Fatwa by: Former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Ibn Bāz (رحمه الله)
Question:
A young man has come to ask for my sister’s hand in marriage. Upon investigation, we discovered that he does not perform prayer in congregation. This has led to a disagreement in our family. My brother says we should give him the proposal, hoping that Allah might guide him, but my father has refused. I seek the Sharīʿah ruling on this matter.
Answer:
If it is known that this man does not perform the congregational prayer (ṣalāh in jamāʿah), then it is necessary not to give him the marriage proposal. This is because abandoning the congregation is a clear sin and a sign of hypocrisy. It also leads to the complete abandonment of prayer, which constitutes major disbelief (kufr akbar).
Allah (ﷻ) says:
إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّـهَ وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ وَإِذَا قَامُوا إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ قَامُوا كُسَالَى
“Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily…”
(Surah al-Nisāʾ 4:142)
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The heaviest prayers for the hypocrites are the ʿIshāʾ and Fajr prayers. If they knew what is in them, they would come even if they had to crawl.”
(Muttafaqun ʿalayh)
Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) said:
“I have seen us in such a state that none would stay behind from the congregational prayer except a hypocrite whose hypocrisy was well known.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim)
The Prophet ﷺ also said:
“The covenant that distinguishes between us and them (the disbelievers) is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved.”
(Narrated by al-Tirmidhī 2623, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah 1079, Aḥmad 5/346, al-Ḥākim 1/7, al-Dārimī, al-Bayhaqī 5/366, Ibn Abī Shaybah 11/34, Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 1454)
And in another narration:
“Between a man and disbelief and polytheism is the abandonment of prayer.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim)
There is no doubt that abandoning congregational prayer is a step toward abandoning prayer altogether. We pray to Allah (ﷻ) for guidance and steadfastness for all.
And Allah knows best.
Question:
A young man has come to ask for my sister’s hand in marriage. Upon investigation, we discovered that he does not perform prayer in congregation. This has led to a disagreement in our family. My brother says we should give him the proposal, hoping that Allah might guide him, but my father has refused. I seek the Sharīʿah ruling on this matter.
Answer:
If it is known that this man does not perform the congregational prayer (ṣalāh in jamāʿah), then it is necessary not to give him the marriage proposal. This is because abandoning the congregation is a clear sin and a sign of hypocrisy. It also leads to the complete abandonment of prayer, which constitutes major disbelief (kufr akbar).
Allah (ﷻ) says:
إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّـهَ وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ وَإِذَا قَامُوا إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ قَامُوا كُسَالَى
“Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily…”
(Surah al-Nisāʾ 4:142)
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“The heaviest prayers for the hypocrites are the ʿIshāʾ and Fajr prayers. If they knew what is in them, they would come even if they had to crawl.”
(Muttafaqun ʿalayh)
Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) said:
“I have seen us in such a state that none would stay behind from the congregational prayer except a hypocrite whose hypocrisy was well known.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim)
The Prophet ﷺ also said:
“The covenant that distinguishes between us and them (the disbelievers) is the prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved.”
(Narrated by al-Tirmidhī 2623, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah 1079, Aḥmad 5/346, al-Ḥākim 1/7, al-Dārimī, al-Bayhaqī 5/366, Ibn Abī Shaybah 11/34, Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 1454)
And in another narration:
“Between a man and disbelief and polytheism is the abandonment of prayer.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim)
There is no doubt that abandoning congregational prayer is a step toward abandoning prayer altogether. We pray to Allah (ﷻ) for guidance and steadfastness for all.
And Allah knows best.
