Unconventional Duha Research Unitary

The lives of the mujaddidūn remind us that tajdīd is not a theory, nor a matter of abstract speculation, but a lived reality. They embody the principle that furqān (clarity of intellect) must be safeguarded by taqwā (God-consciousness) if it is to bear the fruit of tajdīd (renewal). Their stories are not distant memories, but luminous guideposts for a fragmented age.

First, the mujaddidūn teach us that knowledge without taqwā darkens the heart rather than illuminating it. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz preserved justice not by superior policy alone, but by extinguishing a candle when it became unlawful to use state resources for personal matters. Al-Ghazālī, though a towering intellectual, fled the limelight of Baghdad to purify his heart from ostentation. Ibn Khaldūn, though capable of serving rulers, often chose resignation over corruption. Each demonstrates that taqwā is the shield that protects furqān, ensuring that knowledge remains a nur rather than a veil. For us, this means that academic brilliance or professional achievement must be tethered to dhikr, zuhd, and muraqabah if it is to guide rather than misguide.

Second, the mujaddidūn remind us to live simply in order to think deeply. Imām al-Nawawī, who never married and owned only two garments, wrote works that continue to shape Islamic spirituality and practice.

Al-Suyūṭī, despite his encyclopedic authorship, lived independently from rulers, refusing to compromise his intellectual integrity. Simplicity was not deprivation for them but a condition of clarity — the pruning of distractions so that the intellect and heart could ascend. In a world of constant noise, their zuhd is a map for reclaiming focus.

Third, they show that renewal requires courage. Al-Ghazālī faced down the philosophers of his age, Ibn Khaldūn critiqued historical myth-making, and Shāh Walī Allāh confronted decline in Mughal India by bringing Qur’an to the people in their tongue. Each risked their reputation, comfort, or safety. Tajdīd is not born from conformity but from moral courage — the willingness to stand apart in service of Allah’s truth. For us, this means that renewal in education, technology, art, or social reform will always require swimming against the currents of fashion, ideology, or peer approval.

Finally, the mujaddidūn inspire us to apply furqān to emerging fields. Ibn Khaldūn did not merely preserve tradition — he innovated a new science of civilization while grounding it in Qur’anic patterns (sunan Allāh). His work proves that tajdīd is not only defensive but creative, generating new disciplines when the ummah requires them. In our age, this may mean reading the “signs of Allah” in neuroscience, psychology, ecology, or digital technology — but only when disciplined by revelation and purified by taqwā. The mujaddid path is not rejection of knowledge but its reorientation under tawḥīd.

When placed within the Mujaddid Model of Intelligence, these lessons find their proper home. Contemplative Intelligence is disciplined by tafakkur and taʿaqqul, but it bears fruit only when anchored in taqwā. Empirical Intelligence, which reads the world through ruʾyah and iʿtibār, can become materialism without basīrah. Creative Intelligence, when unmoored, falls into illusionary khayāl, but under taqwā it becomes tawassum — discerning Allah’s signs through beauty. And Spiritual Intelligence itself integrates all of these, ensuring that the ultimate outcome is not brilliance for its own sake, but tajdīd: the renewal of both the soul and society in alignment with divine guidance.

The mujaddidūn prove that renewal is not a gift reserved for exceptional individuals alone, but the natural outcome of hearts illuminated by taqwā and intellects disciplined by furqān. The Qur’an promises:

“If you have taqwā of Allah, He will grant you furqān (a criterion to distinguish truth from falsehood).” (Qur’an 8:29)

Thus, the path of tajdīd is open to every believer who disciplines their faculties and aligns their life to Allah. For the student, the scholar, the artist, the scientist, the reformer — the mujaddidūn stand as timeless proof that knowledge, purified and integrated, can transform not only the individual but the destiny of entire civilizations.