Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The hadith is authentic and established, and it has been narrated with various wordings in the two Sahih collections and other books. Among these narrations is the statement of the Prophet ﷺ:
“A group from my Ummah will continue to uphold the command of Allah. Those who abandon or oppose them will not harm them until the command of Allah comes, while they remain victorious over the people.”
The meaning is that a group from the Ummah of the Prophet ﷺ will continue to adhere to the truth and uphold the command of Allah. They will not be harmed by those who oppose them or abandon them, and they will remain victorious in adhering to the truth until the command of Allah comes.
As for the additional wording: “It was asked: ‘Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said: ‘They are in Jerusalem and its surrounding areas’,” it was narrated from Abu Umamah, may Allah be pleased with him. However, a number of hadith scholars considered this narration weak, including Shaykh al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him. Therefore, it is not correct to assert with certainty that this wording is authentically established from the Prophet ﷺ.
Even assuming that this narration were authentic, it would not necessarily mean that the victorious group must always be in Jerusalem or the Levant. They may be in the Levant during certain periods, and at other times they may be elsewhere. They may also be spread across different countries, just as people of truth, knowledge, and striving have historically been present in various regions.
Some scholars have stated that the gathering of this group in the Levant will become more apparent at the end of time, when the Antichrist (al-Dajjal) emerges and Jesus, peace be upon him, descends.
Thus, the hadith indicates the continued existence of a group of people adhering to truth and the Sunnah within the Muslim Ummah until the Day of Judgment. It does not contain authentic evidence that confines this group to one particular country in every era.
And Allah knows best.