I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "Faith began as something strange, and it will return to being strange as it began. So blessed are the strangers on that day, when the people have grown corrupt. By the One in whose hand is the soul of Abu Qasim, faith will retreat between these two mosques just as a snake retreats into its hole."
سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: إن الإيمان بدأ غريبا، وسيعود غريبا كما بدأ، فطوبى يومئذ للغرباء إذا فسد الناس، والذي نفس أبي القاسم بيده ليأرز الإيمان بين هذين المسجدين كما تأرز الحية في جحرها.
Ahmad (1640), Abu Yaala (756), and Bazzar (1119) all narrated it through routes from Abdullah bin Wahb, who said, "Abu Sakhr told me, from Abu Hazim, from Ibn Saad, from Saad." Bazzar said, "I think he is Amir." I say, this is as he thought, for it has been explicitly stated in Kitab Iman by Ibn Manda (424) that he is Amir bin Saad. Its isnad is hasan because of Abu Sakhr, who is Humayd bin Ziyad Kharrat, and he is "truthful." Haythami said in Majma (7/277), "Ahmad, Bazzar, and Abu Yaala narrated it, and the men of Ahmad and Abu Yaala are the men of the sahih."His saying, "between the two masjids," means Makkah and Madinah, he meant by "the two masjids" the two cities. His saying, "its burrow" is with damma on the jim and sukoon on the ha, meaning a hole into which vermin and small creatures such as the lizard, the snake, and others take refuge. It is said, "the lizard burrowed," meaning it entered its hole, and "al-majhar" is the refuge.This hadith contains a report from the Prophet ﷺ about the future. His saying, "Islam began as something strange," means it began among a few isolated individuals, then it spread and became manifest, then it will be afflicted by decline and deficiency until it remains only among a few isolated individuals as it began. These are the ones mentioned in Sahih Muslim, "A group of my nation will continue to be manifest upon the truth, unharmed by those who abandon them, until the command of Allah comes."His saying, "Faith withdraws to Madinah," this was during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, for those who believed migrated to Madinah to meet the Prophet ﷺ and to be honored by seeing him and accompanying him. After the death of the Prophet ﷺ, they migrated to Madinah to meet the companions of the Prophet ﷺ and learn from them. This journey to Madinah continues, whether to acquire knowledge or to pray in the masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, for his masjid is one of the three masjids to which it is permissible to undertake a journey.In it there is an argument for those who hold that the school of the people of Madinah is valid, and that their practice constitutes evidence, but this must be restricted to the time of the Prophet ﷺ and the time of the rightly-guided caliphs. As for after the emergence of civil strife and the dispersal of the companions throughout the lands, especially toward the end of the second century and thereafter, observation shows the contrary, as Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari.But the visiting of caravans to Madinah continues until the Day of Judgment, for prayer in the masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and for the honor of greeting the Prophet ﷺ and his two companions.