or those who oppose them, until Allah’s command is fulfilled. He ﷺ also said, in the hadith narrated by Abu Dawud and authenticated by al-Hakim and others: “Allah will raise up for this Ummah, at the head of every hundred years, someone who will renew its religion.”

Al-Manawi explains in Fayd al-Qadir (2/281–282): “That is, Allah will appoint for the community—at the beginning of each century, reckoned from the Hijrah or otherwise, the term ‘head’ being approximate—one man or more who will renew its religion; meaning, he will distinguish Sunnah from innovation, spread knowledge, support its adherents, break the people of innovation and humble them. Such a person must be a scholar thoroughly grounded in the outward and inward religious sciences.”

Ibn Kathir remarked: “Every group has claimed that this hadith refers to its own imam, but what appears correct is that it embraces a number of scholars from every faction and discipline—exegetes, hadith specialists, jurists, grammarians, linguists, and others.”

The Prophet’s words have proven true. By Allah’s grace, this Ummah continues to be favored with the emergence of renewers whenever the need grows acute. Among them are Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal in the third century, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah at the close of the seventh and the start of the eighth, and Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab in the twelfth.

In this brief essay I would like to present some information about these imams and the renewal they brought to this religion—whose effects, by Allah’s praise and bounty, are still felt within the Ummah. The aim is to acquaint those unaware of their efforts, to encourage benefiting from their legacy, and to inspire emulation of them. Allah is the One who guides to the straight path