The Arabic termsunna, according to which Sunnis are named, is old and roots in pre-Islamic language. It was used for traditions which a majority of people followed.[11] The term got greater political significance after the murder of the third caliphUthman (r. 644–656). It is saidMalik al-Ashtar, a famous follower ofAli, encouraged during theBattle of Siffin with the expression, Ali's political rivalMu'awiya kills thesunna. After the battle, it was agreed that "the righteousSunnah, the unifying, not the divisive" ("as-Sunna al-ʿādila al-ǧāmiʿa ġair al-mufarriqa") should be consulted to resolve the conflict. The time when the termsunna became the short form for "Sunnah of theProphet" (Sunnat an-Nabī) is still unknown.[12] During theUmayyad Caliphate, several political movements, including theShia and theKharijites rebelled against the formation of the state. They led their battles in the name of "the book of God (Qur'an) and theSunnah of his Prophet".[13] During thesecond Civil War (680–92) the Sunna-term received connotations critical ofShi'i doctrines (Tashayyu'). It is recorded by Masrūq ibn al-Adschdaʿ (d. 683), who was aMufti inKufa, a need to love the first two caliphsAbū Bakr andʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and acknowledge their priority (Fadā'il). A disciple of Masrūq, the scholar ash-Shaʿbī (d. between 721 und 729), who first sided with the Shia in Kufa during Civil War, but turned away in disgust by their fanaticism and finally decided to join the Umayyad CaliphʿAbd al-Malik, popularized the concept ofSunnah.[14] It is also passed down by asch-Shaʿbī, that he took offensive at the hatred onʿĀʾiša bint Abī Bakr and considered it a violation of theSunnah.[15]
The termSunna instead of the longer expressionahl as-sunna orahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah as a group-name for Sunnis is a relatively young phenomenon. It was probablyIbn Taymiyyah, who used the short-term for the first time.[16] It was later popularized bypan-Islamic scholars such asMuhammad Rashid Rida in his treatiseas-Sunna wa-š-šiʿa au al-Wahhābīya wa-r-Rāfiḍa: Ḥaqāʾiq dīnīya taʾrīḫīya iǧtimaʿīya iṣlaḥīya ("The Sunna and the Shia, OrWahhabism andRāfidism: Religious history, sociological und reform oriented facts") published in 1928–29.[17] The term "Sunnah" is usually used in Arabic discourse as designation for Sunni Muslims, when they are intended to be contrasted with Shias. The word pair "Sunnah-Shia" is also used on Western research literature to denote the Sunni-Shia contrast.[18]
Ahl as-Sunna
One of the earliest supporting documents forahl as-sunna derives from the Basric scholar Muhammad Ibn Siri (d. 728). His is mentioned in theSahih ofMuslim ibn al-Hajjaj quoted with: "Formerly one did not ask about theIsnad. But when thefitna started, one said: 'Name us your informants'. One would then respond to them: If they were Sunnah people, you accept their hadith. But if they are people of theInnovations, the hadith was rejected."[19] G.H.A. Juynboll assumed, the termfitna in this statement is not related to the first Civil War (665–661) after murder ofʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, but the second Civil War (680–692)[20] in which the Islamic community was split into four parties (Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, theUmayyads, the Shia underal-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbaid and the Kharijites). The termahl as-sunna designated in this situation whose, who stayed away from heretic teachings of the different warring parties.[21]
The termahl as-sunna was always a laudatory designation.Abu Hanifa (d. 769), who sympathized withMurdshia, insisted that this were "righteous people and people of the Sunnah" (ahl al-ʿadl wa-ahl as-sunna).[22] According toJosef van Ess this term did not mean more than "honorable and righteous believing people".[23] Among Hanafits the designationahl as-sunna andahl al-ʿadl (people of the righteous) remained interchangeable for a long time. Thus the Hanafite Abū l-Qāsim as-Samarqandī (d. 953), who composed a catechism for theSamanides, used sometimes one expression and sometimes another for his own group.[24]
Singular toahl as-sunna wasṣāḥib sunna (adherent to the sunnah).[25] This expression was used for example byʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak (d. 797) for a person, who distances himself from the teachings of Shia,Kharijites, Qadarites andMurjites.[26] In addition, theNisba adjectivesunnī was also used for the individual person. Thus it has been recorded, the Kufic scholar of the Quran Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh (d. 809) was asked, how he was a "sunni". He responded the following: "The one who, when the heresies are mentioned, doesn't get excited about any of them."[27] The Andalusiaian scholarIbn Hazm (d. 1064) taught later, that whose who confess to Islam can be divided into four groups:ahl as-sunna,Mutazilites, Murjites, Shites, Kharijites.[28] The Muʿtazilites replaced the Qadarites here.
In the 9th century, one started to extent the termahl as-sunna with further positive additions. Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari used for his own group expressions likeahl as-sunna wa-l-istiqāma ("people of Sunna and Straightness"),ahl as-sunna wa-l-ḥadīṯ ("people of Sunnah and of the Hadith")[29] orahl al-ḥaqq wa-s-sunna[30] ("people of Truth and of the Sunnah").
