Is it necessary to investigate the biography of an ancestor to ensure their freedom from what was mentioned in Fatwa No. (387931) regarding being pleased with shirk, loving it, or condoning it, or is it sufficient to rely on the apparent fact of their burial and the prayer performed over them, and to assume their Islam? And what is the ruling on one who believes in the Islam of a person who committed major shirk and excuses them due to ignorance? And is one sinful for adopting the view of Ibn Uthaymeen and Al-Albani regarding the condition of establishing proof before declaring someone a disbeliever?

The deceased grandfather is treated as a Muslim, by supplicating for him and giving charity on his behalf. The fundamental principle is that the Islam of one whose Islam has been established with certainty remains, and an individual is not judged to be a disbeliever unless the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are met and its impediments are absent. The statement of Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen and others regarding the excuse of ignorance in matters of belief is considered valid and preponderant. He holds that the disagreement on the issue of the excuse of ignorance is a matter of ijtihad (definition) (independent reasoning) and may be merely semantic in applying the ruling to a specific person. Ignorance of an act of disbelief is of two types: First, one who does not profess Islam, and his judgment in the Hereafter is with Allah. Second, one who professes Islam but lived upon an act of disbelief and no one alerted him; his apparent ruling in this world is that of a Muslim, and his matter in the Hereafter is with Allah.