Does a Muslim have the right not to pray?

April 26, 2020

Do We Muslims Have the Right to Not Pray, Fast or Wear Hijab?

Q. Does a Muslim have a right to choose whether to pray, fast, financially maintain family, or wear hijab? ♦ A. A Muslim may indeed decide not to pray. But do they have a “right” to choose not to pray? Well, not really. A Muslim man may decide not to maintain his family and dependents. Continue reading

correctives & clarifications, short read, theology

difference between sin and rejection, Does a Muslim have the right not to pray?, Does a Muslim have the right to disobey God?, Does a Muslim woman have the right not to wear hijab?

About Me

My name is Surkheel Sharif (aka Abu Aaliyah). Born and raised in London, England, I began my more formal, but gradual studies of the Islamic sciences around the late 1980s (just a few years after having quit my degree in Astrophysics). I also gained an MA in Islamic Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, in 2009.

I’ve translated a few Islamic works from Arabic into English; one of them, a short text on Muslim spirituality, called The Exquisite Pearl (2000). I have also authored a few books, including: More Fish Please & the Earth’s Complaint (2011); Fussing Over the 15th of Sha’ban & the Golden Rule of Differing (2011); A Muslim’s Guide to Modernity (2025); and Salafism Reconsidered (forthcoming)

I am the founder and current Director of the Jawziyyah Institute (est. 1999): a non-profit organisation dedicated to cultivating an Islam true to its time-honoured tradition, relevant to its current context, and of benefit to wider society.

Does a Muslim have the right not to pray?

Do We Muslims Have the Right to Not Pray, Fast or Wear Hijab?