Evaluating the views of those believing in heresy of those who abandoned the "Salat"

One of the issues that concerns the jurists is whether someone who abandons Praying is a pagan or not? The Muslim jurists maintain that if leaving the praying leads to denying the praying, this is Kufr. But the question is that if this do not lead to denying the act of praying, what is the verdict?  The majority of jurists believe that not performing the praying without denying it, will not lead to Kufr. Most of contemporary Takfiri Groups have accepted the Takfir idea. They mention the verse (9:11) and the Holy prophet quotation: "the border between the man and Kufr is abandoning the praying". But care must be taken that in above verse the literal meaning is not intended, rather it means that abandoning the praying is hateful. With regard to quotation of the Holy prophet, this quotation is about abandoning the praying intentionally. Furthermore, there is no correlation between abandoning praying and lack of faith.