The Virtue of The Strangers

Shaykh Ibn Bāz رحمه الله :

Translation text: Fatwā 30/33 – The Virtue of The Strangers - Shaykh Ibn Bāz حمه الله

وروى ابن وضاح معناه من حديث ابن عمر –رضي الله عنهما- ‏ولفظه: Ibn Waḍḍaḥ narrated its meaning from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar - May Allāh be pleased with them both – and its wording is,

“إن من بعدكم أياماً، للصابر فيها المتمسك بمثل ما أنتم ‏عليه اليوم؛ له أجر خمسين منكم."، ‌‎ “Indeed, after you are days, in which, the patient one holding on to what you are upon today, for him is the reward of fifty (people) among you.”

ثم قال: أنبأنا محمد بن ‏سعيد أنبأنا أسد قال أنبأنا سفيان ابن عيينة عن أسلم ‏البصري عن سعيد أخي الحسن يرفعه، Then, he said, Muḥammad Ibn Saʿīd informed us from Asad who was informed by Sufyān Ibn ʿUyaynah who narrated from Aslam Al-Baṣrī, who narrated from Saʿīd, the brother of Al-Ḥasan,

قلت لسفيان ‏عن النبي ﷺ؟ I said to Sufyān, “Is this (narrated) from the Prophet ﷺ?”

قال: نعم He said, “Yes.”

‎إنكم اليوم على بينة من ‏ربكم، تأمرون بالمعروف، وتنهون عن المنكر، ‏وتجاهدون في الله ولم تظهر فيكم السكرتان: سكرة ‏الجهل وسكرة حب العيش، He ﷺ said, “Certainly, today you are upon clear evidence from your Rabb (Lord), you enjoin good and forbid evil, and strive in the cause of Allāh and the two intoxications haven’t become apparent among you i.e., the intoxication of ignorance and the intoxication of loving life (i.e., the dunyā).

وستحَوّلون عن ذلك فلا ‏تأمرون بالمعروف، ولا تنهون عن المنكر، ولا ‏تجاهدون في الله، Then, you will change from that (state), so you won’t enjoin the good, forbid the evil, and strive in the cause of Allāh.

وتظهر فيكم السكرتان، فالمتمسك ‏يومئذ بالكتاب والسنة له أجر خمسين. And the two intoxications will become apparent (i.e., widespread) among you. So, the one who holds on to the Kitāb (i.e., Qurʾān) and the Sunnah at that day (i.e., time) will have the reward of fifty (people).

قيل منهم؟ قال: لا، بل منكم. It was asked, (fifty people) from amongst them? He said, No, rather, from amongst you.

بإسناده عن المعافري ‏قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ : And with his Isnad isnād from Al-Maʿāfirī who said, Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ said,

طوبى للغرباء الذين يمسّكون ‏بكتاب الله حين يترك، ويعملون بالسنة حين تُطفأ‎. “Tuba (glad tidings/paradise) to the strangers, those who hold on to the Kitāb when it has been abandoned and implement the Sunnah when it has died out.”

يقول الشيخ: هؤلاء هم الغرباء الذين يصلحون عند فساد الناس، ‏ويُصلحون ما أفسد الناس بالأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن ‏المنكر، ويتمسكون بالقرآن حين يتركه الناس، Shaykh says: These are the ghuraba’ (strangers) who rectify (themselves) during the corruption of people and rectify what the people have corrupted by enjoining good and forbidding evil and holding fast to the Qurʾān when people abandon it.

“بَدَأَ ‏الْإِسْلَامُ غَرِيبًا وَسَيَعُودُ غَرِيبًا كَمَا بَدَأَ فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ.” “Islām began as Ghareeb (strange) and will return to being strange as it began, so, glad tidings to the strangers.”

فالغرباء هم: أهل الصلاح والاستقامة وتنفيذ الأوامر ‏والدعوة إلى الله عند فساد الزمان وتغير أهله.‏ The strangers are the people of uprightness and steadfastness who carry out the commands and call to Allāh when the times have become corrupt, and the people have changed.

Audio source & translation: The Virtue of The Strangers - Shaykh Ibn Bāz ¹