‘Umar’s statement “There is no share in Islam for whoever abandons the prayer.”

‘Umar’s statement “There is no share in Islam for whoever abandons the prayer.”

Al-Batlayushi said:
It is possible that he was dismissing any share [in Islam] and that he considered [the one who doesn’t pray] the same as all other disbelievers. It is also possible that he meant that [the one who doesn’t pray] doesn’t have a large share in Islam but was not dismissing his Islam altogether, like his saying (saw) “There is no prayer for the neighbour of the mosque except in the mosque” or “There is no faith for the one who is not trustworthy” and the like where what is meant is dismissing completeness and perfection, not dismissing the whole thing.

Taken from al-Batlayushi’s (d.521H) Mushkilat Muwatta’ al-Imam Malik, p.63 (Dar Ibn Hazm, 1999).

Al-Batlayushi was an Andalusian scholar from Valencia who was one of the greatest linguists of his time as well as an expert in usul al-fiqh and hadith. His most important works are a commentary of Malik’s Muwatta’ entitled al-Muqtabas and his Insaf on the causes of difference of opinion amongst jurists. Ibn ‘Atiyya, al-Qadi ‘Iyad and Ibn Bashkwal are amongst his most famous students. He was Maliki, but I don’t know anything about his ‘aqida.