What is the ruling on one who abandons prayer for more than forty nights, and has a Hadith been narrated concerning this matter?

Neglecting prayer is one of the gravest sins. Scholars have differed on whether the one who abandons it is guilty of major disbelief that expels him from the faith or minor disbelief. Some have even gone as far as to say that this ruling applies to anyone who misses even one prayer. The ruling for one who abandons prayer, according to the majority of scholars, is execution. There is no specific duration for abandoning prayer, such as "more than forty days." This might be confused with the hadith (definition) about the wine drinker whose prayer is not accepted for forty mornings.