Is he who delays prayers and gathers them at 'Isha' considered an infidel outcast from the religion, or merely a disobedient person?

What the youth who abandon prayer are doing is a heinous sin and a grave evil, exposing them to great danger. Ibn al-Qayyim transmitted the consensus of Muslims that intentionally abandoning the obligatory prayer is a greater sin than murder, adultery, theft, and drinking alcohol. As for the ruling on one who abandons prayer out of laziness, there is a difference of opinion among scholars: One group considers it disbelief and an exit from the faith: This is narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (one of the two narrations), Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh. Another group believes that he does not disbelieve but is a transgressor: This is the view of Malik, Al-Shafi'i, and the majority of early and later scholars. These scholars hold that he should be asked to repent, and if he does not, he should be executed as a legal punishment. A third group holds that he does not disbelieve nor is he executed; rather, he is disciplined and imprisoned until he prays: This is the view of Abu Hanifa and a group of people from Kufa and Al-Muzani.

Their disagreement is based on the interpretation of hadiths and legal texts. The majority of jurists hold that one who abandons prayer out of laziness does not commit disbelief that expels him from the faith, citing the Almighty's saying: "Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills," and hadiths such as "Whoever says there is no god but Allah will enter Paradise." As for the hadiths that suggest the disbelief of one who abandons prayer, the majority view them as a form of strong warning and comparison to disbelievers, not as an actual declaration of disbelief.