Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Prayer is the second and the most important pillar of Islam after the shahadah. So, a good Muslim should never neglect it. Otherwise, he or she is indulgent with a main pillar of his or her religion.
In his response to your question, Dr. El-Sayed Amin, a lecturer of Islamic Studies in English, School of Languages and Translation, al-Azhar University, Cairo:
You need to admonish your wife employing a gentle approach to the importance of prayer.
For achieving this, I advise you to:
1- Avoid being argumentative with her but treat her kindly and nicely as ordered by Islam as it is through nice approaches that Muslims’ homes can be constructed and not the other way round.
2- Bring to home CDs, Video, and Cassettes about the importance of prayer.
3- Try your best that your wife is encircled with committed Muslims sisters who are regular-mosque worshipers.
4- Accompany your wife to local and national Muslim functions such as lectures and festivals.
5- Get closer to your wife remembering your days of mutual love as well as full commitment.
6- In all your approaches, I advise you to be gentle and communicate your advice quietly and softly.
7- Pray for your wife to regain her commitment to prayer.
May Allah soften her hear to accept the truth.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.