Mujaddid

Mujaddid (Arabic: مجدد) in Islam is a reformer who is given the task of removing errors that have occurred among Muslims. Their job is to show people the great religious truths which the Muslim community will be asked to face.^[1] According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every century of the Islamic calendar to revive 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.^[2]

Ikhtilaf (disagreements) exist among vatious hadith specialists. Scholars and historians like 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.^[3][4]

The Arabic word mujaddid means "reformer", "renovator", "reviver", "renewer" or "regenerator". It is someone who revives and renovates the religion. The concept of tajdid (renewal or revival) and the term mujaddid come rather from a hadith, a statement of the Prophet Muhammad. This hadith was written down by Abu Dawood in his Sunan, one of the six authoritative Sunni collections of the Prophet's statements. In this hadith, the Prophet says:

"Verily, Allah (God) sends to (or will raise for) this Ummah (the Islamic nation) at the head (the beginning or the end) of every hundred years someone (or people) who will renew (or revive) for it its religion."^[5]

This means reform is in the essential nature of Islam and Muslims are called all the time to work hard to make new ideas cope with tradition. It also means that not everything in the Muslim tradition is useful and good for this modern age; there are certain things that were possible in the past but are no longer relevant today. Slavery would be a prime example.^[6]

1. ↑ Ali, Maulana Muhammad (2011). The Religion of Islam by Muhammad Ali. Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore USA. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-934271-18-6.
2. ↑ "Mujaddid - Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
3. ↑ Fath al-Baari (13/295)
4. ↑ Taareekh al-Islam (23/180)
5. ↑ "Hadith - Book of Battles (Kitab Al-Malahim) - Sunan Abi Dawud - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)". sunnah.com.
6. ↑ Islam and modernity: Islamist movements and the politics of position by Said Mentak.