Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la

in his Musnad (2349), al-Laalkaa’i in Sharh I‘tiqaad Ahl as-Sunnah

(1576), Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in al-Istidhkaar (2/154) via Mu’ammil ibn

Ismaa‘eel: Hammaad ibn Zayd told us: ‘Amr ibn Maalik an-Nukri told us,

from Abu’l-Jawza’, from Ibn ‘Abbaas – Hammaad said: I do not know but that

he attributed it to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)

– he said: “The bonds of Islam and the foundations of the faith are three,

on which Islam is based; whoever forsakes one of them becomes a

disbeliever thereby whose blood may be shed. (They are) the testimony that

there is no God but Allah, the prescribed prayer, and fasting in

Ramadan.”

This is a da‘eef (weak) hadeeth;

there are several problems with it:

Firstly: Mu’ammil ibn Isma‘eel

has a poor memory. Abu Haatim said: He is sadooq and strictly adheres to the

Sunnah, but makes many mistakes. Al-Bukhaari said: his hadeeth is to be

rejected. Abu Zar‘ah said: there are many mistakes in his hadeeth.

Mizaan al-I‘tidaal

(4/228)

Secondly: it is mawqoof.

Someone who is more trustworthy disagreed with it and ended the isnaad with

Ibn ‘Abbaas.

Ibn Rajab said:

It was narrated by Qutaybah

from Hammaad ibn Zayd, who narrated it as a mawqoof hadeeth, and left it

incomplete and cut it short.

It was also narrated by Sa‘eed

ibn Zayd – the brother of Hammaad – from ‘Amr ibn Maalik in a marfoo‘ report

(i.e., attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon

him)).

The more correct view is that

it is mawqoof and the isnaad ends with Ibn ‘Abbaas.

End quote from Fath al-Baari

(1/23-24)

Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah

have mercy on him) said:

It is most likely that this

hadith, if it has a basis that was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas, is mawqoof and

the isnaad ends with him. Hammaad ibn Zayd was hesitant about attributing it

to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). Yes, S ‘eed ibn

Zayd, the brother of Hammaad, confirmed that it is to be attributed to the

Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), but this Sa‘eed cannot

be taken as an authority, as as-Sa‘di said. An-Nasaa’i and others said: He

is not qawiy (strong).

End quote from Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth

ad-Da‘eefah (1/212).

Thirdly: ‘Amr ibn Maalik an-Nukri

was not regarded as trustworthy by anyone except Ibn Hibbaan. He is one of

the unknown narrators, because Ibn Hibbaan (may Allah have mercy on him) was

lenient in regarding narrators as trustworthy, but despite that he said in

his biography of him: His hadeeth, other than those narrated from him by his

son, are regarded as containing errors and being odd.

See: at-Tahdheeb (8/96)

Therefore this hadeeth is

da‘eef and is not saheeh in any report, whether it is attributed to the

Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or otherwise. It was

classed as da‘eef by al-Albaani in ad-Da‘eefah (94).

Even if we were to assume that

it is proven, it is to be understood – with regard to things other than the

prayer – as being a stern warning and that the disbelief mentioned is a

lesser kind of disbelief (minor kufr), or it is to be understood as

referring to the one who thinks it is permissible not to do these things.

Ibn Rajab said:

Ibn ‘Abbaas regarded forsaking

these pillars of Islam as constituting disbelief, but in some cases it is

disbelief that makes shedding blood permissible, and in other cases it is

not. This indicates that in some cases disbelief puts one beyond the pale of

Islam, and in other cases it does not.

Most of the scholars of hadeeth

are of the view that abandoning prayer constitutes disbelief, unlike other

pillars of Islam. This was narrated from them by Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi

and others.

End quote from Fath al-Baari

(1/25)

Al-Mannaawi (may Allah have

mercy on him) said:

This hadeeth is more akin to a

warning and highlights the seriousness of the matter, or may be understood

as referring to the one who regards it as permissible to abandon these

pillars.

End quote from Fayd al-Qadeer

(4/311)

Secondly:

It was narrated by Imam Ahmad

(25121), Abu Ya‘la (4566), and al-Haakim (49) from ‘Aa’ishah that the

Messenger of Allah (blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There

are three things I swear to: Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, does

not regard one who has a share in Islam like one who does not have a share.

The shares of Islam are three: prayer, fasting and zakaah. Allah, may He be

glorified and exalted, does not take care of anyone in this world then

abandon him to someone else on the Day of Resurrection. And no man loves

people but Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will join him to them.

And there is a fourth thing – if I swear to it, I hope that I will not be

sinning: Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, does not conceal a person’s

faults in this world but He will also conceal his faults on the Day of

Resurrection.”

It was classed as saheeh by al-Haakim.

Al-Haythami said:

It was narrated by Ahmad and

its men are thiqaat (trustworthy). It was also narrated by Abu Ya‘la.

End quote from Majma‘

az-Zawaa’id (1/37)

Al-Busayri said in Ithaaf

al-Kheerah (1/102): Its isnad is jayyid

It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani

in as-Saheehah (1387)

This is the correct view. As

for the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas, it is da‘eef and is not saheeh as either a

marfoo‘ report or a mawqoof report, as stated above, so it cannot be quoted

as evidence.

See also the answer to question

no. 9400 and 106481

And Allah knows best.