What is the difference between someone who interprets (mujtahid/mutawwil) concerning the disbelief of one who abandons prayer and someone who is ignorant of his disbelief? And is someone considered an interpreter (mutawwil) if he believes that one who abandons prayer is a Muslim, like one who abandons other deeds, without relying on Sharia-based evidence?

Scholars have differed on the ruling concerning one who abandons prayer out of negligence. As for the ruling regarding the belief that such a person is not a disbeliever, it is like all other matters of knowledge. Thus, whoever holds this view, whether through interpretation, emulation, or ignorance, is excused. If it becomes clear in the Hereafter that the one who abandons prayer is a disbeliever, then the ignorant person in this matter is not considered a disbeliever according to some scholars, based on the view of Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, who holds that if a person who abandons prayer grew up in a country where its people do not consider the one who abandons prayer a disbeliever, and this view was prevalent, then he is not considered a disbeliever due to his emulation of the scholars in his country. Ibn Taymiyyah is of the view that whoever commits an act of disbelief, knowing its prohibition but not knowing that it is an act of disbelief, then he becomes a disbeliever thereby, citing the verse: "Make no excuses; you have disbelieved after your belief." We advise the questioner to turn away from obsessive thoughts regarding disbelief and to occupy himself with beneficial knowledge that repels such whispers.