What Do the Scholars Say About Loving Allah but Struggling to Pray?

Introduction

Many Muslims say that they love Allah and genuinely want to pray, yet struggle to establish the five daily prayers. Some feel distracted, inconsistent, exhausted, or overwhelmed. Others have left prayer for a long time and do not know how to begin again.

The question is not whether love for Allah matters. It certainly does. The question is how love relates to obedience, why salah carries such importance, and how Islamic scholars distinguish between neglecting prayer deliberately and facing genuine inability or difficulty.

The accompanying video emphasizes that love is more than words. Genuine love should motivate action and sacrifice. This article explains that message through the Qur’an, Sunnah, and classical scholarly discussion, while also clarifying important exceptions and differences among scholars.

A Note Before We Begin

This article does not represent our own religious ruling or fatwa and is not intended to tell readers which scholarly position they must follow.

The purpose of What Do the Scholars Say? is to explain established Islamic teachings, identify the positions of qualified scholars, and distinguish matters of broad agreement from matters of disagreement.

The video’s central message is motivational: loving Allah should move a person toward regular prayer. It does not itself discuss every reason someone may struggle. In particular, someone who is physically unable to perform prayer in its usual form, someone who forgets or sleeps through a prayer, and someone who intentionally neglects prayer are not necessarily treated alike in Islamic law.

Allah knows best.

Where Scholars Agree

The five daily prayers are obligatory upon adult Muslims who are legally accountable, subject to established exemptions such as menstruation and postnatal bleeding and the legal rules concerning capacity.

Prayer is among the central obligations of Islam. Scholars emphasize its importance as a practical expression of servitude, remembrance, gratitude, and obedience.

Scholars also distinguish between sincere attachment to Allah and the actual fulfillment of religious obligations. Claiming to love Allah is not a substitute for salah, but struggling to pray is not sufficient grounds for an ordinary person to pronounce judgment on someone’s heart or faith.

The Qur’an Connects Love With Following the Messenger ﷺ

Allah says: “Say, ‘If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.’” (Qur’an 3:31, translation of meaning).

Classical commentators, including Ibn Kathir, explain that this verse connects a person's claim to love Allah with following the guidance brought by the Prophet ﷺ. Love is therefore not merely a spoken claim. It has practical consequences.

The video expresses this through a familiar comparison: people who care deeply about someone make time, effort, and sacrifices for that relationship. The comparison is a motivational illustration, not a legal proof in itself. The religious basis is the revealed command to follow the Messenger ﷺ.

Why Is Salah So Important?

Allah says: “Establish prayer for My remembrance.” (Qur’an 20:14, translation of meaning).

He also says that prayer has been prescribed for believers at appointed times (Qur’an 4:103). Prayer is therefore not only a devotional preference that one performs whenever motivation is high; it is a prescribed obligation.

The Prophet ﷺ listed the establishment of prayer among the foundations of Islam. In the well-known hadith of Ibn Umar, Islam is described as built upon five, including establishing prayer (Sahih al-Bukhari 8; Sahih Muslim 16).

This explains why scholars consistently treat habitual neglect of salah as a very serious matter.

Does Loving Allah Make Prayer Automatically Easy?

Love for Allah should motivate obedience and make a person want to draw closer to Him. That is the central message of the transcript.

However, the statement that sincere love should make praying “very easy” is best understood as encouragement, not an infallible test of someone's faith or emotional state.

A person may love Allah and still struggle with habits, attention, exhaustion, fear, illness, or other difficulties. Religious commitment does not guarantee that worship will always feel effortless.

The Qur’an says: “Seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive.” (Qur’an 2:45, translation of meaning). The verse itself acknowledges that salah may feel weighty while emphasizing the value of humility and perseverance.

The practical response is to strive for prayer, seek assistance, and address genuine obstacles, rather than assuming that struggle itself proves an absence of love.

What About Someone Who Intentionally Leaves Prayer?

