Remainder of the answer: What is the ruling on one who believes that the awliya (close friends of Allah) can bring benefit and harm, yet he believes in Allah and prays, then dies? Is he to be treated as a disbeliever?

The Shaykh : But they say: We are Muslims, we pray, we give charity, we fast, we perform Hajj, we strive, and we pray at night, but they know nothing about this matter, and no one has informed them of it or told them about it. So these people are excused due to their ignorance, and they are ruled to be Muslims.
As for the one who is informed that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah) but he persists and says: This is the religion of my fathers and grandfathers, and I cannot deviate from it, then he is ruled to be a disbeliever, because his statement is like the statement of those who said: