How can one return to prayer and overcome the whispers of Satan, religious doubts, and laziness, with a detailed explanation of the steps for doing so? What is the fatwa that should be followed regarding one who abandons prayer? And does following dispensations invalidate the fatwa?

Neglecting prayer is one of the greatest destructive sins. One must maintain it without needing to utter the Shahadatayn (the two testimonies of faith) or perform ghusl (ritual bath). The cure for obsessive whispers (waswas) is to ignore them. Allah is merciful to His servants, and He has legislated the religion for them to attain Paradise. One must expel the whispers of Satan. Whispers do no harm as long as you detest them. Steadfastness and uprightness are achieved through the remembrance of Allah, the company of the righteous, attending gatherings of knowledge, contemplating death, Paradise, and Hellfire, and striving against the self. There is no harm in adopting the view of the majority scholars who do not consider the one who abandons prayer to be a disbeliever, but abandoning it is a greater sin than other major sins. One must repent, become upright, and abandon the whispers. There is no harm in following a scholar whom you trust, even if his opinion is less strict.