Scholars agree that deliberately neglecting obligatory salah without a valid excuse is a grave religious matter.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Between a man and shirk and disbelief is abandoning the prayer.” (Sahih Muslim 82a). Another narration describes prayer as the covenant distinguishing Muslims from others (Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi 2621).

These narrations are central to the classical discussion. Scholars differed, however, about whether a person who acknowledges prayer's obligation but abandons it out of laziness or neglect is thereby outside Islam.

That disagreement is important and should not be omitted when explaining the scholarly positions.

The Majority Classical Position on Neglecting Prayer

According to the well-known positions of the Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi‘i schools, a person who acknowledges that the five daily prayers are obligatory but neglects them out of laziness commits a very serious sin without automatically becoming a non-Muslim solely by that neglect.

These schools differ on legal penalties, procedures, and associated issues in classical law. Such historical discussions belong to qualified juristic and legal contexts, not private enforcement.

Scholars in these traditions understood the severe hadith warnings as demonstrating the enormity of abandoning prayer, while interpreting them alongside other evidence concerning faith, sin, and accountability.

The Hanbali Position and Other Scholarly Views

A prominent Hanbali position, associated with Imam Ahmad and supported by other scholars, treats deliberate abandonment of prayer as disbelief, even where a person verbally acknowledges that prayer is obligatory. Jurists disagreed about the precise circumstances and thresholds involved.

Other reports and positions within Hanbali scholarship discuss the issue differently. It is therefore important not to imply that every scholar within a school held a single formulation without qualification.

The crucial point is that both sides recognize prayer's extraordinary importance and rely on prophetic evidence. The dispute concerns the legal and theological classification of abandoning it, not whether neglecting salah is acceptable.

Individual declarations about someone's religious status are a further matter requiring qualification and investigation. A social media clip is not enough to judge a specific individual.

What If Someone Denies That Salah Is Obligatory?

Scholars distinguish the one who neglects prayer while admitting its obligation from the one who rejects its obligation altogether.

After the matter has been properly established and subject to relevant qualifications, denying a religious obligation known to be fundamental to Islam is treated much more seriously. The details relating to knowledge, misunderstanding, and individual accountability are matters for qualified scholars.

This distinction is one reason accurate questions matter: “I know I must pray, but I struggle” is not the same statement as “I do not believe Allah obligated prayer.”

What If Someone Genuinely Cannot Pray Normally?

Islamic law does not treat every form of inability as intentional neglect.

The Prophet ﷺ instructed an ill person to pray standing; if unable, sitting; and if unable, on their side (Sahih al-Bukhari 1117). Scholars explain that the form of prayer can be adapted according to genuine physical capacity.

Likewise, the Qur’an states that Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity (Qur’an 2:286).

These accommodations do not make salah unimportant. They show that Islamic law takes capacity seriously and provides ways to worship through hardship.

Someone with a particular health or functional limitation should seek reliable guidance about how to pray in their circumstances.

What If Someone Oversleeps or Forgets?

The Prophet ﷺ said that if a person forgets a prayer, they should pray it when they remember it (Sahih al-Bukhari 597). Related narrations address sleep and forgetting.

These situations are distinct from choosing to abandon obligatory prayer altogether.

A person should take reasonable measures to wake up and remember the prayer times, but the law also recognizes that genuinely unintentional lapses can occur.

What About Missed Prayers From the Past?

Scholars have discussed repentance and the treatment of missed prayers in considerable detail.

The majority of classical jurists generally required making up missed obligatory prayers, including those intentionally missed, alongside repentance. Other scholars took different positions concerning prayers missed deliberately and emphasized sincere repentance and increased worship.

Because the practical answer can depend on the circumstances and the school followed, readers with many missed prayers should consult a reliable scholar for a workable plan.

The present obligation should not be neglected while trying to resolve questions about previous missed prayers.

How Can Someone Who Struggles Begin Again?

