At the time of his proclamation as the Khalifatullah of this Era in 2008, Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib reflected on the Islamic belief about the coming of Divine reformers in every century and the extraordinary opportunity it represents for the common believers. Here are the extracts:
“Belief in the coming of the advent of a Reformer has been held from before the time of Islam. It existed centuries before the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa), as part of the Mosaic tradition. But in Islam the coming of a Reformer has been taught so systematically and determinately that we are obliged to regard it as one of the important beliefs of Islam.
Factors, which have strengthened and systematized the Islamic belief, are the following:
(1) The advent of a Reformer is described in Muslim traditions as the advent of a new era in the advancement of Islam. The conquest of other faiths by Islam was to wait on the coming of a Reformer. It was to be initiated by the Reformer.
(2) The coming of a Reformer has seemed like the coming of the Holy Prophet himself, the first believers of the Reformer like the first believers of the Holy Prophet (sa).