A ''mujaddid'' () is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" () to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

of the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

to revitalize

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, cleansing it of extraneous elements and restoring it to its pristine purity. In contemporary times, a mujaddid is looked upon as the greatest Muslim of a century. The concept is based on a ''

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

'' (a saying of Islamic prophet Muhammad),Neal Robinson (2013), Islam: A Concise Introduction, Routledge, , Chapter 7, pp. 85–89 recorded by Abu Dawood, narrated by Abu Hurairah who mentioned that Muhammad said: Ikhtilaf (disagreements) exist among different hadith viewers. Scholars such as Al-Dhahabi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani have interpreted that the term mujaddid can also be understood as plural, thus referring to a group of people. ''Mujaddids'' can include prominent scholars, pious rulers and military commanders.

List of Sunni claimants and potential ''mujaddids''

While there is no formal mechanism for designating a ''mujaddid'' in

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

, there is often a popular consensus. The Shia and

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

Jesudas M. Athyal, Religion in Southeast Asia: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures, (ABC-CLIO, LLC 2015), p 1. . have their own list of mujaddids.

First century (after the prophetic period) (August 3, 718)

* Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz (682–720)Josef W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, (Routledge 1 Dec 2005), p 678. .

Second century (August 10, 815)

* Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i (767–820) *

Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal (; (164-241 AH; 780 – 855 CE) was an Arab Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. T ...

(780–855)

Third century (August 17, 912)

Muhammad al-Bukhari Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm al-Juʿfī al-Bukhārī (; 21 July 810 – 1 September 870) was a 9th-century Persian Muslim '' muhaddith'' who is widely regarded as the most important ''hadith'' scholar in the histor ...

(810–870) * Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936)Josef W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, (Routledge 1 Dec 2005), p 678.

Fourth Century (August 24, 1009)

* Hakim al-Nishaburi (933–1012) * Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani (950–1013)

Fifth century (September 1, 1106)

Ibn Hazm Ibn Hazm (; November 994 – 15 August 1064) was an Andalusian Muslim polymath, historian, traditionist, jurist, philosopher, and theologian, born in the Córdoban Caliphate, present-day Spain. Described as one of the strictest hadith interpre ...

(994–1064)The Legal Thought of Jalāl Al-Din Al-Suyūṭī: Authority and Legacy, Page 133 Rebecca Skreslet Hernandez *

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

(1058–1111) * Abdul Qadir Jilani (1078–1166)

Sixth century (September 9, 1203)

* Salauddin Ayyubi (1137–1193)Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen by Ali Unal and Alphonse Williams, 10 June 2000; * Ibn Qudamah (1147–1223) * Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji (1148–1206) * Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1210) * Abu al-Qasim al-Rafi'i (1160-1226)

Seventh century (September 15, 1300)

* Ibn Daqiq al-'Id (1228–1302) *

Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim ulama, ...

(1263–1328) * Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350)

Eighth century (September 23, 1397)

* Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini (1324–1403) *

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

(Timur) (1336–1405) * Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (1372–1448)

Ninth century (October 1, 1494)

Shah Rukh Shah Rukh or Shahrukh Mirza (, ''Šāhrokh''; 20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447. He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynasty in 1370 ...

(1377–1447)Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim, "An Overview of al-Sadiq al-Madhi's Islamic Discourse." Taken from ''The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought'', p. 172. Ed. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi'. Hoboken:

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

, 2008. * Mehmet II (1432–1481)Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen by Ali Unal and Alphonse Williams, 10 June 2000; * Zakariyya al-Ansari (1420-1520) * Jalaludin Al-Suyuti (1445–1505)

Tenth century (October 19, 1591)

Selim I Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...

(1470–1520) *

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

(1494–1566) * Shams al-Din al-Ramli (1513-1596) * Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624)

Eleventh century (October 26, 1688)

* Khayr al-Din al-Ramli (1585–1671) * Mahiuddin Aurangzeb Alamgir (1618–1707) * Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad (1634–1720)

Twelfth century (November 4, 1785)

Shah Waliullah Dehlawi Qutb ud-Din Ahmad ibn ʿAbd-ur-Rahim al-ʿUmari ad-Dehlawi (‎; 1703–1762), commonly known as Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (also Shah Wali Allah), was an Islamic Sunni scholar and Sufi reformer, who contributed to Islamic revival in the Indian s ...

(1703–1762) * Murtaḍá al-Zabīdī (1732–1790) * Shah Abdul Aziz Delhwi (1745–1823) *

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

(1750–1799) * Usman Dan Fodio (1754–1817) *

Syed Ahmad Barelvi Syed Ahmad Barelvi, also known as Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, (1786–1831) was an Indian mujaddid, Islamic revivalist, Islamic scholar, scholar, and commander, military commander from Raebareli, a part of the historical United Provinces of Agra an ...

(1786–1831) * Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (1796–1861)

Thirteenth century (November 14, 1882)

* Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) * Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (1851–1920) * Ahmad Raza Khan (1856–1925) *

Amadou Bamba Sheikh Amadou Bamba (1853–1927), also known to followers as the Servant of Muhammad, the Messenger () and Serigne Touba or "Sheikh of Touba", was a wali, Sufi saint and religious leader in Senegal and the founder of the Mouride Brotherh ...

(1853–1927)

Fourteenth century (November 21, 1979)

* Ashraf Ali Thanwi (1863–1943) * Said Nursî (1878–1960) * Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di (1889–1957) * Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979) * Murabit al-Hajj (1913 - 2018) * Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki (1944–2004)

Claimants in other traditions

* Mulla Sadra Shirazi (1571–1640) *

Syed Ahmad Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim Islamic modernist, reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British Raj, British India. Though initially esp ...

(1817–1898) *

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and '' Mahdī'', in fulfillment of th ...

(1835–1908)

References

External links

Islami Mehfil, Concept Of Revivalist (Mujaddid) In Islam

Brief Introduction to the Concept of Mujaddidiyyat in Islam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mujaddid