Ahl as-Sunna wa l-Jamāʻah
The first appearances of the expression 'ahl as-sunna wa l-jama'ah are entirely clear. The Abbasite CaliphAl-Ma'mūn (reigned 813–33) criticized in his Mihna edict a group of people, who related themselves to the sunnah (nasabū anfusa-hum ilā s-sunna) and claimed, they are the "people of truth, religion and community" (ahl al-ḥaqq wa-d-dīn wa-l-jamāʿah).[31]Sunna andjamāʿah are already connected here. As a pair, these terms already appear in the 9th century. It is recorded that the disciple ofAhmad ibn Hanbal Harb ibn Ismail as-Sirjdshani (d. 893) created a writing with the titleas-Sunna wa l-Jamāʿah, to which the Mutazilite Abu al-Qasim al-Balchi wrote a refutation later.[32]Al-Jubba'i (d. 916) tells in hisKitāb al-Maqālāt, that Ahmad ibn Hanbal attributed to his students the predicatesunnī jamāʿah ("Jammatic Sunnite").[33] This indicates that the Hanbalis were the first to use the phraseahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah as a self-designation.[34]
Karramiyya theology, founded by Muhammad ibn Karram (d. 859) referred to the sunnah and community. They passed down in praise of their school founder a hadith, according to which Muhammad predicted that at the end of times a man named Muhammad ibn Karram will appear, who will restore the sunna and the community (as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah) and take Hidraj from Chorasan to Jerusalem, just how Muhammad himself took a Hidraj from Mecca to Medina.[34] According to the testimony of the transoxanian scholar Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi (d. 1099) the Kullabites (followers of the Basrian scholarIbn Kullab (d. 855)) dayed about themselves, that they are among theahl as-sunna wa l-jama too.[35]
Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari used the expressionahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah rarely,[36] and preferred another combination. Later Asharites like al-Isfaranini (d. 1027) nad Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 1078) used the expressionahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah too and used them in their works to designate the teachings of their own school.[37] According to al-Bazdawi all Asharites in his time said they belong to theahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah.[35] During this time, the term has been used as a self-designation by the hanafite Maturidites in Transoxiania, used frequently byAbu al-Layth al-Samarqandi (d. 983), Abu Schakur as-Salimi (d. 1086) and al-Bazdawi himself.[24] They used the term as a contrast from their enemies[38] among them Hanafites in the West, who have been followers of the Mutazilites.[39] Al-Bazdawī also contrasted theAhl as-Sunnah wa l-Jamāʻah withAhl al-Ḥadīth, "because they would adhere to teachings contrary to the Quran".[40]
According toSchams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī (end of the 10th century) was the expressionahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah a laudatory term during his time, similar toahl al-ʿadl wa-t-tawḥīd ("people of Righteousness and Divine Unity"), which was used for Mutazilites or generally designations likeMu'minūn ("Believer") oraṣḥāb al-hudā ("people of guidance") for Muslims, who has been seen as rightoues believers.[41] Since the expressionahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah was used with a demand on rightoues belief, it was used in academic researches translated as "orthodox".[42]
There are different opinions regarding what the termjama in the phraseahl as-sunna wa l-jama actually means, among Muslim scholars. In the Sunni Creed byat-Tahawi (d. 933), the termjama contrasts several times the Arabic termfurqa ("division, sectarianism").[43][44] Thus at-Tahāwī explains thatjama is considered as true or right (ḥaqq wa-ṣawāb) andfurqa as aberration and punishment (zaiġ wa-ʿaḏāb).[45] Ibn Taymiyyah argues, thatjama as opposite term tofurqa inherents the meaning ofiǧtimāʿ ("Coming together, being together, agreement"). Furthermore, he connects it with the principle ofIjma, a third juridical source after the Book (Quran), and the Sunnah.[46] The Ottoman scholar Muslih ad-Din al-Qastallani (d. 1495) held the opinion thatjama means "Path of theSahaba" (ṭarīqat aṣ-ṣaḥāba).[47] The modern Indonesian theologicanNurcholish Madjid (d. 2005) interpretedjama as aninclusivistic concept: It means a society open forpluralism and dialogue but does not emphasize that much.[48]
One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammad's death, and thatSufism andShi'ism developed out of Sunni Islam.[49] This perception is partly due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works, and also because the vast majority of the population is Sunni. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of several centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines.[50]
The first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as theRāshidun or "Rightly-Guided Ones". Sunni recognition includes the aforementionedAbu Bakr as the first,Umar as the second,Uthman as the third, andAli as the fourth.[51] Sunnis recognised different rulers as thecaliph, though they did not include anyone in the list of the rightly guided ones orRāshidun after the murder of Ali, until the caliphate was constitutionally abolished inTurkey on 3 March 1924.
