What is the nature of the relationship between spouses, and what is the ruling of the Shari'a regarding children if the husband does not pray most of the time? And is that considered adultery? And what is incumbent upon the wife to do in this situation?

A woman must choose a righteous husband who is committed to prayer. It is not permissible for her to marry someone who does not pray, because prayer is a great pillar of Islam. If a woman marries a man who does not pray, there is a difference of opinion among scholars regarding the validity of the marriage contract. The majority of them consider it valid because a person who abandons prayer but does not deny its obligation is considered a sinful Muslim, while others consider it null and void because a person who completely abandons prayer is an unbeliever. Nevertheless, if a woman marries a man who does not pray based on her belief that he does not become an unbeliever by abandoning it, or due to her ignorance of the ruling, or by following those who consider him a disobedient Muslim, then her marriage contract is not ruled as null and void. Even according to the opinion that the marriage of a person who abandons prayer is null and void, this marriage is not described as adultery if it is a matter of legitimate scholarly disagreement.

If the husband prays occasionally, it is most likely that he is not deemed an unbeliever, and the apparent rulings of Islam, such as inheritance, apply to such individuals. Every marriage contract that the spouses believed to be valid, whether due to ignorance of the ruling or by following those who affirmed its validity, is a marriage that entails its legal effects, and children are attributed to their fathers in such marriages. Muslims have agreed that every marriage that the husband believed to be permissible, his child is attributed to him and they inherit from each other.

If the husband abandons prayer in most of his affairs, the wife is obligated to advise him and remind him of Allah, and not to despair of repeating the advice. It is preferable for a woman whose husband never prays to separate from him if she is able to do so.