Discussion of trials and tribulations.

The questioner : I know a man who is a committed Muslim. His daughter was one of the victims of a random attack; he struck at everyone, it was not targeted at anyone specific.

The Shaykh : This is the nature of trials and tribulations. There is no power or strength except with Allah. Another question, regarding hidden movements against foreign occupation. Yesterday, one of the young men called me to ask whether it is obligatory to enjoin good and forbid evil? So I answered him based on the well-known hadith among you, and so on. Then he reached another point, asking whether I see carrying out revolutions and using explosives and the like, after mentioning that some shaykhs are fulfilling the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil. When I answered him as before, he said, "But some shaykhs say now is not the time for it." I said to him, "You just said that some are fulfilling this duty." He said, "Yes, those are the shaykhs of the youth." He named some of the senior shaykhs and said, "Now is the time for silence." After that, he asked about using explosives. I forbade him from doing so and said, "It is up to you to enjoin good and forbid evil, but using explosives is not an Islamic method, it does not benefit, and it does not yield a result. So it becomes, as it is said: 'I see the flicker of fire in the ashes, and it is likely to become a blaze.'" We ask Allah to protect us from the evil of trials and tribulations, both what is apparent and what is hidden.