Is one who neglects prayer out of laziness considered an infidel (kafir) or a disobedient Muslim (muslim 'asi)?

Whoever abandons prayer out of laziness commits an act of disbelief (kufr). This is the preponderant opinion, based on evidence from the Quran, the Sunnah, the sayings of the predecessors (Salaf), and sound reasoning.

Quranic evidence indicates that abandoning prayer negates brotherhood in faith and renders the one who abandons it a non-believer. Prophetic evidence distinguishes between a Muslim and a disbeliever by the abandonment of prayer, considering the abandonment of prayer to be an act of disbelief that expels one from the fold of Islam.

Interpreting these texts to apply only to someone who denies the obligation of prayer is incorrect. The Lawgiver (Allah) linked the ruling of disbelief to the abandonment itself, not to the denial of its obligation. Furthermore, abandoning prayer is considered intellectual and theoretical disbelief because prayer is the pillar of the religion.

It is not permissible to interpret the disbelief associated with abandoning prayer as disbelief in blessings (kufr al-ni'mah) or minor disbelief (kufr asghar). This is because the texts have made prayer a clear dividing line between faith and disbelief, because it is a pillar of Islam, because there are other texts indicating that abandoning it constitutes disbelief that expels one from the fold of Islam, and because the use of the definite article "al-" with "kufr" (الكفر) refers to the true nature of disbelief.

This is the view held by Imam Ahmad, and it is one of the two opinions of Al-Shafi'i and the majority of the Companions, who did not consider anything else, when abandoned, to be disbelief except for prayer.