Is it permissible to call people first to virtues and then call them to tawhid (the oneness of Allah)?

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: If you call people today to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and abandoning shirk (associating partners with Allah), they may turn away from you because of their ignorance. But what happens? They may turn away from you because of their ignorance, but if you call them to the virtues of deeds and encourage them in the beauties of the religion, they will respond to you, and this will be a means, and this will be a means to calling them to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and declaring shirk (associating partners with Allah) wrong to them. What is your opinion of this statement?

Answer:
My brother, deeds are of no benefit in the presence of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Deeds are of no benefit in the presence of shirk. Just as you do not build a structure on a faulty foundation, so you must first establish the foundation and then build the deeds upon it. And calling people is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did. The Prophet did not come calling people at the outset to abandon riba (usury or interest), abandon zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), or to perform prayer and fasting; rather, he began with tawhid (the oneness of Allah). All the messengers begin with tawhid. So you are one person who wants to contradict all the messengers and create a method of da'wah (calling others to Islam) from your own mind? This is a great error. And therefore the da'wahs have failed; the majority, the majority of da'wahs today have failed, except for the da'wah of tawhid, which has succeeded, praise be to Allah. This is clear. Yes.