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What is the ruling on abstaining from prayer despite repeated advice, the devil's whispers to abandon it, and being preoccupied with singing instead?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Abandoning prayer is a grave matter and a great sin, for which its perpetrator deserves the severest punishment. The evidence for this is the Almighty’s saying: "What has caused you to enter Saqar? They will say: 'We were not of those who used to pray.'" And His saying: "Then, there has succeeded them a posterity who have given up prayers and have followed lusts. So they will meet Ghayy (a valley in Hell)." Also, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Indeed, between a man and shirk (polytheism) or kufr (disbelief) is the abandonment of prayer," and "The covenant between us and them is prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved." So, let the servant fear Allah and know that he is in great danger if Allah does not encompass him with mercy. Among the most harmful things are hating advice and being arrogant about submitting to the truth, as the Almighty said: "But you do not love the well-wishers." By such behavior, one helps Satan against oneself. Therefore, it is necessary to listen to the advice of righteous people, keep their company, and sit with them, as this is among the most important things that help in preserving prayers, for a person is on the religion of his close friend.

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

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