Transition of caliphate into dynastic monarchy of Banu Umayya
The seeds of metamorphosis of caliphate into kingship were sown, as the second caliph Umar had feared, as early as the regime of the third caliph Uthman, who appointed many of his kinsmen from his clanBanu Umayya, includingMarwān andWalid bin Uqba on important government positions, becoming the main cause of turmoil resulting in his murder and the ensuing infighting during Ali's time and rebellion byMuāwiya, another of Uthman's kinsman. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of firm dynastic rule ofBanu Umayya afterHusain, the younger son of Ali fromFātima, was killed at theBattle of Karbalā. The rise to power of Banu Umayya, the Meccan tribe of elites who had vehemently opposed Muhammad under the leadership ofAbu Sufyān, Muāwiya's father, right up to theconquest of Mecca by Muhammad, as his successors with the accession of Uthman to caliphate, replaced the egalitarian society formed as a result of Muhammad's revolution to a society stratified between haves and have-nots as a result ofnepotism, and in the words of El-Hibri through "the use of religious charity revenues (zakāt) to subsidise family interests, which Uthman justified as 'al-sila' (pious filial support)".[52][53][54] Ali, during his rather brief regime after Uthman maintained austere life style and tried hard to bring back the egalitarian system and supremacy of law over the ruler idealised in Muhammad's message, but faced continued opposition, and wars one after another byAisha-Talhah-Zubair, by Muāwiya and finally by theKhārjites. After he was murdered, his followers immediately electedHasan ibn Ali his elder son from Fātima to succeed him. Hasan shortly afterward signed a treaty withMuāwiya relinquishing power in favour of the latter, with a condition inter alia, that one of the two who will outlive the other will be the caliph, and that this caliph will not appoint a successor but will leave the matter of selection of the caliph to the public. Subsequently, Hasan was poisoned to death and Muawiya enjoyed unchallenged power. Dishonouring his treaty with Hasan, he nominated his sonYazid to succeed him. Upon Muāwiya's death,Yazid asked Husain, the younger brother of Hasan, Ali's son and Muhammad's grandson, to give his allegiance to Yazid, which he plainly refused. His caravan was cordoned by Yazid's army at Karbalā and he was killed with all his male companions – total 72 people, in a day longbattle after which Yazid established himself as a sovereign, though strong public uprising erupted after his death against his dynasty to avenge the massacre of Karbalā, butBanu Umayya were able to quickly suppress them all and ruled the Muslim world, till they were finally overthrown byBanu Abbās.[55][56][57][58]
Caliphate and the dynastic monarchy of Banu Abbās
The rule of and "caliphate" of Banu Umayya came to an end at the hands of Banu Abbās a branch of Banu Hāshim, the tribe of Muhammad, only to usher another dynastic monarchy styled as caliphate from 750 CE. This period is seen formative in Sunni Islam as the founders of the four schools viz,Abu Hanifa,Malik ibn Anas,Shāfi'i andAhmad bin Hanbal all practised during this time, so also didJafar al Sādiq who elaborated the doctrine ofimāmate, the basis for the Shi'a religious thought. There was no clearly accepted formula for determining succession in the Abbasid caliphate. Two or three sons or other relatives of the dying caliph emerged as candidates to the throne, each supported by his own party of supporters. A trial of strength ensued and the most powerful party won and expected favours of the caliph they supported once he ascended the throne. The caliphate of this dynasty ended with the death of the Caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 CE, when the period of Turkish domination began.[59]
The fall, at the end ofWorld War I of theOttoman Empire, the biggest Sunni empire for six centuries, brought the caliphate to an end. This resulted in Sunni protests in far off places including theKhilafat Movement in India, which was later on upon gaining independence from Britain divided into Sunni dominatedPakistan and secularIndia. Pakistan, the most populous Sunni state at its dawn, was laterpartitioned into Pakistan andBangladesh. Thedemise of Ottoman caliphate also resulted in the emergence ofSaudi Arabia, a dynastic absolute monarchy that championed the reformist doctrines ofMuhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab; the eponym of theWahhabi movement.[60][61][62][63] This was followed by a considerable rise in the influence of theWahhabi,Salafiyya,Islamist andJihadist movements that revived the doctrines of the Hanbali theologianTaqi Al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328 C.E/ 661–728 A.H), a fervent advocate of the traditions of the Sunni ImamAhmad ibn Hanbal. The expediencies ofCold War resulted in the radicalisation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who fought thecommunist regime backed byUSSR forces in Afghanistan giving birth to theTaliban movement. After the fall of communist regime in Afghanistan and the ensuingcivil war, Taliban wrestled power from the variousMujahidin factions inAfghanistan and formed a government under the leadership ofMohammed Omar, who was addressed as theEmir of the faithful, an honorific way of addressing the caliph. The Taliban regime was recognised by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia till after9/11, perpetrated byOsama bin Laden – a Saudi national by birth and harboured by the Taliban – took place, resulting in awar on terror launched against the Taliban.[64][65][66]
The sequence of events of the 20th century has led to resentment in some quarters of the Sunni community due to the loss of pre-eminence in several previously Sunni-dominated regions such as theLevant,Mesopotamia, theBalkans, theNorth Caucasus and theIndian sub continent.[67] The latest attempt by a radical wing ofSalafi-Jihadists to re-establish a Sunni caliphate was seen in the emergence of the militant groupISIL, whose leaderAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi is known among his followers as caliph andAmir-al-mu'mineen, "The Commander of the Faithful".[68] Jihadism is opposed from within the Muslim community (known as theummah in Arabic) in all quarters of the world as evidenced by turnout of almost 2% of the Muslim population in London protesting against ISIL.[69]
Following the puritan approach ofIbn Kathir,Muhammad Rashid Rida, etc. many contemporaryTafsir (exegetic treatises) downplay the earlier significance ofBiblical material (Isrā'iliyyāt). Half of the Arab commentaries rejectIsrā'iliyyāt in general, while Turkish tafsir usually partly allow referring to Biblical material. Nevertheless, most non-Arabic commentators regard them as useless or not applicable.[70] A direct reference to theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict could not be found. It remains unclear whether the refusal ofIsrā'iliyyāt is motivated by political discourse or by traditionalist thought alone.[70] The usage oftafsir'ilmi is another notable characteristic of modern Sunni tafsir.Tafsir'ilmi stands for alleged scientific miracles found in the Qur'an. In short, the idea is that the Qur'an contains knowledge about subjects an author of the 7th century could not possibly have. Such interpretations are popular among many commentators. Some scholars, such as the Commentators ofAl-Azhar University, reject this approach, arguing the Qur'an is a text for religious guidance, not for science and scientific theories that may be disproved later; thustafsir'ilmi might lead to interpreting Qur'anic passages as falsehoods.[71] Modern trends of Islamic interpretation are usually seen as adjusting to a modern audience and purifying Islam from alleged alterings, some of which are believed to be intentional corruptions brought into Islam to undermine and corrupt its message.[70]
Adherents
Countries by percentage of population practicing Islam.[72]
Sunnis believe thecompanions ofMuhammad to be reliable transmitters of Islam, since God and Muhammad accepted their integrity. Medieval sources even prohibit cursing or vilifying them.[73] This belief is based upon prophetic traditions such as one narrated byAbdullah, son of Masud, in which Muhammad said: "The best of the people are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them." Support for this view is also found in theQur'an, according to Sunnis.[74] Therefore,narratives of companions are also reliably taken into account for knowledge of the Islamic faith. Sunnis also believe that the companions weretrue believers since it was the companions who were given the task ofcompiling the Qur'an.
