Fatwa ID: 01423

Answered by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Question:

Does a person become Kafir by missing salah?

Answer:

In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful.

Those ahadith, which imply that a person becomes a disbeliever by missing salah, have been interpreted by the scholars of hadith.

The Zawahir sect of scholars have said that a person does become a kafir by missing his or her salah.   However, other scholars have said that the person has committed such an action, which has taken him close to leaving the fold of Islam. 

Imam Malik and Imam Shafee have said it is lawful to kill the person who misses his salah even though the person does not become a kafir.  Imam Abu Hanifah is of the view that the person would not be killed nor will his actions constitute kufr rather he ought to be sent to jail until he starts reading salah.  (Mazaahirul Haqq p.506 v.1)

Only Allah Knows Best

Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham