How sound are the narrations (hadiths) concerning the one who abandons prayer and his punishment, and those concerning the virtue of prayer and its preserver, which are: "Do not intentionally abandon prayer, for whoever intentionally abandons prayer, the protection of Allah and His Messenger has disavowed him," and "Whoever preserves it – meaning prayer – it will be a light and a proof for him on the Day of Resurrection, and whoever does not preserve it will have no light, no proof, and no salvation, and on the Day of Resurrection, he will be with Qarun, Pharaoh, Haman, and Ubayy ibn Khalaf," and "We came upon a man lying down, and behold, another was standing over him with a rock. Behold, he would throw the rock at his head, crushing his head – meaning, smashing it – whereupon the rock would roll away – meaning, tumble down – and he would retrieve it and not return to him until his head was as it was, then he would return to him and do to him what he did the first time. So I said: 'Subhan Allah! Who are these two?' Jibril (peace be upon him) said: 'He is the man who sleeps through the prescribed prayer'"?
The first hadith was narrated by Ahmad and al-Tabarani and authenticated by al-Albani. The second hadith was narrated by Ahmad and al-Darimi, its narrators were deemed trustworthy by al-Haythami, and it was authenticated by al-Albani and Husayn Asad. As for the last hadith, it was narrated by al-Bukhari.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/95437