Reviver of the 14th Century

In a şaĥīĥ ĥadīth, narrated by Sayyidunā Abū Hurayrah raDi’Allahu anhu, RasūlAllāh ﷺ has said:

Verily, Allāh táālā will send my ummah [a scholar] at the head of every century who shall revive the religion for them.

This ĥadīth is narrated by Abū Dāwūd in his Sunan, Ĥākim in Mustadrak, Bayhaqī in Márifah, Ţabarānī in Mújam al-Awsaţ, Abū Nuáym in Ĥilyah.[1] Suyūţī in his marginalia of Abū Dāwūd has said that it is a şaĥīĥ ĥadīth.[2] Among the conditions of a mujaddid is that he shall be born in the previous century and pass away in the next, and shall be well-known at the head of the century in which he passes away. It is necessary that the Reviver be a master of Islamic sciences and that contemporary scholars acknowledge his mastery and that the common people benefit from his knowledge. Also, it is not necessary that every century should have only one mujaddid – there can be many mujaddids in the same century at the same time.

Thousands of scholars and muftis would write to Alahazrat seeking solutions for problems that they could not find in books and on issues without precedent. Indeed, if it were not for Alahazrat, the subcontinent would have become entirely Wahābī or Deobandī.[3] Deobandīs and other heretics changed their books or hide them from Muslims after having published blasphemies, primarily because of Alahazrat. Today, it is the followers of Imām Aĥmad Riđā – pejoratively called as Baraylawīs by their enemies – who adhere strictly to the Sunni creed and unequivocally refute the Wahābīs. Alahazrat’s books remain as formidable as ever – in the aid and support of Ahl as-Sunnah.

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[1] Sunan Abū Dāwūd, #4291; Mustadrak #8657; Márifah, #422; Mújam al-Awsaţ, #6527; Maqāşid al-Ĥasanah of Sakhāwī, #238.

[2] Darajāt Mirqāt al-Súūd ilā Sunan Abī Dāwūd, p.178.

[3] Deobandī or its offshoot – the Tablīghī Jamāát. Deobandīs are essentially Wahābīs, but they differ with the parent sect in one major aspect: Deobandīs accept madh’habs and mostly follow the Ĥanafī madh’hab. Deobandīs claim to be Māturīdī-Ĥanafī, but actually, they are Neo-Mútazilī/Wahābī–Ĥanafī because, Deobandī elders believe that it is not impossible for Allāh táālā to lie; and that it is bidáh to believe that Allāh does not have a direction. Sub’ĥanAllāh.