is a weak ḥadith, for Muʿān ibn Rifāʿah al-Salamī was declared unreliable by more than one of the leading critics (1).

In some reports the wording is: “Hold fast to the overwhelming majority—namely, the truth and its adherents” (2).

Imām Aḥmad used to say, “The overwhelming majority (al-sawād al-aʿẓam) is Muḥammad ibn Aslam al-Tūsī.” In the first generations the people of truth were the most numerous segment of the ummah; no innovator could be found among them, whether in word or deed. In later eras, however, large crowds may rally around an innovation, and in some of the more recent times the truth may be left without even a small band to uphold it. Thus, in the ḥadīth of Ḥudhayfah, when he asked, “What if they have neither an imam nor a community?” he was told:

“Keep away from all those sects altogether, even if you must cling to the trunk of a tree until death overtakes you while you remain upon that” (3).

Likewise, the authentic narration states, “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange just as it began” (4). Another ḥadīth says, “The Hour will not be established over anyone who is still saying, ‘Allah, Allah’” (5).

The point is that when tribulations appear it becomes permissible to seclude oneself from the people, as is confirmed by the Prophet ﷺ:

“When you see avarice obeyed, passion followed, and each opinionated person admiring his own opinion, then look after your own private affairs and leave the common folk alone” (6).

Another version reads:

“When you see avarice obeyed, passion followed, and the world preferred, then concern yourself with your own self; for after you there will come a time of patience—enduring in it will be like holding on to a live coal” (7).

Indeed, a number of the Salaf abandoned the people, the Friday prayer, and even the congregational prayer, though they were great imams—such as Abū Dharr, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Saʿīd ibn Zayd, and Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ, among other Companions (8). They even refrained from entering the Prophet’s Mosque ﷺ, though one prayer therein is worth a thousand elsewhere. Mālik likewise refrained from attending Friday and congregational prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque ﷺ, fully aware of the ḥadīth on the virtue of praying there; he attended neither Friday nor congregation. When reproached he would say, “Not everything that is known should be voiced.” His story is well known (9). Sufyān al-Thawrī and many of the tābiʿīn and their followers did the same, for they witnessed oppression, evil, and turmoil and feared that their faith might be stripped from them,