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 Abū Dāwūd (Dā’ūd) Sulaymān ibn al-Ash‘ath ibn Isḥāq al-Azdī al-Sijistānī (), commonly known as Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī, was a scholar of prophetic hadith who compiled the third of the six "canonical" hadith collections recogn ...

, narrated by

Abu Hurairah Abū Hurayra ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr al-Dawsī al-Zahrānī (; –679), commonly known as Abū Hurayra (; ), was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and considered the most prolific hadith narrator. Born in al-Jabur, Arabia to ...

who mentioned that Muhammad said:

Ikhtilaf Ikhtilāf () is an Islamic scholarly religious disagreement, and is hence the opposite of ijma. Direction in Quran According to Verse of Obedience, disagreements about any religious matter are to be arbitrated by referring to the Quran and Su ...

(disagreements) exist among different hadith viewers. Scholars such as

Al-Dhahabi Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Atharism, Athari ...

and

Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (; 18 February 1372 – 2 February 1449), or simply ibn Ḥajar, was a classic Islamic scholar "whose life work constitutes the final summation of the science of hadith." He authored some 150 works on hadith, history, ...

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 Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

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 Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (; February 720) was the eighth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 717 until his death in 720. He is credited to have instituted significant reforms to the Umayyad central government, by making it much more efficient and ...

(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 Al-Shafi'i (; ;767–820 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, muhaddith, traditionist, theologian, ascetic, and eponym of the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He is known to be the first to write a book upon the principles of Isl ...

(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 Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (; 874–936 CE) was an Arab Muslim theologian known for being the eponymous founder of the Ash'ari school of kalam in Sunnism. Al-Ash'ari was notable for taking an intermediary position between the two diametrically ...

(874–936)Josef W. Meri, Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, (Routledge 1 Dec 2005), p 678.

Fourth Century (August 24, 1009)

Hakim al-Nishaburi Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Hakim al-Nishapuri (; 933 - 1014 CE), also known as Ibn al-Bayyiʿ, was a Persian Sunni scholar and the leading traditionist of his age, frequently referred to as the "Imam of the Muhaddithin" or the " ...

(933–1012) *

Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib al-Bāqillānī (; 950 – 5 June 1013), was a Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath who specialized in speculative Islamic theology, jurisprudence, logic, and hadith. He spent much of his life defending and str ...

(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 Abdul Qadir Gilani (; ; c. 1077/78 – 1166) was a Hanbali scholar, preacher, and Sufi leader who was the eponym of the Qadiriyya, one of the oldest Sufi orders. He was born c. 1077/78 in the town of Na'if, Rezvanshahr in Gilan, Persia, an ...

(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 Ibn Qudama (January/February 11477 July 1223) was an ulama, Islamic scholar and aqidah, theologian of the Hanbali, Hanbali school of Sunni Islam. Born in the Palestine (region), Palestine region, Ibn Qudama authored many important treatises on fi ...

(1147–1223) *

Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji Ikhtiyār al-Dīn Muḥammad Bin Bakhtiyār Khaljī, also known as Bakhtiyar Khalji, was a Turko-Afghan Military General of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor, who led the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent, Muslim conquests of the easte ...

(1148–1206) *

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī () or Fakhruddin Razi () (1149 or 1150 – 1209), often known by the sobriquet Sultan of the Theologians, was an influential Iranian and Muslim polymath, scientist and one of the pioneers of inductive logic. He wrote var ...

(1149–1210) * Abu al-Qasim al-Rafi'i (1160-1226)

Seventh century (September 15, 1300)

Ibn Daqiq al-'Id Taḳī al-Dīn Abū ’l-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Wahb b. Muṭīʿ b. Abi ’l-Ṭāʿa, commonly known as Ibn Daqiq al-'Id (; 1228–1302), was a Sunni Egyptians, Egyptian scholar. He is widely accounted as one of Islam's great scholars ...

(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 Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb az-Zurʿī d-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he scho ...

(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) *

(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 Hoboken ( ; ) is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popula ...

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 Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

(1432–1481)Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen by Ali Unal and Alphonse Williams, 10 June 2000; *

Zakariyya al-Ansari Sheikhul Islam Abū Yaḥyā b. Muḥammad b. Zakariyyā, Zayn al-Dīn al-Sunaykī () also known as Zakariyyā al-Ansārī was an Egyptian Sunni polymath. He is considered the leading specialist in fiqh, usul al-fiqh, hadith, usul al-hadith, taf ...

(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 Ahmad Sirhindi (1564 – 1624/1625) was an Indian Islamic scholar, Hanafi jurist, and member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order who lived during the era of Mughal Empire. Ahmad Sirhindi opposed heterodox movements within the Mughal court such as D ...

(1564–1624)

Eleventh century (October 26, 1688)

Khayr al-Din al-Ramli Khayr al-Din ibn Ahmad ibn Nur al-Din Ali ibn Zayn al-Din ibn Abd al-Wahab al-Ayubi al-Farooqui (1585–1671), better known as Khayr al-Din al-Ramli (), was a 17th-century Islamic jurist, teacher and writer in then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. He is ...

(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 Shehu Usman dan Fodio (; full name; 15 December 1754 – 20 April 1817). (Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Saalih ibn Haarun ibn Muhammad Ghurdu ibn Muhammad Jubba ibn Muhammad Sambo ibn Maysiran ibn Ayyub ibn Buba Baba ibn Musa Jokolli ibn ...

(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 Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (1796/1797 – 19 August 1861) was a Hanafi mufti, Kalam scholar, Maturidi theologian, and poet. He was an activist of the Indian independence movement and campaigned against British colonialism. He issued an early religi ...

(1796–1861)

Thirteenth century (November 14, 1882)

Muhammad Abduh Muḥammad ʿAbduh (also spelled Mohammed Abduh; ; 1849 – 11 July 1905) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, judge, and Grand Mufti of Egypt. He was a central figure of the Arab Nahḍa and Islamic Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

(1849–1905) *

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known as Shaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia University and launched the Silk Letter Movement for ...

(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 Ashraf Ali Thanwi (often referred as Hakimul Ummat and Mujaddidul Millat; 19 August 1863 – 20 July 1943) was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar, jurist, thinker, reformist and a revivor of classical Sufi in the Indian subcontinent during the Briti ...

(1863–1943) *

Said Nursî Said Nursi (1877Şükran Vahide, Islam in Modern Turkey: An Intellectual Biography of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, p 3. – 23 March 1960) was a Kurdish scholar of Islam who wrote the Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceedin ...

(1878–1960) *

Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Nasser Al-Saadi (), also known as al-Siʿdī (1889–1957), was an List of contemporary Islamic scholars, Islamic Scholar from Saudi Arabia. He was a teacher and an author in Unaizah, Saudi Arabia. He authored more than 40 ...

(1889–1957) *

Abul A'la Maududi Abul A'la al-Maududi (; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist, and scholar active in British India and later, following the partition, in Pakistan. Described by Wilfred C ...

(1903–1979) * Murabit al-Hajj (1913 - 2018) *

Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Alawi ibn al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Aziz (1944–2004), also known as Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki, () was one of the foremost traditional Sunni Islamic scholar of contemporary times from Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the M ...

(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