BENEFIT: Prayer behind innovators who commit acts of Shirk

Question: O noble father, may Allah preserve you, what is the ruling on praying behind some imams who commit acts of shirk, like asking Allah by the status of the Prophet and similar things? And may Allah reward you with good. Shaykh Al-Albani rahimahullah: We have spoken about this issue in some gatherings, and I do not know now, the time is close to nine o'clock, so the five minutes we have will be enough for us to speak about this question. First, it is not permissible to rush to declare takfir on some people of innovation merely because they fall into something from it, before the scholars establish the proof against them according to what is known from the principles of the Shariah, that disbelievers are judged as disbelievers only after the proof of Allah is established against them, as in His saying, the Exalted: {And We would never punish until We send a messenger} and as in his saying, peace and blessings be upon him, as narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: ((There is no man from this Ummah, whether Jewish or Christian, who hears of me and then does not believe in me, except that he will enter the Fire.)). So the one who enters the Fire is the one to whom the proof of the message of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, reaches and then he does not believe in it. Upon this, the Muslim scholars are unanimous. Therefore, the righteous predecessors in their creeds, which the later generations inherited from them, say that prayer is valid behind every righteous and sinful person, and that the funeral prayer can be offered over the deceased whether he was righteous or sinful, and they do not declare takfir on one who testifies that there is no diety worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, except after the proof of Allah is established against him. When we know this fact and see that some Islamic groups have fallen into clear innovated acts of shirk that cannot be interpreted as anything other than shirk, it is not permissible to rush to declare takfir except after establishing the proof. And I believe that the proof for many people, especially the non-Arabs who do not understand the Arabic language, and especially those who were not guided to Islam before, neither they nor their fathers, like Europeans and Americans and similar ones, it is not easy to say that the proof of Allah has been established against them, because this is the speech of Allah recited to them night and day. You know that many Arab Muslims do not understand the words of the Lord of the Worlds, so how can we think that the non-Arab disbelievers understood the Qur'an and that the proof of Allah was established against them? This is first. Second, some innovations are not shirk, but rather can be considered as error, misguidance, or innovation, because shirk is a great matter as our Lord said in the Noble Qur'an: {Indeed, Allah does not forgive that shirk be committed with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.} The previous example mentioned in the question, which is that they seek intercession by the status of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. This is undoubtedly an error and contrary to the Sunnah, and this has a lengthy discussion, and the time has passed nine o'clock, but it is necessary to complete this observation. Seeking intercession by the status of the Messenger, or the one who seeks intercession by the status of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, likening the Creator to the created, as we used to hear this often in our country of Syria, and we had debates and discussions with some misguided innovators, and one of them would address the issue with his crooked and deviated mind and say: If a person has a need from an emir or a minister, does he go to him and ask him to fulfill his need, or does he bring a mediator between him and that