The Ruling on Minor Shirk in the Hereafter

Question:
The Shaykh Abu 'Abdullah was asked: Is it possible that if a person dies upon major shirk, it will have an effect in Hell, or not?

Answer:
No, minor shirk does not necessitate eternal abode in Hell; because only the people of major shirk are eternal in Hell. If one associates partners with Allah, Allah has forbidden Paradise for him and assigned him the Fire. This is regarding major shirk. As for minor shirk, it does not take one out of the religion. As long as it does not take one out of the religion, its practitioner is not eternal in the Fire. His ruling is the ruling of the people of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) who commit major sins: they are punished in the Fire, then they come out of it into Paradise. However, the scholars differed on whether he is granted forgiveness such that he is forgiven and does not enter the Fire, as is the case with those who commit major sins, or whether he must be punished in Hell and then come out of the Fire without being forgiven? This is the point of disagreement. The disagreement is over whether he is forgiven and enters Paradise without punishment, or whether he must be punished for minor shirk? And this is the correct view: he must be punished due to the generality of the statement of Allah the Exalted: "associating partners with Him." This includes major shirk and major shirk. But he is not punished with a permanent, eternal punishment in the Fire like the worshipper of idols. Rather, he comes out of the Fire by the permission of Allah, because he is connected to tawhid, and this shirk does not contradict tawhid, nor does it oppose tawhid; it only diminishes it, a diminishment. Yes, there is a difference between diminishment and contradiction. Yes.