MUSLIM REFORMERS (MUJADDIDS)
Abu Da'ud, regarded to be the most authentic work of traditions from among ‘Sihah Sitta’ after ‘Bukhari’ and ‘Muslim’, mentions the following report from the Holy Prophet:
( Inna Allah yab'ath li-hadhihi al-umma 'ala ra's kull mi'a thana man yujaddid laha amr diniha. )
"... Most surely Allah will raise from this Ummah at the commencement of every century one who will bring about the revival of their religion."
The Mujaddid is a person revives in them the true of spirit of islamic faith and helps them to see the authentic teachings of their religion without the encumbrance of social and cultural habits and ideas. Muslim Ummah had many such mujaddids throughout its history. The Mujaddidîn, as ‘ulama, are the inheritors of the Prophets, as another well-known Tradition asserts. Tajdid can thus be seen as an extension of prophethood.
The mujaddid also has been defined as follow:
"The high servants of religion which are described in the Prophetic traditions as coming at the start of every century are not innovators, they are followers. That is to say, they do not create anything themselves, they do not bring any new ordinances; they adjust and strengthen religion by way of following to the letter the fundamentals and ordinances of religion and the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad; they proclaim the true and original meaning of religion; they remove and render null and void the baseless matters which have been mixed up with it; they reject and destroy attacks made on religion; they establish Divine commands and proclaim and make known the nobility and exaltedness of the Divine ordinances. Without spoiling the basic position or damaging the original spirit, they carry out their duties through new methods of persuasion appropriate to the understanding of the age, and in new ways and with new details." (Bediüzzaman Said Nursî, Sualar, 563.)
The mujaddid thus accomplishes two extremely important things. Firstly, he re-reveals the Qur'an to the people of his own time just as it was intended to be revealed, and indeed as it was revealed by the Prophet some fourteen hundred years ago; and secondly, he does so in a way that is accessible to the level of mind of people in his own time.
A LIST OF WELL KNOWN MUJADDIDS FROM THE FIRST CENTURY OF HIJRAH UP TO FORTEENTH CENTURY OF HIJRAH:
FIRST CENTURY :
Sayyiduna Imam Umar bin Abdul Aziz
SECOND CENTURY :
Imam Abdullah bin Idrees Shafi'i
THIRD CENTURY :
Abu Hasan Asy'ari
FORTH CENTURY :
Abu Bakr Muhammad bin At-Tayyab Al-Baqilani.
Imam Al Baihaqi
FIFTH CENTURY :
Imam Abu Naeem Isfahani,
Imam Muhammad bin Muhammad Ghazzali
SIXTH CENTURY :
Allamah Imam Umar Nasfi,
SEVENTH CENTURY :
Kwaja Muhi'yuddeen Chishti Ajmeri
Imam Sheikh Akbar Muhi'yuddeen Muhammad ibn Arabi
Ibn Daqiqi
EIGHT CENTURY :
Al Balqini
NINTH CENTURY :
Imam Hafiz Jallaluddeen Abu Bakr Abdur Rahmaan Suyuti
Imam Nooruddeen bin Ahmad Misri,
TENTH CENTURY :
Imam Shahabuddeen Abu Bakr Ahmad bin Muhammad Khatib Qistalaani,
Imam Muhammad Sharbini
Imam Muhammad Ar Ramli
ELEVENTH CENTURY :
Imam Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi Mujaddid-e-Alf Thaani
Abdullah Salim Al Basri
TWENTIETH CENTURY :
Imam Abdul Ghani Taablisi,
Ad Dardir
THIRTEENTH CENTURY :
Allamah Imam Ahmad bin Ismaeel Tahtaawi,
Allamah Shah Abdul Azeez Muhaddith-e-Delhwi
(radi Allahu anhuma)
As Syarqawi
FOURTEENTH CENTURY:
Articles:
Renewal in islam and bediuzzaman
Islamic reformers islam and modernism I