The Ruling on One Who Abandons Pray

"I am a Muslim. I was born in an Islamic place and my parents are Muslims. But I do not practice Islam. Why? I think the most important is to believe in heart."

Doesn't it sound familiar?

Unfortunatelly today there are so many "Muslims without Islam." The place where I come from is an Islamic region. There are so many Muslims. But these are Muslims who either do not know anything about their religion or have scarcely knowledge and do not treat religion rituals as something important. They also do not know about Islamic history and heritage. These are people who live only for the prizes of life.

Well, what is about those who are aware of the religion Islam, its rituals, Islamic history and Islamic heritage? Sometimes Muslims stop praying voluntary. Interesting what is the ruling on those who abandon pray in Islam?

Shaykh `Abdul-`Azeez Bin Baz gave fatwa regarding this issue:

"Any responsible adult, who dies knowing the Islamic ruling concerning prayer and did not pray, is a disbeliever. He is not washed or prayed over, nor is he buried in the Muslim cemetery. His [Muslim] relatives do not inherit from him. Rather, his wealth is for the Muslim's state treasury, according to the strongest opinion amongst the scholars. This is based on the authentic hadeeth in which the Prophet (salallahu alaiyhi wasallam) stated: Between a man and shirk (associating partners with Allah) and kufr (disbelief) there stands his abandonment of the prayer. This was reported by Imaam Muslim in his Saheeh. The Prophet (salallahu 'alaiyhi wasallam) also stated: The vow (religious commitment) that is between us and them (the hypocrites) is the prayer. He who abandons it has committed disbelief. This was reported by Ahmad and the compilers of the sunan with an authentic chain from the hadeeth of Buraydaah radiallaahu 'anhu. 

 And, 'Abdullah ibn Shaqeeq al-'Uqayli, the noble follower, may Allah's mercy be upon him, stated: "The companions of the Prophet [salallahu 'alaiyhi wasallaam] did not consider abandonment on anything as disbelief, except the abandonment of the prayer. And, the ahadeeth and reports with this connotation are many. 

 This is regarding the one who abandoned prayer due to laziness and who did not denies it as being obligatory. And, for the one who doesn't accept it as being compulsory, then he is a disbeliever, who apostated from Islam, according to all of the people of knowledge. 

 We beseech Allah to set aright the affairs of the Muslims and to lead them to pursue the straight path, for He is the All-Hearing Responder."