What is the degree of authenticity of the Hadith: "Five prayers Allah has prescribed upon His servants. Whoever performs them without neglecting any of them, treating their rights lightly, will have a covenant with Allah that He will admit him into Paradise. And whoever does not perform them will have no covenant with Allah; if He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him," and does it contradict Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen's statement that one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever?

The disagreement regarding declaring someone who abandons prayer out of negligence as a disbeliever persists to this day. The view held by the Companions, the Tabi'un, and the majority of the Salaf is that such a person is a disbeliever, whereas the well-known opinion among the majority of jurists is against declaring them a disbeliever. The aforementioned hadith, with the wording "and whoever does not perform them," is weak. However, those who authenticated it relied on other wordings, such as "and whoever does not do," which refers to someone who does not perform ablution and prayer properly at their appointed times, or who does not complete bowing and khushu' (devotional humility). This falls under Allah's will and does not contradict the hadiths about declaring the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah interpreted it as referring to someone who does not maintain regular prayers at their times, not someone who abandons them entirely.