Shāh Ábd al-Ázīz al-Ĥanafī al-Naqshbandī Muĥaddith al-Dihlawī [1159-1238 AH / 1746-1823 CE] asked about idol worship and seeking help from the Awliya:
Question: Some Idol-worshipper asked for help from an idol, a scholar forbade him by saying that he should not commit shirk, the idol-worshipper said in return, If I believe that the idol is co-partner with Allah and I worship it due to this factor then It will be shirk, whereas If my belief is that the Idol is some creation and this is why I “WORSHIP” it then why would it be shirk? The scholar replied: It has come as Mutawatir in Quran that Help should not be sought from Ghayr Ullah, at this the Idol-worshipper replied: why do human beings then ask one another for help? The scholar replied: The men are alive and asking them is not forbidden, whereas your idols such as Kanhiya, Kalka etc… are dead, they are not capable of doing anything, hearing this the Idol-worshipper replied again:
But you people ask the Ahlul Quboor for help and intercession, hence this constitutes that you also do shirk, In summary the same way you take people of graves in exactly the same way we take the “PICTURES” of Kanhiya, Kalka etc… therefore literally there is no power held by people of graves and idols, but If you say that people of graves have Batini power due to which they can help us then note that help is even given by idols at certain times, If you say that you only want Shaf’aat through the people of graves then we also only want Shaf’aat from the idols
Answer: "IN THIS QUESTION THERE IS DOUBT BEING CREATED (BY IDOL WORSHIPPER)" at certain instances, we should be aware of them; Now Insha'Allah with the grant of Allah the answer to this question will be made clear
1. First of all, asking for help is something different whereas worship is something totally different, the ordinary Muslims have this problem that they seek help from people of graves in ways which is against shariah, "BUT STILL THEY DO NOT WORSHIP THEM"whereas the idol-worshippers not only ask for help from idols but they worship them too, Worship means that one should prostrate to someone (with ibadah), or one circulates around something with the intention of worship, one does wird of some name to get closer, or one slaughters any animal on that name, or one calls himself a creation of someone, hence any ignorant who does such a thing to people of graves such as he prostrates to people of graves (with ibadah) then he will become kafir and shall be expelled from Islam.
2. The second thing to be noted from the question is that “Beseeching for help” is of 2 types, first is that a Makhlooq asks another Makhlooq, for example the servants ask a certain Ameer or king for help, the Awaam un naas ask help from Awliya in a way i.e. the awliya should make dua in the court of Allah so that by Allah’s order our certain problem is solved, "TO ASK HELP IN THIS FASHION WHETHER FROM SOMEONE ALIVE OR DEAD IS PERMITTED"
3. The third way is of asking help for things which are specifically in Qudrah of Allah, such as to grant a boy, send rainfall, cure diseases, increase the life span and other such things which are Khaas in Allah’s Qudrah (IF WITH THE BELIEF THAT THIS IS INDEPENDENT OF ALLAH [Bil Istiqlal]) if for these things someone asks any Makhlooq and his ”INTENTION IS NOT” that the Makhlooq makes dua in court of Allah so that through Allah’s order our problem is solved, then this is Mutlaqqan haram rather Kufr...
Hindus/Idol worshipers do not know intercession
...or If someone asks from Awliya in this non-permitted way considering them to have personal complete Qudrah "WHETHER THEY ARE ALIVE OR DEAD THEN SUCH A PERSON HAS LEFT ISLAM"
The Idol-worshippers also ask help from their false deities in this non-permitted way, and they consider this prohibited matter as allowed, Note that it is known from the question that "THE IDOL-WORSHIPPER CLAIMS THAT HE ONLY ASKS FOR INTERCESSION THROUGH IDOLS" just like you people ask for intercession from Prophets and Awliya, we should know that this Kalaam (of idol-worshipper) "IS NOT EMPTY FROM DECEPTION AND FRAUD, BECAUSE THE IDOL-WORSIPPERS NEVER SEEK INTERCESSION, RATHER THEY DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF INTERCESSION" nor is their intention based on intercession.
Intercession means to make Sifarish i.e. one person for the fulfillment of another asks the third, the idol-worshippers do not think like this nor do they say to the idols that they should do our Shaf’aat in court of Allah, rather these people specifically want their problems to be solved by idols, and what this idol-worshipper said that the way you consider people of graves, we also consider our pictures of Kanhiya and Kalka, then this is also “WRONG UPON WRONG” because it is proven that the body is put in grave after death, "WITH THIS BODY THE LINK OF RUH REMAINS" because the Ruh had stayed in body for a long time, the idol-worshippers do not do Tadhim of their graves (rather they have no graves), they declare the pictures/stones/trees/rivers as a pictures of Falana, whereas the Ruh of it has no link with these things…
The people of graves who are asked for help, their traits are well known, they have become of upright/saliheen whereas (idols) like Sateela, Masaani are meaningless names, their existence is not proven, rather the idol-worshipers have just made an imaginary existence of them…
Conclusion
...The people of graves are asked for help in the form of dua i.e. they may present our dua in the court of Allah so that our problem is solved, whereas the people who worship Sateela etc… these people believe that they have a constant independent power to help which is clearly Kufr Naudhobillah Min Dhalik. [Fatawa al Azizi, Page No. 174-177]
--- IMPORTANT POINT ---
Shaykh Syed Muzaffar Shah sahib quotes from Shah Abdul Azeez Muhaddith Dehlvi concerning this issue. A Hindu asked the noble shaykh as to why they are termed as kuffar when they seek help from their deities when the muslim awaam also seek help from the Awliya. The answer is summarized as follows:
1) Worship and seeking help are two different things. This flies in the face of the Najdi dawah that seeking help is worship.
2) The Mushrikeen seek help from the idols as well as worship them. Shaykh Muzaffar adds that seeking help from idols
by mushrikeen is not shirk but kufr (respecting symbols of kufr is kufr)
3) Seeking help is of two types:
3.1) Makhlooq seeking helping from Makhlooq for instance servant from the emperor, awaamun naas from Awliya with the belief that the help is received with the Hukm of Allah. Such type of help is permissible from both alive and dead.
3.2) Seeking help from other than Allah in matters such that the help occurs independently from Allah, then such act is haram. Shah Abdul Aziz further adds that since any muslims doesn’t consider the Awliya, alive or departed from this world, to be Qadir-e-Mutlaq, hence such a person is not out of the folds of Islam. Shaykh Muzaffar also points out the distortion in the wahabi translation of the fatwa where the latter has omitted the translation of the word Bil-Istiqlal thereby changing the entire meaning.
4) The Mushrikeen like Hindus seek help from the idols whilst considering them as Ma’bud (deities / worthy of worship hence they are termed as kuffar.