Is there no prayer without presence of heart?

Question

The disciples of some spiritual guides do not observe the prayer regularly, and some do not pray at all. If they are spoken to about the prayer, they reply that as long as the heart is not present, the prayer is not accepted. And some hold that performing the prayer only with the heart is sufficient. What is the Shari‘a ruling on these people?

Answer

The prayer is fard 'ayn (an individual obligation); one who denies its obligatoriness is an unbeliever, and one who abandons it without a Shari‘a excuse is a fasiq. The prayer is by no means performed with the heart alone; this belief is contrary to Islam.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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