Ponder upon this!

When Umar bin al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه) was walking in the market, he passed by a man who was supplicating,

اللهم اجعلني من القليل اللهم اجعلني من القليل
“O Allaah, make me from the few! O Allaah make me from the few!”

So Umar said to him, “Where did you get this du`a’ (supplication) from?” And the man said, “Allaah in His Book says:

و قليل من عبادي الشكور
‘And few of My servants are grateful.’

(Saba, 34:13)

So ‘Umar wept and admonished himself,

“The people are more knowledgeable than you, O Umar! O Allaah make us from Your ‘few’ servants.”

Sometimes when you advise someone to leave a sin, they respond with “But everybody does it, it’s not just me!” But if you look for the words “most people" in the Qur’aan, you will find that most people:

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ
“And however most people do not know.”

(Al-A'raf 7:187)

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَشْكُرُونَ
“and most people do not show gratitude”

(Al-Baqarah 2:243)

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ
“and most people do not believe”

(Hud, 11:17)

And if you look for “most of them”, you will find that most of them are:

وَأَنَّ أَكْثَرَكُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
“definitely disobedient”

(Al-Ma'idah 5:59)

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ يَجْهَلُونَ
“ ignorant”

(Al-An'am 6:111)

بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْحَقَّ فَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
“turning away”

(Al-Anbiya 21:24)

So be of the “few”, whom Allaah سبحانه و تعالى says about them:

وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ
“And few of My servants are grateful.”

(Saba' 34:13)

وَمَا آمَنَ مَعَهُ إِلاَّ قَلِيلٌ
“But none had believed with him, except a few.”

(Hud 11:40)

فِي جَنَّاتِ  النَّعِيمِ ثُلَّةٌ مِّنَ الْأَوَّلِينَ  وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنَ الْآخِرِينَ

“In the Gardens of Bliss, a [large] company of the former people, and a few of the later people.”

(Al-Waqi'ah 56:12-14)

Ibnul-Qayyim (رحمه الله) said,

“Go on the path of truth and do not feel lonely because there are few who take that path, and beware of the path of falsehood and do not be deceived by the vastness of the Perishers.”

[Found in Kitab al-Zuhd by Ahmad bin Hanbal (رحمه الله), and also in the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah.]

May Allaah سبحانه و تعالى make us of His few servants.

Aameen!