A person who has stopped praying does not need to wait until prayer feels emotionally easy before taking the next step. The religious obligation is a reason to act, even while motivation remains imperfect.

Begin with the next obligatory prayer. Learn its essential requirements from a trustworthy source. Arrange daily routines and reminders around the appointed prayer times. If work, sleep, or other practical obstacles regularly interfere, identify changes that may help.

Ask Allah for assistance, keep good company, and seek patient guidance rather than relying only on guilt or fear.

The video's central point can be put simply: love for Allah should encourage us to return to Him through actions. Consistency is built by repeatedly answering the call to pray, including on days when it feels difficult.

Why Do Scholars Discuss Love and Action Together?

Classical scholars describe worship as involving inward states such as love, hope, humility, and fear, together with outward obedience.

Al-Ghazali, in Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din, explores how love of Allah and knowledge of Him are reflected in worship. Ibn al-Qayyim, in Madarij al-Salikin, likewise discusses love, servitude, and the spiritual stations of the believer.

These works offer spiritual explanations of why prayer is meant to become an act of devotion rather than an empty habit. They should not, however, be used to declare that someone who experiences difficulty in prayer cannot love Allah.

A legal obligation, a person's spiritual feelings, and a judgment about their inner state are three related but distinct questions.

A Useful Practical Distinction

• Someone who says “I love Allah” but deliberately refuses to pray is not in the same position as someone who believes prayer is obligatory, sincerely wants to establish it, and struggles with consistency.

• A person physically unable to stand may still fulfill prayer while sitting or lying down, as applicable.

• A person who truly forgot or overslept should pray upon remembering or waking, according to the relevant prophetic guidance.

• An individual who denies the obligation of salah raises a separate theological question.

• These categories should not be collapsed into one judgment merely because each person uses the words “I cannot pray.”

Conclusion

The message of the video is rooted in an important Islamic principle: love for Allah should not remain only a verbal claim. The Qur’an connects love with following the Messenger ﷺ, and salah is among the most important expressions of that obedience.

The five daily prayers are obligatory and deliberately neglecting them is extremely serious. Scholars differed about the theological classification of someone who abandons them out of laziness while still acknowledging their obligation, but they did not disagree about their importance.

At the same time, genuine difficulty is not always willful neglect. Islamic law recognizes exemptions and accommodations for circumstances such as illness, menstruation, sleep, and forgetfulness. The presence of difficulty does not allow us to judge another person's love for Allah.

The constructive response to struggling with prayer is to return to the next salah, seek Allah’s help, learn the relevant rulings, and work toward consistency.

This article explains recognized scholarly teachings and positions. It is not our own fatwa, nor a judgment about any particular person's faith.

Allah knows best.

References

1.Qur’an 3:31: Love for Allah and following the Messenger ﷺ.

2.Qur’an 20:14: Establish prayer for Allah’s remembrance.

3.Qur’an 4:103: Prayer prescribed at appointed times.

4.Qur’an 2:45: Seeking help through patience and prayer.

5.Qur’an 2:286: Responsibility according to capacity.

6.Sahih al-Bukhari 8; Sahih Muslim 16: The five foundations of Islam.

7.Sahih Muslim 82a: The warning concerning abandoning prayer.

8.Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi 2621: Prayer as the covenant.

9.Sahih al-Bukhari 1117: Prayer while standing, sitting, or lying on the side according to capacity.

10.Sahih al-Bukhari 597: Performing a forgotten prayer upon remembering.

11.Ibn Qudamah, Al-Mughni: Discussions of the rulings on one who abandons prayer.

12.Al-Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim, commentary on Hadith 82: The legal and theological significance of abandoning salah.

13.Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azim, commentary on Qur’an 3:31.

14.Al-Ghazali, Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din: Discussions of love of Allah and worship.

15.Ibn al-Qayyim, Madarij al-Salikin: Discussions of love, servitude, and spiritual practice.