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Fatwa CenterHusband Doesn't Pray and Manages Hotel That Sells Alcohol
Question
I live with my husband in New York. He works in a restaurant, whereas you know in America restaurants serve liquors. He is the manager of this restaurant. He is a perfect husband, very responsible, thoughtful of me and the need of his home, but his problem is that his does not care about his religion. He does not pray, give Zakah; the only thing he does is the fasting. Whenever I discuss religion with him he gets angry and he changes the subject. I really love him because he has many good qualities except for religion, but I don't feel comfortable because a part of his money is Haram. I was raised in a conservative family, and I am pregnant and I am wondering how can I give my children Islamic education if the head of house, the father, does not care.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Managing or working in a place where alcohol is sold is forbidden. A Muslim should not work there regardless of the nature of his work, because this is a place where the mother of sins is being promoted. The Prophet said: “Allah has cursed wine, its presser, the one who demands it to be pressed, its drinker, its carrier, the one to whom it is conveyed, its server, its seller, its buyer, the one who consumes its price, its purchaser and the one for whom it is purchased.” [At-Tirmithi and Ibn Maajah]
As for abandonment of prayer, that is the greatest calamity. The scholars are unanimous that whoever abandons prayer in denial of its obligation, he has committed major disbelief that takes one out of the fold of Islam. But if one abandons the prayer out of laziness or indifference, though he believes that it is obligatory, then the preponderant opinion among the opinions of the scholars is that he has also become a disbeliever and gone out of the fold of Islam. This is what the Sharee’ah pieces of evidence imply. The Prophet said: “The line of demarcation between a man and disbelief or Shirk is abandonment of prayer.” [Muslim]
Some scholars, however, said that, ‘the one who abandons prayer out of laziness or indifference has not committed an act of major disbelief.’ They said that his disbelief is minor.
As regards failure to pay Zakaah, it is one of the greatest sins and the highest acts of stinginess.
The Prophet said: “Whomever Allah gives money to and he fails to pay the Zakaah due on it, on the Day of Resurrection, his wealth will be presented to him in the shape of a bald-headed poisonous male snake with two poisonous glands in its mouth, it will encircle itself round his neck and bite him over his cheeks and say: I am your wealth; I am your treasure.’ Then the Prophet recited the verse in which Allah Says (what means): {And let not those who [greedily] withhold what Allah has given them of His bounty ever think that it is better for them. Rather, it is worse for them. Their necks will be encircled by what they withheld on the Day of Resurrection. And to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. And Allah, with what you do, is [fully] Acquainted.} [Quran 3: 180]
Based on the above, we are telling our dear sister that it is her obligation to explain to her husband the Islamic ruling regarding anyone who abandons the prayer, that he is a Kafir (disbeliever); and that selling wine or assisting in selling it in any way is also forbidden and that whoever does it is accursed. You should also explain to him that refusal to pay Zakaah is forbidden as well. Your husband might have been ignorant of these things or unheedful of them. If he realizes all this and sincerely returns to Allah in repentance, that is excellent.
But if he persists on what he is doing, you should then raise this matter to those who have the authority to rescue you from him (to separate you from him), because there is no good for you in him. The Muslim woman should not be a wife to a Kafir. And the erudite scholars have ruled that whoever abandons prayer is an unbeliever.
We are also calling your attention to the fact that you should admonish and correct your husband in a polite and gentle manner; perhaps, Allah will guide him to the right path through your good method. If Allah guides a single man through you, that is better for you than having the world and all that is in it, as your possession, especially if the guided man is your husband and your life companion.
We pray that Allah delivers you from every distress and gives you a way out of every difficulty.
For more benefit on the prohibition of alcohol in Islam, please refer to Fataawa 81900, 81389, and 81461.
For more benefit on the ruling on abandoning the prayer or delaying it, please refer to Fataawa 384457, 377344, 88016, 84178, 83565, 87587, 90926, 88690 and 84403.
Allah knows best.
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