Sunni Islam does not have a formal hierarchy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law (sharia) or Islamic theology (Kalām). Both religious and political leadership are in principle open to all Muslims.[75] According to the Islamic Center ofColumbia,South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a well-educated person to lead the service, known as a Khateeb (one who speaks).[76]
A study conducted by thePew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011[77] found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, and it is estimated over 85–90% are Sunni.[78]
Three group doctrines
There is no agreement among Muslim scholars as to which dogmatic tendencies are to be assigned to Sunni tradition. Since the early modern period, is the idea that a total of three groups belong to the Sunnis: 1. those named afterAbu l-Hasan al-Aschʿari (d. 935)Ashʿarites, 2. those named afterAbu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 941) namedMaturidites and 3. a differently named third group, which is traditionalistic-oriented and rejects the rational discourse ofKalām advocated by the Maturidites and Ashʿarites. The Syrian scholar ʿAbd al-Baqi Ibn Faqih Fussa (d. 1661) calls this third traditionalist group the Hanbalites.[79] The late Ottoman thinkerİsmail Hakkı İzmirli [tr] (d. 1946), who agreed to dividing Sunnis into these three groups, called the traditionalist groupSalafiyya, but also usedAthariyya as an alternative term. For the Maturidiyya he givesNasafīyya as a possible alternative name.[80] Another used for the traditionalist-oriented group is "people ofHadith" (ahl al-ḥadīṯ). It is used, for example, in the final document of theGrozny Conference. Only those "people of the Hadith" are assigned to Sunnism who practicetafwīḍ, i.e. who refrain from interpreting the ambiguous statements of the Quran.[81]
Ash'ari theology stressesdivine revelation over human reason. Contrary to the Mu'tazilites, they say thatethics cannot be derived from human reason, but that God's commands, as revealed in theQuran and theSunnah (the practices of Muhammad and his companions as recorded in the traditions, orhadith), are the sole source of all morality and ethics.
Regarding thenature of God and the divine attributes, the Ash'ari rejected theMu'tazili position that all Quranic references to God as having real attributes were metaphorical. The Ash'aris insisted that these attributes were as they "best befit His Majesty". The Arabic language is a wide language in which one word can have 15 different meanings, so the Ash'aris endeavor to find the meaning that best befits God and is not contradicted by the Quran. Therefore, when God states in the Quran, "He who does not resemble any of His creation", this clearly means that God cannot be attributed with body parts because He created body parts. Ash'aris tend to stress divineomnipotence over human free will and they believe that the Quran is eternal and uncreated.
Founded byAbu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 944), Maturidiyyah was the major tradition inCentral Asia[83] based onHanafi-law. It is more influenced by Persian interpretations of Islam and less on the traditions established within Arabian culture.[84] In contrast to the traditionalistic approach, Maturidism allows to rejecthadiths based on reason alone.[85] Nevertheless, revelation remains important to inform humans about that is beyond their intellectual limits, such as the concept of an afterlife.Ethics on the other hand, do not need prophecy or revelation, but can be understood by reason alone. One of the tribes, theSeljuk Turks, migrated toTurkey, where later theOttoman Empire was established.[86] Their preferred school of law achieved a new prominence throughout their whole empire although it continued to be followed almost exclusively by followers of theHanafi school while followers of theShafi andMaliki schools within the empire followed the Ash'ari and Athari schools of thought. Thus, wherever can be foundHanafi followers, there can be found theMaturidi creed.[87][88]
Traditionalist or Athari theology is a movement ofIslamic scholars who reject rationalistic Islamic theology (kalam) in favor of strict textualism in interpreting theQur'an andsunnah.[89] The name derives from "tradition" in its technical sense as translation of the Arabic wordhadith. It is also sometimes referred to asathari as byseveral other names.
Adherents of traditionalist theology believe that thezahir (literal, apparent) meaning of theQur'an and thehadith have sole authority in matters of belief and law; and that the use of rational disputation is forbidden even if it verifies the truth.[90] They engage in a literal reading of theQur'an, as opposed to one engaged inta'wil (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of theQur'an rationally, and believe that their realities should be consigned to God alone (tafwid).[91] In essence, the text of the Qur'an and Hadith is accepted without asking "how" or "Bi-la kaifa".
