If a Muslim falls into shirk (associating partners with Allah), is he considered a monotheist or a polytheist?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
A Muslim man says, "There is no god but Allah," but he has fallen into shirk (associating partners with Allah). Is it said that he balances his tawhid (the oneness of Allah) with his shirk?
Answer:
If he falls into shirk, it invalidates the phrase "There is no god but Allah," so he is not called a monotheist; he is called a polytheist. However, he may be ignorant, in which case this is explained to him and clarified for him.
A Muslim man says, "There is no god but Allah," but he has fallen into shirk (associating partners with Allah). Is it said that he balances his tawhid (the oneness of Allah) with his shirk?
Answer:
If he falls into shirk, it invalidates the phrase "There is no god but Allah," so he is not called a monotheist; he is called a polytheist. However, he may be ignorant, in which case this is explained to him and clarified for him.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، إذا وقع المسلم في الشرك هل يكون موحّدا أم مشركا؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.