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How can the Hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, concerning people entering Paradise without having done any deeds, be reconciled with the Hadiths of Anas ibn Malik and Buraydah ibn al-Hasib, which state that abandoning prayer is shirk (polytheism) and kufr (disbelief), knowing that a kafir (disbeliever) and a mushrik (polytheist) do not enter Paradise?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"One who abandons prayer out of laziness does not commit disbelief that expels him from the faith; rather, it is a lesser form of disbelief. The majority of scholars have used the hadith of Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri as evidence, stating that if one who abandons prayer dies as a Muslim testifying that there is no god but Allah, he will not remain eternally in Hell with the polytheists. He falls under the will of Allah in His saying: 'Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives anything less than that for whhom He wills.' The problem arises with the view of those who hold that one who abandons prayer out of laziness is outside the fold of Islam, which is the well-known position of the Hanbali school."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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