By Shaykh Rashid Khan
5 December 2025

﷽ 

Brothers and sisters,

Every generation of Muslims has carried its own kind of strangeness. Sometimes that strangeness comes from being few in number, and sometimes from being morally out of step with the world around us. Today, it comes from simply trying to hold onto clarity in an age that constantly blurs the lines.

The Prophet ﷺ told us that Islam began as something strange and will return to being strange, and he gave glad tidings to those who remain upright when others drift. That short line captures an entire emotional landscape we often feel but rarely name.

Remembering Where This Began

Islam did not begin with a crowd – it began with a frightened man in a cave receiving a revelation that shook him, and a wife who wrapped him in a cloak and steadied his heart. It began with a handful of believers who prayed in secret, who met quietly in the house of a teenage boy, who could count their entire ummah on their fingers.

Imagine being the only person on earth who believes.
Imagine being the third Muslim at eight years old.
Imagine companions later saying, “At one point, I was a quarter of Islam.”

They knew what it meant to be strange. Not aloof, not withdrawn, not eccentric – just unwilling to bow to anything other than Allah. That kind of strangeness has dignity to it. It isn’t loud. It isn’t self-conscious. It comes from recognizing truth and refusing to dilute it.

Our Age Has Its Own Strangeness

We live in a time where the self is celebrated above all else. “Do you. Be whatever you want. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do.” Yet – contradictorily – society also demands absolute conformity. Blend in. Think the same way. Celebrate the same things. Erase the boundaries that make you different.

In this tension, many Muslims – especially young ones – feel pulled apart. Believing in God already makes you a stranger. Being Muslim adds another layer. Practicing Islam takes you further still. And trying to hold firm to its ethics in finance, relationships, modesty, or family life can make you feel like the last person standing.

Even within the Muslim community, there are levels of strangeness: those who guard their prayers, those who avoid the impermissible even when no one is watching, those who insist on raising their families on clarity rather than confusion. They sometimes become strangers among strangers.

But being out of place for the right reasons is not a flaw. It is a sign that you are choosing your loyalties carefully.

Islam Never Asked Us to Hide

Some misunderstand the concept and think being a “stranger” means withdrawing from society. But Islam has never been a religion of isolation. We were created to live among people, to deal with them, benefit them, and be patient with their shortcomings. The Prophet ﷺ taught that the believer who mixes with people and bears the difficulties that come with that is better than the one who avoids them altogether.

So estrangement in Islam is not about disappearing. It is about belonging somewhere higher.

It is about choosing where your heart rests, even as you walk through the world. You can sit with people, work with them, laugh with them, and still choose Allah when it comes to values, decisions, and direction.

Small Moments, Real Choices

We sometimes imagine “being a stranger” as some dramatic, heroic stance. But it shows up in everyday decisions:

• Leaving a gathering early because Fajr matters tomorrow.
• Being the one in the friend group who doesn’t vape, doesn’t smoke, and doesn’t follow trends blindly.
• A young woman choosing modesty even when everyone else is running the opposite way.
• A young man refusing riba (usury) when everyone tells him it’s the only practical option.
• A parent gently explaining to their child why certain celebrations are not ours.

None of these moments feel grand. In the moment, they feel awkward, small, even lonely. But these are the choices that shape a believer’s inner world. They quietly draw the line between who we are and who we refuse to become.

Where We Truly Belong

The Prophet ﷺ said:

Be in this world as a stranger or a traveller.

When he ﷺ said this, he wasn’t telling us to be cold or disconnected. He was teaching us to recognise that not every space is meant to feel like home. A traveler is polite, present, and grateful – but his heart faces a different destination.

We don’t seek strangeness for its own sake. We simply understand that belonging fully to this world often comes at the cost of belonging to Allah. Once that becomes clear, the discomfort becomes easier to bear.

The question is no longer “Why do I feel different?”
The question becomes “Who am I choosing by being different?

Raising Children Who Are Not Confused About This

One of the great tragedies of our time is seeing Muslim children feel guilty for not joining every celebration around them, unsure of their identity, afraid to look different, apologetic for their faith.

They need calm, confident guidance – not anxiety. They need to hear:
“You’re not left out. You just belong elsewhere. And that is something to be proud of.”

The moment a child understands this, strangeness becomes strength rather than shame.

Allah Replaces What We Give Up

There is a principle every believer should hold close:

Whoever leaves something for Allah, Allah replaces it with better.

[Ahmad]

Sometimes better friends, better inner peace, better clarity. Sometimes simply a heart that feels steadier in the world. Often the replacement comes sooner than expected.

Choosing Allah is never a choice made into a void. Something better always arrives.

May Allah make us among those who mend when others break, who stand when others bend, and who belong to Him even if the world finds us strange.

Ameen.

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