necessitate delaying it, neglecting some of its obligations, and sometimes missing it. As for one who persistently abandons it, never prays at all, and dies in this state of persistence and neglect; such a person is not a Muslim. However, most people pray at times and neglect it at other times; these people do not maintain it, and they are under threat. They are the ones about whom the ḥadīth in the "Sunan" was narrated, the ḥadīth of ʿUbādah from the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam); he said: "Five prayers Allāh has prescribed for His servants in the day and night; whoever maintains them has a covenant with Allāh to admit him to Paradise, and whoever does not maintain them has no covenant with Allāh; if He wills, He will punish him; and if He wills, He will forgive him." The one who maintains it: is the one who prays it at its appointed times as Allāh, the Exalted, has commanded. And the one who sometimes delays it beyond its time, or neglects its obligations; this person is under the will of Allāh, the Exalted. And it may be that this person has voluntary prayers that complete his obligatory prayers as mentioned in the ḥadīth. This interpretation is also supported by the words of Imām Aḥmad; some of his later followers became known for the view of declaring the one who abandons prayer as a disbeliever without distinction, but his words indicate otherwise, so as not to contradict this authentic ḥadīth, especially since he included it in his "Musnad" just as he included the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah with the same meaning as mentioned earlier. His son ʿAbd Allāh mentioned in "Masaʾil" (55) saying: