Mujaddid

A mujaddid () is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" () to the religion.

(2025). 9780415966900, Psychology Press. . ISBN 9780415966900

According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to Islamic revival Islam, 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 (a saying of 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.Fath al-Baari (13/295)Taareekh al-Islam (23/180)

Mujaddids can include prominent scholars, pious rulers and military commanders.

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List of Sunni claimants and potential mujaddids While there is no formal mechanism for designating a mujaddid in Sunni Islam, there is often a popular consensus. The Shia and Ahmadiyya

(2015). 9781610692502, ABC-CLIO. . ISBN 9781610692502

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.

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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. .

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Second century (August 10, 815)

• Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i (767–820)
  (2025). 9780521539067, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521539067
  C.A.O.van Nieuwenhuijze (1997). 9789004106727, BRILL. . ISBN 9789004106727
• Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855)Mohammed M. I. Ghaly, "Writings on Disability in Islam: The 16th Century Polemic on Ibn Fahd's "al-Nukat al-Ziraf"," The Arab Studies Journal, Vol. 13/14, No. 2/1 (Fall 2005/Spring 2006), p. 26, note 98

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Third century (August 17, 912)

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

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Fourth Century (August 24, 1009)

• Hakim al-Nishaburi (933–1012)
• Al-Baqillani (950–1013)

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Fifth century (September 1, 1106)

• Ibn Hazm (994–1064)The Legal Thought of Jalāl Al-Din Al-Suyūṭī: Authority and Legacy, Page 133 Rebecca Skreslet Hernandez
• Al-Ghazali (1058–1111)Jane I. Smith, Islam in America, p 36. Dhahabi, Siyar, 4.566Willard Gurdon Oxtoby, Oxford University Press, 1996, p 421
• Abdul Qadir Jilani (1078–1166) Majmu al-Fatawa, Volume 10, Page 455

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Sixth century (September 9, 1203)

• Saladin (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)Sufi Movements in Eastern India – Page 194The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pp. 227–228
• Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1210)
• Abu al-Qasim al-Rafi'i (1160-1226)
  Wael Hallaq (2022). 9781000585049, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000585049

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Seventh century (September 15, 1300)

• Ibn Daqiq al-'Id (1228–1302)
  Muhsin J. al-Musawi (2015). 9780268020446, University of Notre Dame Press, Chapter 6 'Disputation in Rhetoric' citation #28. ISBN 9780268020446
• Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328)
• Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350)

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Eighth century (September 23, 1397)

• Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini (1324–1403)
• Tamerlane (Timur) (1336–1405)Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim, "An Overview of al-Sadiq al-Madhi's Islamic Discourse." Taken from The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought, p. 214. Ed. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi'. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
• Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (1372–1448)

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Ninth century (October 1, 1494)

• Shah Rukh (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, 2008.
• Mehmet II (1432–1481)Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gulen by Ali Unal and Alphonse Williams, 10 June 2000;
• Zakariyya al-Ansari (1420-1520)
  (2022). 9786236289754, Penerbit A-Empat. . ISBN 9786236289754
• Al-Suyuti (1445–1505)
  Azyumardi Azra (2025). 9780824828486, University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824828486

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Tenth century (October 19, 1591)

• Selim I (1470–1520)
  (2025). 9789090261089, IUR Press. . ISBN 9789090261089
• Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566)Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Volume 12: Sixth Series

By Royal Historical Society

• Shams al-Din al-Ramli (1513-1596)
  (2025). 9788175330948, MD Publications. . ISBN 9788175330948
• Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624)
  Cyril Glasse (1997). 9789004106727, AltaMira Press. ISBN 9789004106727

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Eleventh century (October 26, 1688)

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

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Twelfth century (November 4, 1785)

• Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703–1762)
• Murtaḍá al-Zabīdī (1732–1790)
• Shah Abdul Aziz Delhwi (1745–1823)
• Tipu Sultan (1750–1799)Muslims and India's freedom movement, Shan Muhammad, Institute of Objective Studies (New Delhi, India), Institute of Objective Studies and the University of Michigan, 2002;
• Usman Dan Fodio (1754–1817)
• Syed Ahmad Barelvi (1786–1831)Ahmad, M. (1975). Saiyid Ahmad barevali: His Life and Mission (No. 93). Lucknow: Academy of Islamic Research and Publications. Page 27.
• Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (1796–1861)
  Anil Sehgal (2025). 9788126306718, Bharatiya Jnanpith. . ISBN 9788126306718

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Thirteenth century (November 14, 1882)

• Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905)
• Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (1851–1920)
• Ahmad Raza Khan (1856–1925)
• Amadou Bamba (1853–1927)

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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)
  (1996). 9780195357110, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780195357110
• Murabit al-Hajj (1913–2018)
• Muhammad 'Alawi al-Maliki (1944–2004)

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Claimants in other traditions

• Mulla Sadra (1571–1640)The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam – Page 286The Fundamental Principles of Mulla Sadra's Transcendent Philosophy by Reza Akbarian
• Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Thomson Gale (2004)
• Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908)Adil Hussain Khan, From Sufism to Ahmadiyya: A Muslim Minority Movement in South Asia, Indiana University Press, 6 April 2015, p. 42.
  Friedmann, Yohanan (2025). 965264014X, Oxford University Press. 965264014X

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Further reading

• Alvi, Sajida S. "The Mujaddid and Tajdīd Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent: An Historical Overview" ("Hindistan’da Mucaddid ve Tacdîd geleneği: Tarihî bir bakış"). Journal of Turkish Studies 18 (1994): 1–15.
• Friedmann, Yohanan. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity. Oxford India Paperbacks

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External links

• Islami Mehfil, Concept Of Revivalist (Mujaddid) In Islam
• Shah Waliyu Llah about the Mujaddids
• Al Hafiz Adh Dhahabi about the Mujaddids
• Brief Introduction to the Concept of Mujaddidiyyat in Islam

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