What is the difference between an apostate polytheist and an original polytheist in terms of the sin of polytheism? And is the repentance of a polytheist accepted? And why was polytheism mentioned without disbelief in His Almighty’s saying: "Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills"?

The apostate and the original polytheist are similar in that both will abide eternally in Hell in the Hereafter, but they differ in this world. The rulings for an apostate are more severe: he is not to be left to practice his religion, his slaughtered animal is not to be eaten, he does not inherit from anyone, his Muslim relatives do not inherit from him, his inheritance becomes fay' (spoils of war) for the public treasury, and his marriage is invalid. The repentance of both is accepted.

As for the relationship between kufr (disbelief) and shirk (polytheism), it is well-known that kufr is more general than shirk; thus, every mushrik (polytheist) is a kafir (disbeliever), but not vice-versa. Some scholars are of the view that they are one and the same, meaning every kafir is a mushrik and every mushrik is a kafir. They cite as evidence the hadith: "Between a man and shirk and kufr is the abandonment of prayer," and that the verse: "Indeed, Allah does not forgive that association be made with Him" also includes kufr.