Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 241
I. FIRST SIGN― [Signs] قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنَّ اللهَ يَبْعَثُ لِهَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ عَلَى رَأْسِ كُلِّ مِائَةِ سَنَةٍ مَنْ يُجَدِّدُ لَهَا دِيْنَهَا. رَوَاهُ أَبُو دَاوُد Meaning that, Abū Dawūd reports that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: 'At the head of every century, God will commission a Mujaddid for this ummah who will revive the Faith for its sake. ' The twenty-fourth year of the present century is now nearing its end and it is not possible that a saying of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, should remain unfulfilled. If someone asks, 'If this hadith is authentic, then tell us the names of the Mujaddids [Reformers] of the twelve centuries?, the answer is that this hadith has been continually held as authentic by the scholars of the Ummah. If, at the time of my claim, even this hadith is to be declared as a fabrication, such can indeed be expected only from these maulawis. Some eminent scholars of hadith themselves claimed to be the Mujaddids of their own times, while others have tried to project someone else as the Mujaddid. Therefore, if this hadith is not authen- tic, they did not act honestly. As for the names of the Mujaddids, it is not necessary for me to remember them all. Such all-encompassing knowledge is exclusive to God alone. I lay no claim to know the unseen except for what God reveals to me.