What is the correct interpretation of the hadith: "By Allah, I do not fear that you will associate partners with Allah after me, but I fear that you will compete for worldly possessions," which innovators use as an argument that polytheism will not occur in the Muslim nation?

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, performed the funeral prayer for the martyrs of Uhud and supplicated for them. He informed the Ummah that he did not fear shirk (polytheism) for them, because the Ummah as a whole is protected from it. Nevertheless, there are authentic texts that confirm the occurrence of shirk among some individuals of the Ummah, though not all of it. For instance, the worship of Lat and Uzza will occur at the end of time after the departure of the people of faith, just as the shaking of the buttocks of the women of Daws around Dhul-Khulasah is proof of the return of shirk. Supplicating to the dead, imploring them, and asking them to relieve distress is considered shirk by the consensus of Muslims, because this is precisely the action of the early polytheists who took saints as intermediaries to bring them closer to Allah. Their belief that venerating graves would intercede for them with Allah is the same belief the polytheists held concerning their idols.