Source: Fatāwā Arkān-e-Islām
❖ Question
If a person advises his family members to perform prayer but they refuse to comply, should he continue living with them or leave the house?
❖ Answer
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd!
If family members do not perform prayer at all, they are considered outside the fold of Islam — apostates and disbelievers. Living with such people is not permissible. However, it remains necessary to repeatedly and firmly invite them to prayer, hoping that Allah ﷻ may guide them.
Abandoning prayer is deemed disbelief (kufr) according to the Qur’an, Sunnah, statements of the Companions, and sound reason — wa-l-ʿiyādh billāh.
❖ Examination of the Arguments of Those Who Do Not Consider the Non-Praying Person a Disbeliever
Those who claim that the one who abandons prayer is not a disbeliever base their position on arguments that fall into one of four categories:
✿ Complete absence of valid evidence.
✿ Evidence conditional upon circumstances in which abandoning prayer is forbidden.
✿ Evidence conditional upon cases where a person is excused.
✿ General evidence, whereas the hadiths declaring the non-praying person a disbeliever are specific in nature.
❖ Legal Consequences of Considering the Non-Praying Person a Disbeliever
Since it is established that abandoning prayer constitutes disbelief, the same rulings that apply to other apostates apply here:
1. Marriage Invalidity
✿ Marriage to such a person is impermissible.
✿ If a marriage has already occurred and the person does not pray, the marriage is null and void.
✿ The wife is not lawful for him, as Allah ﷻ says:
﴿فَإِن عَلِمتُموهُنَّ مُؤمِنـتٍ فَلا تَرجِعوهُنَّ إِلَى الكُفّارِ لا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَهُم وَلا هُم يَحِلّونَ لَهُنَّ﴾ (Sūrah al-Mumtaḥanah, 10)
2. Abandonment of Prayer After Marriage
✿ If prayer is abandoned after marriage, the marriage is annulled.
✿ The wife is no longer lawful to him.
✿ Scholars detail the differences between before and after consummation.
3. Ruling on Slaughtered Meat
✿ Meat slaughtered by a non-praying person is haram.
✿ In contrast, the slaughter of a Jew or Christian is permissible.
✿ This shows that the slaughter of a non-praying Muslim is more impure than that of the People of the Book.
4. Prohibition from Entering al-Masjid al-Ḥarām
✿ A non-praying person is not permitted to enter Makkah or the Sacred Precinct:
﴿يـأَيُّهَا الَّذينَ ءامَنوا إِنَّمَا المُشرِكونَ نَجَسٌ فَلا يَقرَبُوا المَسجِدَ الحَرامَ بَعدَ عامِهِم هـذا﴾ (Sūrah at-Tawbah, 28)
5. Inheritance Rulings
✿ A non-praying son cannot inherit from a Muslim father.
✿ Even a distant believing relative will inherit instead.
«لَا يَرِثُ الْمُسْلِمُ الْکَافِرَ وَلَا الْکَافِرُ الْمُسْلِمَ»
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, ḥadīth: 6764; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ḥadīth: 1614)
6. Funeral Rites
Upon the death of a non-praying person:
➤ No ritual washing (ghusl)
➤ No shrouding (kafan)
➤ No funeral prayer (janāzah)
➤ No burial in a Muslim graveyard
He should be buried in a pit in the desert, clothed as he is, without Islamic funeral honours.
7. State on the Day of Judgment
✿ He will be resurrected alongside Pharaoh, Hāmān, Qārūn, and Ubayy ibn Khalaf — wa-l-ʿiyādh billāh.
✿ He will not enter Paradise.
✿ It is not permissible for his family to make duʿāʾ for his mercy or forgiveness:
﴿ما كانَ لِلنَّبِىِّ وَالَّذينَ ءامَنوا أَن يَستَغفِروا لِلمُشرِكينَ وَلَو كانوا أُولى قُربى مِن بَعدِ ما تَبَيَّنَ لَهُم أَنَّهُم أَصحـبُ الجَحيمِ﴾ (Sūrah at-Tawbah, 113)
❖ The Second Scholarly View
Some scholars hold that the hadith mentioning “فَقَدْ كَفَرَ“ refer to practical kufr, not disbelief in creed.
✿ Such a person remains within the Muslim community.
✿ The term “kufr” is also applied to certain actions, such as:
“Insulting a Muslim is fusūq (sinfulness) and fighting him is kufr.”
✿ In Sūrah al-Ḥujurāt, Allah still refers to fighting parties as “believers.”
Thus, unless a person commits creedal kufr or kufr after the proof has been established, they cannot be declared an apostate nor have the rulings of apostasy applied to them solely due to practical kufr or major sin.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
