How can a person still be Muslim if he reaches the point of being executed and still insists on not praying?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

This is a very good question, but those who say that such a
person is not a kaafir do not have a good answer. Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyah
(may Allaah have mercy on him) noted that this confusion arose among the later
fuqahaa, because this was not known among the Sahaabah, may Allaah have
mercy on them. As the questioner says, it is not possible that a person who
is threatened with execution for not praying would choose death over prayer
if there was even an atoms weight of Islam in his heart. This confusion
does not arise if we say that the one who does not pray is a kaafir. If we read
what Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said about this matter, this will dispel any
confusion.

He (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

In the case of one who believes that prayer is obligatory yet
still persists in not praying, the fuqahaa who have studied the matter
in detail mentioned a number of points:

The first of them is this point, which was stated by the majority
of them, Maalik, Al-Shaafai and Ahmad: if a person persists until he is
killed, is he killed as a kaafir and an apostate, or as a sinful Muslim like
other sinful Muslims, as stated in the two well-known views reported from Ahmad?
Such detailed discussion was not reported from the Sahaabah, and is excessive
and futile.

If the person believes in his heart that prayer is obligatory,
this will not allow him to persist in not doing it until he is executed. Such
a thing is not known among the sons of Adam, and has never happened in Islam.
It is unheard of for a person to believe that it is obligatory and to be told,
If you do not pray we will execute you and then to persist in not
doing it even though he believes it is obligatory. This has never happened in
Islam.

When a person refrains from praying until he is executed, he
does not really believe in his heart that it is obligatory and was not doing
it, so he is a kaafir, according to the consensus of the Muslims, as it was
stated in many reports that the Sahaabah would consider such a person to be
a kaafir. This is also indicated by the saheeh texts, such as the ahadeeth of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him):

Nothing stands between a person and Kufr except his giving
up prayer (narrated by Muslim).

The covenant that separates us from them is prayer, and
whoever gives up prayer has become a kaafir.

Abd-Allaah ibn Shaqeeq said: The companions of
Muhammad did not think that giving up any deed would make a person a kaafir
apart from giving up prayer.

Whoever persists in not praying and never prostrated to Allaah
at all until he dies, can never be a Muslim who believes that prayer is obligatory.
Believing that it is obligatory and that the person who does not do it deserves
to be executed is sufficient motive to make a person do it, for if a person
has the motive and ability to do something, it should be done. If he is able
to do it but he never does it, this indicates that the motive is not present
in his case.

(Majmoo al-Fataawa, 22/47-49)

Please also refer to Question #2182

And Allaah knows best.