. The prayer is also the first act a person will be questioned about on the Day of Judgement. Whoever preserves it will be saved and successful, and whoever spoils it will be a loser.

The Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Whoever neglects it (the prayer), he will not have any light nor evidence or safety (on the Day of Judgement). But he will be resurrected on that Day with Qaaroon, Pharaoh, Haamaan and Ubay Ibn Khalaf." [Ahmad].

A person who does not perform the prayer is exposed to great danger, because if he abandons the prayers, while believing that they are not obligatory, he is a non-Muslim according to the majority of the scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them. Even the person who abandons it out of laziness, some scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them consider him as a non-Muslim. On this regard please refer to Fataawa: 84291 and 88690.

Therefore, it is enough of a threat, a warning and evil for him who does not pray that he is considered by some scholars may Allaah have mercy upon them as being out of the fold of Islam.

The prayers are the apparent acts of worship, so a Muslim does not need to defend himself against the statements of others if he is performing the prayers, but if he does not perform the prayers, he is not a good Muslim, and may even not be a Muslim at all. 

Allaah knows best.

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