his supplication, and there is nothing unlawful in that. This man’s mistake was that he addressed the person directly and made his request of him, whereas what he should have done was to use that person only as a means of approach to Allah and then ask Allah, Exalted is He, directly. Allah says, “Call upon Me and I will answer you” (40:60), and He teaches us to say, “You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help” (1:5). Thus, there is a vast difference between the error or ignorance of the one who slips and our pronouncing him a depraved, unbelieving polytheist who has no share with the community of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. The gulf between the two rulings is enormous.

His insinuation that denying the permissibility of seeking help from the dead is mere conjecture, not certainty

Another point: when we encounter the ignorant people whose condition we have described and see them err, we must distinguish between declaring them unbelievers—fuel for Hell—and simply clarifying to them that they have erred in what we judge and suppose. If we do the latter, they may abandon their mistake and accept what is right. But if you approach a man threateningly, thundering and foaming as though he deserved to be killed—while you magnanimously pardon him out of “kindness and generosity”—then what good will come of it?

A poet has said of this attitude:
If guidance were attained through abject submission,
I would see guidance in refusing to incline toward guidance!

His ignorance of the Sacred Law and the Prophetic hadith, and his blending into them what does not belong

Pharaoh, who claimed divinity and said, “I am your lord, the Most High” (79:24)… (the recording is disconnected here). In this there is gross exaggeration in praise. The man then urinated, and when he had finished, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—