Hukm Tarik al-Salah - al-Albani
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Jalālayn
Hukm Tarik al-Salah (The Ruling on the One Who Abandons Prayer) is a legal and theological treatise by the hadith scholar Nasir al-Din al-Albani (d. 1420 AH / 1999 CE) addressing the status of a person who neglects obligatory prayer.
Publication
The treatise was published in Riyadh by Dar al-Jalilayn, with its first edition issued in 1412 AH (1991/1992 CE).
Content and Method
Al-Albani opens the work by underscoring the severity of abandoning prayer, citing an excerpt from Ibn al-Qayyim's Kitab al-Salah wa-Hukm Tarikiha (The Book of Prayer and the Ruling on Its Abandoner) affirming that Muslims do not dispute that intentionally neglecting the prescribed prayer is among the greatest sins and major enormities, carrying a greater sin than murder, seizing property, fornication, theft, and drinking wine. He cites several Quranic verses warning against the neglect of prayer, including Surah Maryam: فَخَلَفَ مِن بَعْدِهِمْ خَلْفٌ أَضَاعُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَاتَّبَعُوا الشَّهَوَاتِ فَسَوْفَ يَلْقَوْنَ غَيًّا ("There came after them successors who neglected prayer and pursued desires, so they will meet evil"), as well as passages from Surah al-Ma'un and Surah al-Muddaththir.
The central thesis of the work addresses the scholarly dispute over the nature of the disbelief (kufr) mentioned in prophetic hadiths regarding those who abandon prayer:
- Abandonment through denial (juhud): One who leaves prayer while denying its obligatory status is an apostate and outside the fold of Islam by scholarly consensus.
- Abandonment through laziness (kasal): One who neglects prayer out of laziness while acknowledging its obligation is considered a sinful Muslim (fasiq) rather than an apostate. Al-Albani argues that the disbelief described in the texts in this scenario denotes practical, lesser disbelief (kufr 'amali / kufr duna kufr) rather than major disbelief that expels one from the religion, supporting this stance with textual evidence, including hadiths concerning intercession (ahadith al-shafa'ah).
Reception
The treatise and its arguments became a prominent reference point in contemporary discussions concerning faith and the status of deeds. Works engaging with and critiquing al-Albani's arguments on the subject include al-Inbah ila Hukm Tarik al-Salah by Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Mani' al-Ruwayqi.
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