A Christian woman is close to becoming Muslim and is married to a (Muslim) man who does not pray. What is the ruling on her marriage?
Question

                There is a Christian woman who lives in Canada and is married to a Muslim man. She wanted to find out about Islam, and she has learned a lot at close hand and wanted to embrace it some day, but she was frustrated because she sees that her husband is careless about prayer, and the matter is so bad that he stopped praying a few months ago, until now. After he lost his job, he started to stay at home and his wife is the one who works and spends on household expenses. He just sits at the computer, talks to women and watches permissive movies on the net. To make matters worse, the wife found out about that by means of spy programs. 

What advice can you offer them? Please note that scholars differ as to whether the one who does not pray is a kaafir. I hope that you can explain this issue to us according to both views. May Allaah bless you. And I hope that you could send us the answer in both Arabic and English. May Allaah reward you with good.
Praise be to Allah.
    Firstly: 

    The scholars are unanimously agreed that the one who does not 
    pray because he denies that it is obligatory is a kaafir who is doomed to 
    remain eternally in the fire of Hell if he dies in that state, but they 
    differed concerning the one who does not pray, not because he denies that it 
    is obligatory, but because he is lazy and heedless. The majority of them 
    said that he should be asked to repent, and if he repents all well and good, 
    otherwise he is to be executed as a hadd punishment. Others said that he 
    should be given a disciplinary punishment (ta’zeer) and imprisoned until he 
    starts to pray. So there are three opinions concerning this issue: 

    The first opinion: that the one who does not pray is a 
    kaafir, without differentiating between the one who denies it and the one 
    who is lazy. This is the view of the Sahaabah, and no difference of opinion 
    is known among them. Among those who hold this view are: Imam Ahmad (may 
    Allaah have mercy on him) according to the more correct of the two opinions 
    narrated from him, Ibn al-Mubaarak, Ishaaq ibn Raahawayh and Mansoor 
    al-Faqeeh among the Shaafa’is. It was also narrated from Abu’l-Tayyib ibn 
    Salamah among the Shaafa’is. 

    The second opinion: that the one who does not pray because he 
    is lazy and heedless, not because he denies it, is one of the evildoers 
    among the Muslims, but he is not a kaafir. However, he should be asked to 
    repent -- although they differed concerning the time that should be allowed 
    for that -- then if he repents, all well and good, otherwise he is to be 
    executed as a hadd punishment! Like the married adulterer, but he should be 
    executed with the sword. This is the view of Maalik and his companions, and 
    it is the view of al-Shaafa’i and most of his companions. 

    The view that someone like this should be executed as a hadd 
    punishment is subject to further discussion. We have explained the error of 
    this opinion in the answer to question number
    6035. 

    The third opinion: that the person who does not pray 
    deliberately, because he is lazy and heedless, although he acknowledges that 
    it is obligatory, is not a kaafir and should not be executed, rather he 
    should be given a disciplinary punishment (ta’zeer) and imprisoned until he 
    begins to pray. 

    This is the view of Imam Abu Haneefah (may Allaah have mercy 
    on him) and his companions, and of a number of the people of Kufah, Sufyaan 
    al-Thawri, and of al-Mazani the companion of al-Shaafa’i, but it is the 
    weakest of the opinions. 

    Many practical rulings are based on the difference in opinion 
    on the ruling on one who does not pray, such as: whether he inherits, 
    inheritance from him, whether he is to be washed and buried in the Muslim 
    graveyard, whether the funeral prayer is to be offered for him, ruling on 
    meat slaughtered or hunted by him, whether his marriage remains valid and 
    other rulings. 

    For those who say that the one who does not pray is a kaafir 
    -- even if he does not deny it is obligatory -- all the rulings on apostates 
    apply to him. So he cannot inherit or be inherited from, he cannot be washed 
    (after he dies), he cannot be buried in the Muslim graveyard, the funeral 
    prayer cannot be offered for him, meat slaughtered by him is not halaal and 
    his marriage contract becomes invalid. 

