To what extent is the hadith "Glad tidings to the strangers (ghuraba')" authentic, which describes them as "righteous people who are few, among many evil people; those who disobey them are more numerous than those who obey them"?
Some scholars have declared this to be (good) due to the instability of its chain of narration, specifically because of the presence of "Ibn Lahīʿah" in it. Some scholars unequivocally vouched for his narrations, while others only attested to the narrations of his early companions, such as Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, who narrated this hadith. Still, others completely weakened his narrations. However, its matn (text) is sound; its first part, "Tūbā (glad tidings) for the Strangers," is established in Muslim. Its second part, describing them as "righteous people amidst many evil people; those who disobey them are more numerous than those who obey them," is a description of their strangeness. In the early days of Islam in Mecca, Muslims were few and weak, and those who disobeyed them were more numerous than those who obeyed them. Then Islam grew stronger, but with the passage of time and the prevalence of temptations of doubts and desires, the righteous Muslims have again become strangers, few in number, with those who disobey them outnumbering those who obey them. None are safe from these trials except the group that remains manifest upon the truth.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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