Does missing a prayer deliberately means to lose everything one has?

A friend of mine sent me the following message labeled as hadith: "Whoever misses prayer, it is as if he lost his family and property."

- Is there a hadith like that? If yes, how should we understand it?

Dear Brother / Sister,

In the hadith narrations, the afternoon prayer is mentioned.

Bukhari’s narration is as follows: “Whoever misses the Asr (afternoon) prayer (intentionally), it is as if he lost his family and property.” (Bukhari, Mawaqit, 14)

Muslim’s narration is as follows: ”He who misses the afternoon prayer, it is as though he has been deprived of his family and his property.” (Muslim, Masajid, 200-201)

It is indicated in the hadith how much a person actually loses when he deliberately misses a prayer, especially the afternoon prayer, without any excuse.  

The deeds of a person who abandons the afternoon prayers going down the drain means the thawabs of the deeds done by a person who abandons this prayer coming to nothing or decreasing or his being deprived of the witnessing of the angels in favor of him in the presence of Allah, which is mentioned in hadiths (see Bukhari, Mawaqit 16) Some scholars interpret it as follows: The thawabs of the deeds of a person decreases on the day when he abandons the afternoon prayer.

Ibn Malak states particularly that what is meant by it is not all of the previous deeds of a person who abandons the afternoon prayer going down the drain and mentions the following verse as his evidence:

"And if any of you Turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be companions of the Fire and will abide therein." (al-Baqara, 2/217)

What makes all deeds useless is exiting from the religion of Islam and dying as an unbeliever. Such hadiths are not evidence for a person who commits a major sin being regarded as an unbeliever as Kharijites claim or major sins eliminating righteous deeds as Mu'tazila claims.

However, it can be estimated how much a person loses and is wretched when he loses his family, wealth and property, and how much he is wretched if he loses only his material wealth. The loss and wretchedness of those who abandon prayers deliberately, without an excuse are like that. For, the greatest obligation and duty after belief in Islam is to perform prayers. A person who does not fulfill this greatest obligation is regarded to have gone bankrupt in the eye of Islam.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi said, “A person who does not perform prayers is a betrayer.” For, a person who deliberately harms the prayer, which is the greatest entrustment of Allah to him - as an obligation to be fulfilled and maintained – becomes a betrayer and he will be punished for betrayal.

The adhans that are called five times a day are appointments given by Allah to His slaves. It can be known by common sense how much a person who does not answer Allah’s call and breaks his appointments though he is invited five times a day is accused of betrayal.

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