The Ruling on Supplicating to Other Than Allah Out of Ignorance of the Oneness of Allah

Question:
What is the ruling on Muslims who supplicate to other than Allah out of ignorance of the reality of tawhid (the oneness of Allah)?

Answer:
Their ruling is that their action is kufr (disbelief). Those who supplicate to other than Allah from among the dead, and call for aid to the dead, their action is kufr. The scholars differed on this: does he become a disbeliever in himself, or must he know? There are two opinions:
The first of which is: One opinion is that he must know; because his matter may have become confused due to the callers to falsehood and the bad scholars, and the matter became confused for him. So he must know, and he must be alerted before he is judged a disbeliever. This is the opinion of a group of scholars.
The second opinion is that he does not need clarification; because the matter is clear, and the entire Qur'an contains clarification of shirk (associating partners with Allah), and so does the Sunnah. The Messenger clarified that, and the scholars clarified that, so his kufr does not depend on clarification, but rather he is a disbeliever by this action.
However, he must be given the opportunity to repent before he is killed, if there is an Islamic state that holds him accountable. It does not kill him until it asks him to repent, saying to him: Repent to Allah and leave this shirk. If he repents and abandons it, praise be to Allah. If he persists in it, he is killed.
In any case, the matter is serious, and the opinion that he is a disbeliever by these actions alone is a strong opinion. But the more cautious approach is not to proceed with that until he is informed and directed to the good, and he knows, perhaps he will be guided if that is facilitated. But his ruling in this world is the ruling of disbelievers, as long as he does the actions of disbelievers; so his ruling in this world is like that of disbelievers, for he is not prayed over, not washed, and Muslims do not inherit from him.