Traditionalist theology emerged among scholars of hadith who eventually coalesced into a movement calledahl al-hadith under the leadership ofAhmad ibn Hanbal.[92] In matters of faith, they were pitted againstMu'tazilites and other theological currents, condemning many points of their doctrine as well as the rationalistic methods they used in defending them.[92] In the 10th century ADal-Ash'ari andal-Maturidi found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalism andHanbalite literalism, using the rationalistic methods championed by Mu'tazilites to defend most tenets of the traditionalist doctrine.[93][94] Although the mainly Hanbali scholars who rejected this synthesis were in the minority, their emotive, narrative-based approach to faith remained influential among the urban masses in some areas, particularly inAbbasidBaghdad.[95]
WhileAsh'arism andMaturidism are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", traditionalist theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be the orthodox Sunni faith.[96] In the modern era, it has had a disproportionate impact on Islamic theology, having been appropriated byWahhabi and other traditionalistSalafi currents and have spread well beyond the confines of theHanbali school of law.[97]
Narrow definition
There were also Muslim scholars who wanted to limit the Sunni term to theAsh'arites andMāturīdites alone. For example, Murtadā az-Zabīdī (d. 1790) wrote in his commentary onal-Ghazalis "Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn": "When (sc. The term)"ahl as-sunna wal jamaʿa is used, the Ashʿarites and Māturīdites are meant.[47] This position was also taken over by the Egyptian Fatwa Office in July 2013.[98] InOttoman times, many efforts were made to establish a good harmony between the teachings of the Ashʿarīya and the Māturīdīya.[98] Finally, there were also scholars who regarded the Ashʿarites alone as Sunnis. For example, the Moroccan Sufi Ahmad ibn ʿAdschiba (d. 1809) stated in his commentary onFatiha: "As far as the Sunnis are concerned, it is the Ashʿarites and those who follow in their correct belief."[99]
Conversely, there were also scholars who excluded the Ashʿarites from Sunnism. The Andalusian scholarIbn Hazm (d. 1064) said that Abu l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī belonged to theMurji'a, namely those who were particularly far removed from the Sunnis in terms of faith.[100] Twentieth-centurySyrian-Albanian AthariSalafi theologianMuhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani rejected extremism in excludingAsh'aris from Sunni Islam. He believed that despite that their fundamental differences from Atharis, not every Ash'ari is to be excluded fromAhl al-Sunna wal Jama'ah, unless they openly disapprove of the doctrines of theSalaf (mad'hab as-Salaf). According to Albani:
"I do not share [the view of] some of the noble scholars of the past and present that we say about a group from the [many] Islamic groups that it is not fromAhlus-Sunnah due to its deviation in one issue or another... as for whether the Ash’aris or the Maaturidis are fromAhlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah, I say that they are fromAhlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah in many things related toaqidah but in otheraqidah issues they have deviated away fromAhlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah.. I don't hold that we should say that they are not fromAhlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah whatsoever"[101]
Sunnism in general and in a specific sense
TheHanbali scholarIbn Taymiyyah (d. 1328) distinguished in his workMinhāj as-sunna between Sunnis in the general sense (ahl as-unna al-ʿāmma) and Sunnis in the special sense (ahl as-sunna al-ḫāṣṣa). Sunnis in the general sense are all Muslims who recognize the caliphate of the three caliphs (Abū Bakr,ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb andʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān). In his opinion, this includes all Islamic groups except the ShiiteRafidites. Sunnis in the special sense are only the "people of the hadith" (ahl al-ḥadīṯ).[102]
İsmail Hakkı İzmirli, who took over the distinction between a broader and narrower circle of Sunnis from Ibn Taimiya, said thatKullabiyya and the Ashʿarīyya are Sunnis in the general sense, while theSalafiyya represent Sunnis in the specific sense. About the Maturidiyya he only says that they are closer to the Salafiyya than the Ashʿariyya because they excel more inFiqh than inKalām.[80] TheSaudi scholarMuhammad Ibn al-ʿUthaimin (d. 2001), who like Ibn Taimiya differentiated between Sunnis in general and special senses, also excluded the Asharites from the circle of Sunnis in the special sense and took the view that only the pious ancestors (as-salaf aṣ-ṣāliḥ) who have agreed on the Sunnah belonged to this circle.[103]
Classification of the Muʿtazila
TheMuʿtazilites are usually not regarded as Sunnis.Ibn Hazm, for example, contrasted them with the Sunnis as a separate group in his heresiographic workal-Faṣl fi-l-milal wa-l-ahwāʾ wa-n-niḥal.[100] In many medieval texts from the Islamic East, theAhl as-Sunna are also differentiated to the Muʿtazilites.[104] In 2010 the Jordanianfatwa office ruled out in afatwa that the Muʿtazilites, like the Kharijites, represent a doctrine that is contrary to Sunnism.[105] Ibn Taymiyya argued that the Muʿtazilites belong to the Sunnis in the general sense because they recognize the caliphate of the first three caliphs.[106]
There is broad agreement that theSufis are also part of Sunnism. This view can already be found in theShafi'ite scholarAbu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 1037). In hisheresiographical work al-Farq baina l-firaq he divided the Sunnis into eight different categories (aṣnāf) of people: 1. the theologians andKalam Scholars, 2. theFiqh scholars, 3. the traditional andHadith scholars, 4. theAdab and language scholars, 5. theKoran – Scholars, 6. theSufi ascetics (az-zuhhād aṣ-ṣūfīya), 7. those who perform theribat andjihad against the enemies of Islam, 8. the general crowd.[107] According to this classification, the Sufis are one of a total of eight groups within Sunnism, defined according to their religious specialization.
