The Difference Between the Shirk of the First People and the Shirk of the Later People

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, is it true that the difference between the worship of idols in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) and the worship of graves in the present time is that the first people associated partners with Allah in oneness of worship (tawhid al-uluhiyyah) but not in oneness of lordship (tawhid al-rububiyyah), whereas the later people associated partners with Allah in both oneness of worship and oneness of lordship?

Answer:
There is no doubt that the later people are more severe, as Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned that the shirk of the later people is more severe than the shirk of the first people. First, the first people’s shirk was only in times of ease, whereas in times of hardship they would direct their worship and supplication to Allah. As for the later people, their shirk in times of hardship is more severe than their shirk in times of ease; it is more severe than their shirk in times of ease.
The second point is that the first people only worshipped righteous people because they claimed that they would intercede for them with Allah. As for the later people, they worship people whom they acknowledge are among the most sinful of people. People worship Ibn Arabi, who is well known for being the most prominent advocate of the unity of existence (wahdat al-wujud) on earth, and Badawi, and they know that he is among the most sinful of people, and that he has no deed except that he urinated in the mosque and left on Friday. Do they consider this a karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person)?
They worship him, and they know that those whom they worship do not pray. They say that the religious obligations have been lifted from them; they have no prayer, and no fasting. These are the poles (aqtub) and the origins (aslat). So the shirk of the later people has increased beyond the shirk of the first people. The first people worshipped a tree, or trees, or things that did not disobey Allah the Exalted and Majestic, even though that is major shirk (shirk akbar) and a cause of separation from Islam. But the one who worships the dawn, the open sinners (fasiq), those who do not pray, who drink intoxicants (khamr), who practice sorcery (sihr) and commit unlawful sexual intercourse (zina), and who say these are the close friends of Allah (awliya) and that no obligations are upon them, so they do not pray to Allah and do not need Him—this is more severe than the shirk and worship of the first people.