Did Ibn Taymiyyah excuse those who seek aid from the Prophet or a saint so that their faith would not be afflicted? And do some scholars consider seeking supplication or intercession from the deceased to be major shirk? And is it permissible to supplicate to someone absent from their grave, believing that Allah enables them to hear?

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah held the view that seeking aid from other than Allah is major shirk (polytheism) that expels one from the fold of Islam. However, he excused the ignorant in these polytheistic actions, believing that an individual cannot be judged as an apostate until the proof (hujjah) has been established against him. He clarified that the worship of polytheists for other than Allah was through their supplication and their taking of intermediaries, means, and intercessors. Thus, whoever follows this path is a polytheist, and if the proof is established against him and he does not desist, he must be killed. As for the ignorant person who has not received knowledge and does not know the reality of shirk, he is not judged as an apostate, especially with the widespread nature of this shirk among those who attribute themselves to Islam. It is obligatory upon Muslims and those in authority to forbid these matters and to punish those who do not desist from them.