TheTunisian scholar Muhammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Bakkī (d. 1510) also included the Sufis in Sunnism. He divided the Sunnis into the following three groups according to their knowledge (istiqrāʾ):
the people ofHadith (ahl al-ḥadīṯh): Their principles are based on the hearing-based evidence, namelythe Book (Qur'an), theSunnah and theIjmāʿ (consensus).
The people of theory and the intellectual trade (ahl an-naẓar wa-ṣ-ṣināʿa al-fikrīya): They include theAshʿarites and theHanafis, the latter of whom considerAbū Mansūr al-Māturīdī as their master. They agree in the rational principles on all questions where there is no hearing-based evidence, in the hearing-based principles in everything that reason conceives as possible, and in the rational as well as the hearing-based principles in all other questions. They also agree on all dogmatic questions, except for the question of creation (takwīn) and the question ofTaqlīd.
the people of feeling and revelation (ahl al-wiǧdān wa-l-kašf): These are theSufis. Its principles correspond in the initial stage to the principles of the other two groups, but in the final stage they rely on revelation (kašf) and inspiration (ilhām).[108]
Someulema wanted to exclude the Sufis from Sunnism. The Yemeni scholar ʿAbbās ibn Mansūr as-Saksakī (d. 1284) explained in his doxographic work al-Burhān fī maʿrifat ʿaqāʾid ahl al-adyān ("The evidence of knowledge of the beliefs of followers of different religions") about the Sufis: "They associate themselves with the Sunnis, but they do not belong to them, because they contradict them in their beliefs, actions and teachings." That is what distinguishes the Sufis from Sunnis according to as-Saksakī their orientation to the hidden inner meaning of theQur'an and theSunnah. In this, he said, they resemble theBātinites.[110] According to the final document of the Grozny Conference, only those Sufis are to be regarded as Sunnis who are "people of pure Sufism" (ahl at-taṣauwuf aṣ-ṣāfī) in the knowledge, ethics and purification of the interior, according toMethod as practiced byal-Junaid Al- Baghdadi and the "Imams of Guidance" (aʾimma al-hudā) who followed his path.[81]
In the 11th century, Sufism, which had previously been a less "codified" trend in Islamic piety, began to be "ordered and crystallized"[111] intoTariqahs (orders) which have continued until the present day.[111] All these orders were founded by a major Sunni Islamicsaint, and some of the largest and most widespread included theQadiriyya (afterAbdul-Qadir Gilani [d. 1166]), theRifa'iyya (afterAhmed al-Rifa'i [d. 1182]), theChishtiyya (afterMoinuddin Chishti [d. 1236]), theShadiliyya (afterAbul Hasan ash-Shadhili [d. 1258]), and theNaqshbandiyya (afterBaha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari [d. 1389]).[111] Contrary to popularOrientalist depictions,[112] neither the founders of these orders nor their followers considered themselves to be anything other than orthodox Sunni Muslims,[112] Many of the most eminent defenders of Islamic orthodoxy, such as'Abd al-Qadir Jilani,Al-Ghazali, Sultan Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Al-Ayyubi (Saladin) were connected with Sufism."[113] TheSalafi andWahhabi strands of Sunnism do not accept many mystical practices associated with the contemporary Sufi orders.[114]
Jurisprudence
Interpreting Islamic law by deriving specific rulings – such as how to pray – is commonly known asIslamic jurisprudence. The schools of law all have their own particular tradition of interpreting this jurisprudence. As these schools represent clearly spelled out methodologies for interpreting Islamic law, there has been little change in the methodology with regard to each school. While conflict between the schools was often violent in the past,[115] the four Sunni schools recognize each other's validity and they have interacted in legal debate over the centuries.[116][117]
Schools
TheGreat Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba) in the city ofKairouan,Tunisia, was, particularly from the 9th to 11th century, an important center of Islamic learning with an emphasis on theMaliki Madh'hab.[118]
There are many intellectual traditions within the field ofShari'ah (Islamic law), often referred to asMadh'habs (legal schools). These varied traditions reflect differing viewpoints on some laws and obligations within Islamic law. While one school may see a certain act as a religious obligation, another may see the same act as optional. These schools are not regarded as sects; rather, they represent differing viewpoints on issues that are not considered the core ofIslamic belief. Historians have differed regarding the exact delineation of the schools based on the underlying principles they follow.
