إِنَّ الدِّينَ بَدَأَ غَرِيبًا، وَسَيَعُودُ كَمَا بَدَأَ، فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ، وَهُمُ الَّذِينَ يُصْلِحُونَ مَا أَفْسَدَ النَّاسُ مِنْ بَعْدِي مِنْ سُنَّتِي
Translation: Religion began as something unfamiliar and will become unfamiliar again. Glad tidings to those who remain faithful: those who correct what people have spoiled of my Sunnah after me.
Source: الترمذي
بَدَأَ means “began”; غَرِيبًا means “unfamiliar/strange”; سَيَعُودُ means “will return”; and طُوبَى expresses glad tidings. يُصْلِحُونَ means “they correct,” whereas أَفْسَدَ means “spoiled.”
Religious truth may become unfamiliar in some settings. The merit here does not lie in being different for its own sake, but in sincerely preserving the Sunnah and correcting departures from it.