Is the spread of shirk graves and the phenomenon of Sufism among the causes of the delay in the victory of the Muslims?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Is the existence of graves that are circumambulated, and the worship of others besides Allah in many Islamic lands today, where wrongs are exposed, and the spread of the phenomenon of Sufism, are these among the causes of the delay in the victory, the victory of Allah for the Muslims?

Answer:
Without a doubt, sins—sins that are less than shirk and less than kufr (disbelief)—are a cause for the defeat of the Muslims. Making sins permissible, or committing sins without making them permissible; when making them permissible is kufr, but if they commit sins, the sins become apparent among them, and they leave off forbidding what is wrong, so there is no forbidding of what is wrong and no enjoining of what is right, they have become deserving of punishment, they have earned the punishment of Allah the Exalted. So what about kufr and shirk? Nothing is more severe. Yes.