Many traditional scholars saw Sunni Islam in two groups:Ahl al-Ra'y, or "people of reason", due to their emphasis on scholarly judgment and discourse; andAhl al-Hadith, or "people of traditions", due to their emphasis on restricting juristic thought to only what is found in scripture.[119]Ibn Khaldun defined the Sunni schools as three: theHanafi school representing reason, theẒāhirīte school representing tradition, and a broader, middle school encompassing theShafi'ite,Malikite andHanbalite schools.[120][121]
The Ahle Sunnat Barelvi, also known asAhl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement following the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of jurisprudence, and Maturidi and Ashʿari schools of theology with hundreds of millions of followers.[125][126] The movement is moderate form of Islam that Muslims in South Asia have followed for centuries[127] and it encompasses a variety ofSufi orders, including theChistis,Qadiris,Suhrawardis andNaqshbandis as well as many other orders and sub-orders of Sufism. They consider themselves to be the continuation ofSunni Islamic orthodoxy before the rise ofSalafism andDeobandi Movement.[128]
The movement claim to revive the Sunnah as embodied in the Qur’an and literature of traditions (Hadith), as the people had lapsed from the Prophetic traditions. Consequently, scholars took the duty of reminding Muslims go back to the 'ideal' way of Islam.[132][133] The movement drew inspiration from the Sunnidoctrines ofShah Abdur Rahim (1644–1719) founder ofMadrasah-i Rahimiyah and one of the compiler ofFatawa-e-Alamgiri. Shah Abdur Rahim is father ofShah Waliullah Dehlawi. The movement also drew inspiration fromShah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dehlavi (1746 –1824) andFazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (1796–1861) founder of the Khairabad School.[134] Fazle Haq Khairabadi Islamic scholar and leader of1857 rebellion issuedfatwas against WahabiIsmail Dehlvi for his doctrine of God's alleged ability to lie (Imkan-e-Kizb) from Delhi in 1825.[135] Ismail is considered as an intellectual ancestor of Deobandis.[136]
The movement emphasizes personal devotion to and oneness of God i.e.Tawheed and the finality of prophethood, adherence toSharia and inFiqh following the four schools, following theIlm al-Kalam and Sufi practices such as veneration ofsaints among other things associated with Sufism.[125] They are also called Sunni Sufis.[citation needed] The movement defines itself as the most authentic representative of what is known as Sunnī Islam and thus adopts the generic moniker, Ahl-i-Sunnat wa-al-Jamāʿat (The people who adhere to the Prophetic Tradition and preserve the unity of the community).[137]
Pillars ofiman
The doctrines of the Sunnis are recorded in variouscreeds, which summarize the most important points in the form of a list in the manner of aCatechism. The individual teaching points differ depending on the author's affiliation to a certain teaching tradition. The most important creeds that explicitly claim to represent the teachings of the Sunnis (ahl as-sunna wal-jama or similar) include:
The text traced back toAhmad ibn Hanbal, in which he defined "the characteristics of the believer of the Sunnis" (sifat al-Mu'min min ahl as-Sunna wa-l-jama). The text is handed down in two works in the workṬabaqāt al-Ḥanābila of the Hanbali Qadi Ibn Abi Yaʿla]] (d. 1131). The first version comes from a treatise on the Sunnah by Ahmad ibn Hanbal's disciple Muhammad ibn Habib al-Andarani, the second is based on Ahmad's disciple Muhammad ibn Yunus al-Sarachhi.[138]
The two creeds of Abu l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī in his worksMaqālāt al-islāmīyīn[139] andKitāb al-Ibāna ʿan uṣūl ad-diyāna.[30] The former is called the teaching ofahl al-ḥadīṯ wa-s-sunna, the latter as the teachings of theahl al-ḥaqq wa-s-sunna.
The confession of the Egyptian Hanafi at-Tahāwī (d. 933), also known under the title Bayān as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa ("Presentation of Sunna and Community"). It has received frequent comments from the 13th century onward.[140]
The "Qadiritic Creed" (al-iʿtiqād al-Qādirī) mentioned in the world chronicleal-Muntaẓam byIbn al-Jawzī and referring to the Abbasid caliphal-Qādir (d. 1031) is returned. The caliphal-Qā'im is supposed to have read this text, which is shown at the end as the "Doctrine of the Sunnis" (qaul ahl as-sunna wal-jama), in the year 433Hijra (= 1041/42 AD) which was read in front of a meeting of ascetics and scholars in the caliph's palace.[141]
The creed ofal-Ghazālī (d. 1111) in his second book of his religious encyclopediaIḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn. It is headed "The Sunni Creed in the Two Phrases of theShahāda" (ʿAqīdat ahl as-sunna fī kalimatai aš-šahāda) and deals first with the doctrine of God and then the other doctrinal points.[142]
The confessional-ʿAqīda al-Wāsiṭīya by Ibn Taimīya (1263–1328),[143] which later received importance especially among the Wahhabis and the Ahl-i Hadīth. It was translated into French byHenri Laoust,[144] by Merlin Swartz into English[145] and by Clemens Wein into German.[146]
Most of the mentioned branches testify to six principal articles of faith known as the six pillars ofimān (Arabic for "faith"), which are believed to be essential.[147] These six articles are common that present-day Sunnis agree on, from those who adhere to traditional Sunnism to those who adhere to latter-day movements. Additionally, classical Sunni Islam also outlined numerous other cardinal doctrines since the 8th century, such as theCreed of Tahāwi. Traditionally, these Sunni articles of faith have included the following:
At the center of the Sunni creed isTawhid, the belief in the oneness of God. God is a single (fard) God, besides whom there is no other deity.[148] He is single (munfarid), has no partner (šarīk), no opposite (nidd), no counterpart (maṯīl) and no adversary (ḍidd).[149] He has neither taken a companion nor children,[148] neither conceived nor is he conceived.[141]
