Discussion of the strike by the Salvation Front in Algeria and the ruling on it, and the ruling on engaging in politics

The Shaykh : I am mentioning an example to you that you must have heard or read in the newspapers. There is currently political activity in Algeria where they have declared a general strike. Perhaps some of this has reached you. I do not support this strike for many, many reasons. But the point is that I want to tell you the following: There are approximately five million Muslims in Algeria who are enthusiastic about Islam. A council gathered me with some of them here in Oman recently. So I denied to them that they should engage in politics now, and I told them: You must occupy yourselves with two things: knowledge, and by that I mean specifically purifying this inherited knowledge of what is not part of it, such as the previous example of the dislike of praying behind one who differs from the madhhab, let alone many other things. So occupy yourselves with purification and with educating the rising generation now on this purified Islam. I told them: You in Algeria number approximately thirty million Muslims. Do you see the doctors who treat your physical illnesses? Are they in the hundreds or in the thousands? They said: Of course, in the thousands. I said: Do you have thousands of scholars if you need to ask them about the method of establishing the Muslim state, and about the rulings related to people in their prayers and worship, their relationships with each other, spouses, children, etc.? Do you have scholars in proportion to that number, or do you not even have one hundred scholars? They said: The reality is that we do not have them. So how do you want to rush to the results and establish the Muslim state when you have not yet realized the wisdom of any of the Islamic callers in the present age? I used to say: If there were revelation after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I would say this is from the revelation: "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land."