Mujaddid
/muːˈdʒædɪd/noun
In Islamic thought, a person believed to renew or revive the faith at the beginning of a century.
Did you know?The concept comes from a hadith stating that God would send someone to renew the religion at the beginning of each Islamic century, making the word part of a recurring sacred-renewal tradition.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic / Semitic antiquity
Semitic
*ḥ-d-š / *j-d-d
“A root family associated with being new, fresh, or renewed; the exact relationship between neighboring Semitic forms is debated.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
جَدِيد (jadīd)
“New, fresh, recent.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
جَدَّدَ (jaddada)
“To renew, restore, or make new; a derived verb from the root j-d-d.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
مُجَدِّد (mujaddid)
“A renewer or reviver; the active participle of jaddada.”
Medieval Islamic scholarship
Arabic
المجدد (al-mujaddid)
“A religious reviver believed to restore correct faith and practice, especially at the start of a century.”
19th–20th Century
English
mujaddid
“An English loanword for an Islamic renewer or reformer, often referring to a recognized revivalist scholar.”