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

“O Allaah, make us of Your ‘few’ servants! O Allaah make us of Your ‘few’ servants!”

So Umar said to him, “Where did you get this du’a (supplication) from?”

And the man said, “Allaah in His Book says:

“And few of My servants are grateful.” [Quran 34:13]”

So Umar wept and admonished himself, “The people are more knowledgeable than you, O Umar! O Allaah make us of Your ‘few’ servants.”

Sometimes when you advise someone to leave a sin, they respond with: “But most people do it, it’s not just me!”

But if you look for the words “most people” in the Quran, you will find that most people –

“do not know” [Quran 7:187],

“do not give thanks” [Quran 2:243]

and “do not believe” [Quran 11:17].

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

“defiantly disobedient” [Quran 5:59]

“ignorant” [Quran 6:111],

“turning away” [Quran 21:24],

“do not reason” [Quran 29:23],

and “do not listen” [Quran 8:21].

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

“And few of My servants are grateful.” [Quran 34:13]

“But none had believed with him, except a few.” [Quran 11:40]

“In the Gardens of Pleasure, A [large] company of the former peoples, And a few of the later peoples.” [Quran 56:12-14]

Ibn al-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 greatness of the perishers.”

(Kitab al-Zuhd by Ahmad bin Hanbal)