Strangers to the Sunnah

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد

From the Hadeeth of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

❝Islaam began as something strange, and it would revert to its (old position) of being something strange. So glad tidings to the strangers.❞

[Saheeh Muslim (270)]

  

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Shaikh Ibn al-`Uthaymeen said (paraphrased):

❝During its advent in Makkah, Islaam was a stranger. In the beginning and for a long time, there were only ten companions; then they gradually increased in numbers. Similarly, near the end of times, it (Islaam) will return back to its state of being a stranger.

This decrease may not necessarily mean the decrease in numbers, as there are more than a Billion Muslims in the world. It may not necessarily mean that near the end of times there will be only ten or twenty Muslims left. It may mean that the Muslims might be in their hundreds or in their thousands, but they will be strangers to the Sunnah (i.e. very few will be following and implementing the Sunnah in their lives as compared to the total Muslim population).❞

[Sharh Saheeh Muslim (1/302)]