Hadith of Ghuraba (Strangers) and its Meaning

“Islam started as something strange and it will revert to being strange, so good tidings for the strangers.”

– [Sahih Muslim 145]

A Hadith which is widely used by many layman to claim that basically all these different sects and groups that are formed in Islam can be rendered as wrong by this Hadith, and those who will stay away from it, is the stranger upon which their are glad tidings. But as always these layman take Hadith out of context to support their narratives.

In reality, this Hadith is brought under “Book of Faith (Kitab al Iman) by Imam Muslim. And when Jibrael asked Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) to inform him about Iman, he answered,

“It is that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in qadar (fate), both in its good and in its evil aspects.”…