Delaying the prayer or giving it up is forbidden
22-12-2005 | IslamWeb
Question:
My question is: I want to know which one of the following is worse, praying but not praying on time that means you join the praying in the evening for no reason. Or not praying at all? And when you answer Inshaa Allaah I would like to know where you found this information.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
Abandoning the prayer and delaying it from its prescribed fixed time without a valid reason are both acts which are considered forbidden and this is very bad. Abandoning the prayer is an act that takes the person out of the fold of Islam as per Fatwa 84235, and the person who delays the prayer from its prescribed fixed time without a sound religious reason is threatened to enter Hellfire. Allaah Says (what means): {So woe to those who perform the prayer. Those who delay their prayer from their stated fixed time.}[Quran 107:4-5]. Allaah further Says (what means): {But there has succeeded them a prosperity who have given up prayers [i.e. made their prayers to be lost either by not offering them or by not offering them perfectly or by not offering them in their proper fixed times] and have followed desires; so they will be thrown in Hellfire.}[Quran 19:59]. Ibn Mas’ood 
interpreted the Arabic word Ghay [being thrown in Hell] by a deep well in Hellfire with a very bad taste. Therefore, every Muslim is obliged to fear Allaah and perform the prayer at its prescribed fixed time and should know that he/she will stand before Allaah in a Day that is 50,000 years long, and he/she will not find therein except the deeds that one did in this life. The Prophet 
said: "The first thing a person will be judged about on the Day of Judgement is his prayer, if his prayers are accepted, then he will be successful, and if his prayers are rejected, he will be among the losers." [Ahmad and An-Nasaa’ee]
Moreover, it should be noted that some scholars
are even of the opinion that whoever abandons one prayer until its prescribed fixed time is over without a valid reason goes out of the fold of Islam, and some of them are even of the view that whoever abandons one prayer until its prescribed fixed time is over without a valid reason then it will not be accepted from him even if he makes it up after its time. Therefore, one should be very careful about abandoning the prayer or being neglectful in performing it as it is the most important pillar of Islam after the two testimonies of faith. Being neglectful about performing prayers is one of the characteristics of hypocrites as Allaah informed us about their laziness in performing it. Allaah Says (what means): {And when they [the hypocrites] stand for the prayer, they stand lazily, showing [themselves to] the people and not remembering Allah except a little.}[Quran 4:142].
Allaah Knows best.