“Religion will surely take refuge in the Hijaz, just as the mountain goat seeks refuge at the summit of a mountain.”

Al-Bayhaqi then narrated it through Kathir ibn Marwan al-Shami: ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazid al-Dimashqi—who was at al-Bab—told us: Abu al-Dardaʾ, Abu Umamah al-Bahili, Anas ibn Malik, and Wathilah ibn al-Asqaʿ told me that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, came out to us and said: He then mentioned it, except that he said: “Those who set things right when people become corrupt, who do not dispute concerning Allah’s religion, and who do not declare those who face the qiblah unbelievers on account of a sin.”

He then narrated it through Yahya ibn al-Mutawakkil, who said: My mother told me that she heard Salim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar—Yahya said, “And I saw Salim narrating”—from his father, who heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say it. He cited it up to the words, “for the strangers,” adding: “Indeed, there is no estrangement for a believer, so long as he dies a believer.”

He said: “Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar also narrated it from his father, from ʿUmar, omitting the words, ‘So glad tidings for the strangers,’ to the end; Muslim included it through that route.” He then cited it, with its chain, from Muhammad ibn Zayd, and from the narration of Abu Hazim, from Abu Hurayrah, up to the words, “So glad tidings for the strangers,” and said: “Muslim narrated it.”

The hadith has also been reported with another addition, worded: “Islam began as something strange and will return to being strange as it began. So glad tidings for the strangers.” It was said: “Who are the strangers?” He said: “Those separated (1) from the tribes.”

Al-Darimi (2/311–312), Ibn Majah (2/478), Ahmad and his son ʿAbd Allah (1/398), al-Bayhaqi in The Great Book of Asceticism (24/2), and al-Baghawi in The Explanation of the Sunnah (1/10/2) narrated it from Hafs ibn Ghiyath, from al-Aʿmash, from Abu Ishaq, from Abu al-Ahwas, from ʿAbd Allah, attributed to the Prophet. Al-Baghawi said: “This is an authentic hadith.”