What is the impact of exaggeration regarding the awliya (close friends of Allah) on the Muslim's creed?

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Question:
Shaykh Salih, some people have exaggerated regarding the righteous awliya and drawn near to them through vows and acts of worship. How does this affect the Muslim's creed, Honorable Shaykh?

Answer:
There is no doubt that exaggeration regarding the righteous and exaggeration regarding the scholars leads to shirk (associating partners with Allah). Allah (Exalted and Majestic) prohibited this exaggeration in His saying:

O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ

[An-Nisa 4:171]

The Messenger of Allah, because they exaggerated regarding al-Masih (Jesus) and said he is the son of Allah, or he is Allah, or the third of three,

O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ

[An-Nisa 4:171]

and a spirit from Him. So Allah (Exalted and Majestic) refuted their exaggeration regarding al-Masih, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to his companions: "Beware of exaggeration, for indeed exaggeration destroyed those who came before you." Exaggeration regarding a person is elevating him above his proper status and claiming that he has some control over lordship, or giving and withholding, or the like. Part of this exaggeration is regarding the people of the graves, to the point that they worshipped them instead of Allah.
Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said:

And they worship other than Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allah

وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ هَٰؤُلَاءِ شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِندَ اللَّهِ

[Yunus 10:18]

This indicates that whoever worships a created being instead of Allah and believes that it benefits and harms without Allah, has taken it as a god and taken it as a lord, a partner for Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Yes.

Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 13 من 29|أسئلة شرح كتاب التوحيد|توحيد الألوهية|ما خطر الغلو في الأولياء على عقيدة المسلم؟ — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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