    For those who ruled that he is not a kaafir, the rulings 
    mentioned above do not apply to him; rather he is regarded as an evildoer 
    among the Muslims and one who is committing a major sin, but the majority of 
    them say that he should be asked to repent, then if he does not pray, he is 
    to be executed as a hadd punishment! Similarly -- in their view -- if he is 
    married to a Christian or Jewish woman, then his marriage contract is deemed 
    to be valid, and is the marriage contract between a Muslim man and a woman 
    from the People of the Book. 

    The more correct of these two opinions is the first one, 
    because of the apparent meaning of the evidence from the Qur'aan and Sunnah, 
    and because of the consensus of the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with 
    them) concerning that. 

    This is what was stated in fatwas by shaykhs such as: 
    Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem, ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Muhammad ibn Saalih 
    al-‘Uthaymeen, the scholars of the Standing Committee and others, despite 
    the difference of opinion concerning the hadd punishment which the one who 
    does not pray is thought to deserve. 

    Based on that: the marriage contract between this man and 
    that woman is a marriage contract between an apostate and the Christian 
    woman -- if she is still following her religion -- and her situation is less 
    serious than his, because she is a woman of the People of the Book, whilst 
    he is an apostate from his religion. 

    See also the answers to questions number
    2182,
    5208,
    33007 and
    10094. 

    Secondly: 

    With regard to the woman asked about, if she has become 
    Muslim, it is not permissible for her to stay with a man who does not pray. 
    The ruling on that has been discussed above in detail. 

    But if she is still a nonbeliever, then their are no rulings 
    that have to do with her marriage to him, because they are both not Muslim. 
    Neither of them is Muslim so that the rulings of sharee’ah would apply to 
    their marriage. 

    We advise her to leave this man and marry a man who is really 
    a Muslim. Because he does not pray, he is not regarded as a Muslim, and the 
    evils and sins that he commits are not part of the Muslim’s attitude. 
    Moreover, as seems to be the case to us from the question, he is lacking in 
    chivalry and decency, because he agrees to his wife going out to work and 
    bearing the burden of earning a living, whilst he sits at home. By Allaah, 
    his attitude would be wrong even if he were staying home to read Qur'aan and 
    pray, whilst his wife goes out to work and support him, so what should we 
    say about him when he is staying home to commit sin and evil? 

    What we say to this wife is: O female slave of Allaah, do not 
    look at the religion on the basis of its people or on the basis of one of 
    them; rather look at what there is in it of truth, goodness, honesty and 
    righteousness. As for the people, if your husband is as you describe, then 
    among the Muslims there are people who adhere to its etiquette, rulings and 
    morals and manners apart from this man. There are still people, among both 
    Muslims and non-Muslims, who are sincere, righteous and decent, and there 
    are some who are not like that. But the attitude of the Muslim, if he still 
    follows his religion properly is more sublime and more righteous and purer 
    than the attitude of others. Think about it and you will find that this is 
    true. Remember that most of the Muslims around you are interested in worldly 
    gains and greed, and they have gone against the rulings of their religion 
    which forbid living in the lands of the kuffaar for the sake of worldly 
    gains and greed, so what kind of attitude do you expect from them? Very few 
    of them adhere to the commands of their religion, or they are living there 
    for a reason which makes that permissible. 

    O female slave of Allaah, hasten and do not delay; do not let 
    people and their attitudes be a barrier between you and light from your 
    Lord. Every soul is a pledge for that which it has earned, and people will 
    be called to account on the Day of Resurrection one by one, and no soul will 
    bear the burden of another: it will get what it deserves, good or bad. So 
    come to the light that you have seen, and beware of delaying, lest darkness 
    overwhelm you and the light of guidance disappear. 

    If there is something that is keeping you away from the 
    light, remove it from your eyes no matter what it is, and hasten towards 
    your Lord on His straight path. 

    And Allaah knows best.