Muslim

Hadith Commentary:
Vocabulary of the Hadith:

(1)
Ghareeb (غَرِيْبٌ):
Derived from "ghurbat" (estrangement), "ghareeb" refers to a stranger or a foreigner, someone who is unknown to others, and who lives apart from people. The plural of "ghareeb" is "ghurabaa." The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said to Abdullah ibn Umar (radi Allahu anhu) «كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ»: "Be in this world as a stranger or a traveler."

(2)
Tooba (طُوبَى):
Joy and happiness, coolness of the eyes, a good end, an enviable state.

Benefits and Issues:
Islam began in estrangement and foreignness; people were not familiar with it, nor did they pay attention or give it importance. Gradually, it spread its steps (became established) and became accepted and familiar among people. And gradually, this state of estrangement and foreignness will return. People will continue to distance themselves from its teachings and guidance, and it will become unfamiliar and less accepted among people. Those who act upon it will decrease day by day, and in the Hereafter, only they will be deserving of honor and felicity.

Today, in the form of the dominance and prevalence of materialism and Westernization, the initial signs of this prophecy have already appeared. Day by day, Islamic society, Islamic civilization and culture, and Islamic traditions are practically dying out, and people are, in practice, becoming distant from the religion.

Benefits and Issues:
➊
A "ghareeb" (stranger) refers to someone who is foreign, unfamiliar, or without a homeland.
In the beginning, this was the state of Islam: no one knew it,
and society was not prepared to accept it.
Gradually, people began to understand and accept it, until Islam became dominant everywhere and disbelief and polytheism were eradicated.

➋
After the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, innovations (bid‘ah) appeared in Islam; in later periods, Muslims adopted the customs and ideas of non-Muslims.
In this way, the original Islam became limited to only a few people.
The majority considered self-invented customs and incorrect beliefs and practices to be the true Islam.

➌
Those strangers who have been congratulated are those who, amidst the abundance of innovations (bid‘ah), adhere to the Sunnah, remain steadfast upon correct belief when false beliefs become widespread, and adopt true Islamic morals during times of moral decline.

➍
The criterion of truth and falsehood does not depend on adopting a particular name, but rather on conformity or opposition to the Qur’an and Hadith.

Takhrij al-Hadith:
[صحيح مسلم 232؍145]

Fiqh al-Hadith:
➊ One must always remain steadfast upon the truth, even if the entire rest of the world becomes opposed to the truth.
➋ One should never be intimidated by the large number of opponents of Islam and the truth, because except for the era after the descent of ‘Isa (alayhis salam), the number of people of truth will always remain few in the world.
➌ Those people who are referred to as «غرباء» (strangers) in this hadith are those about whom it is mentioned in the hadith:
«ناس صالحون قليل فى ناس سوء كثير، من يعصيهم أكثر ممن يطيعهم .»
“There will be a small number of righteous people among a great many evil people; those who disobey them will be more than those who obey them.” [كتاب الزهد للامام عبدالله بن المبارك : 775 و سنده حسن]
◄ It is thus understood that by “the strangers” (ghuraba’), what is meant are those with correct beliefs who follow the Book and the Sunnah, and whose opponents are in the majority; it does not refer to any specific party or group.