Reconciling between the hadeeth on the strangeness of religion and the survival of the victorious group
Question

                How can we reconcile between the hadeeth “Islam began as something strange” and the hadeeth “A group of my ummah will continue to prevail following the truth”?.
Praise be to Allah.
    There is no contradiction between them. The first hadeeth is 
    clear and is confirmed by historical reality. The rest of it says, “and it 
    will go back to being something strange as it began, so glad tidings to the 
    strangers.” According to a version that is not narrated by Muslim, “They 
    will revive that which the people have killed off of my Sunnah.” According 
    to another version: “Those who correct what the people corrupt.” 

    The second hadeeth indicates that reform, da’wah, knowledge 
    and teaching will continue, and this is glad tidings that there will be a 
    group which still prevails and adheres to the truth. The idea of being a 
    stranger, is not contrary to the idea of the survival of that group, and it 
    does not imply that it will be in one place. Truth must remain until the 
    Dajjaal emerges, and until the wind comes [which will take the souls of the 
    believers just before the Hour begins]. 

    Moreover, this sense of being a stranger may increase in one 
    area whilst decreasing in another, and it may mean many things, such as an 
    increase in bid’ah (innovation), neglect of prayer in congregation, or not 
    enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. One of the most serious 
    manifestations of it is the alienation of the people of Tawheed and the 
    prevalence of shirk. We ask Allaah to keep us safe and sound. 

    Islam may prevail in some areas and become stronger than 
    before, as we see in real life, and it may be stronger at some times than 
    others.  

    With regard to the hadeeth: “There will come no time but the 
    time after it will be worse than it”, this is to be interpreted as referring 
    to what is usually the case. It does not mean that there will not some times 
    that are than those that came before, as in the case of the era of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez: his time was better than the time of Sulaymaan and al-Waleed; and as in the case of the time of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim, when the Sunnah prevailed and innovation was refuted; and as happened in Arabia after the da’wah of Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhaab (may Allaah have mercy on him). End quote.