God created everything, the years and times, day and night, light and darkness, the heavens and the earth, all kinds of creatures that are on it, the land and the sea, and everything living, dead and solid. Before he created all of this, he was completely alone, with nothing with him.[141] In contrast to his creation, God has a timeless nature. He is beginningless (azalī) because he has existed for all eternity and nothing precedes him, and he is endless (abadī) because he continues to exist without interruption for all eternity. He is the first and the last, as it says in the Quran (Sura 57: 3).[150] God brought forth creation not because he needed it, but to demonstrate his power and as the implement his previous will and his primordial speech.[151] God is creator, but has no needs. He does not need food,[152] does not feel lonely and does not keep company with anyone.[141]
Transcendence
To absolve God of all anthropomorphism, the Qur'anic statements that "God sat on the throne" (istawā ʿalā l-ʿarš; Surah 7:54; 20: 5) receive a lot of the Sunni creeds attention. The creed of al-Qādir emphasizes that God did not set himself up on the throne (ʿarš) "in the manner of the rest of the creatures" and that he created this throne, although he did not need it.[141] Al-Ghazali's knowledge of the faith states that the "sitting down" is free from contact (mumāssa) with the throne. It is not the throne that carries God, but the throne and its bearers are carried through the grace of his power.[153] According to al-Ashʿari, the Sunnis confess that God is on his throne, but without asking how.[154] Even if God does not need the throne and what is below, because he spatially occupies everything, including what is above him, the throne and stool (kursī) are a reality.[155]
Names and attributes
The Sunnis confess that the names of God cannot be said to be anything other than God, as Muʿtazilites and Kharijites claim.[156] Rather, they teach that there are correlating attributes (ṣifāt) which exist in each of the names of God mentioned in the Quran: God is alive through life (ḥayāh), knowing through knowledge (ʿilm), mighty through power (ʿqudra), wanting through will (irāda), hearing through hearing (samʿ), seeing through sight (baṣar) and speaking through Speech (kalām).[157] The attributes are not identical to God, nor are they anything different from him.[158] Only those attributes are ascribed to God which he ascribed to himself (in theQuran) or which his prophet ascribed to him. And every attribute that he or hisprophet has ascribed to him is a real attribute, not an attributefiguratively.[159]
Sunnis believe inangels.[148] God hid theangels from the vision of humans, thus they can usually not see them. Just in some special occusations God unveils them for individual humans. Like when the archangelGabriel appeared toMuhammad one time in his true form with 600 wings, filling the entire horizon and another time when he was among the circles of the Sahaba, in the form of a white clothed traveller.[160]
Angels fulfil duties assigned by God. TheangelGabriel has the mission to transmit God's revelations to chosen Prophets. Theangel Michael is assigned over rain and plants. TheangelIsrafil must blow into the trumpet during thunder and the day of resurrection.[161] Furthermore, to the angels belong the recording angels, who supervise humans and the angel of death, who takes thesouls (lit. spirits) of the inhabitants of the world.[162]
Unlike the Mutazilites and the Jahmites,[163] the Sunnis believe thatSatan whispers doubts to humans and hits them, as the Quran states.[164] But humans,jinn,angels anddevils are all created by the power of God and bound to his will. Even if humans, jinn, angels and devils aligned to move or stop one atom, they could not succeed without God's will.[165]
The Sunnis further believe in the books of God, sent to the envoys of God.[166][148] To them belong the Quran, the Torah, the Gospel and the Psalms.[157]
TheQuran is according to Sunni views the speech of God. Who listens to it and regards it as human speech is according to Sunni Creed by at-Tahāwī aninfidel.[167] TheQuran as the speech of God is sent down by the "trustworthy Spirit" (ar-rūḥ al-amīn; surah 26:193) and taught byMuhammad.[166] God sent him down as inspiration (wahy) on his Messenger.[167] The path of God's speech to the community of Muslims is a multi-stage process: God pronounced it, theangel Gabriel heard it andMohammed repeated it,Mohammed repeated it to hiscompanions, and theUmmah repeated them.[159]
As the speech of God, theQuran is according to Sunnism uncreated. The teachings of the creation of the Quran is rejected by Sunnis.[166] Anyone who takes this teaching is regarded as an unbeliever.[168] The Quran is recited with the tongue, written into books and memorized by the heart, but remains the uncreated speech of God, because it is individable and can not be split by the transmition from heart to paper.[157]At-Tahāwī specifies that theQuran is not created like human speech. Rather, it came from God in an unexplained way as a word (qaul).[167]Ibn Taymīya explains that theQuran originated from God and will return (sc. At the end of times) too.[169]
Prophets
Messages
Confessing to theProphets of God is also part of the Sunni faith.[148] The first of the prophets isAdam.[170] The original contract (mīṯāq) that God concluded with him and his descendants according to sura 7:172–173 is a reality according to Sunni belief.[171] God has takenAbraham as a friend (ḫalīl) and talked toMoses directly.[172] The last of the prophets isMohammed from the tribe of theQuraish.[173] The Sunnis do not differentiate between the messengers of God, (By rejecting some of them), but consider everything they have brought to be true.[174]
God called theprophets and presented their truthfulness through obvious miracles. The prophets conveyed God's command and prohibition, hispromise and threat, and it is incumbent on people to believe what they have brought to be true.[173] God has given people the act of obedience (ṭāʿa) and opposition (maʿṣiya) forbidden.[175] God's right to the acts of obedience is not only an obligation for people through the intellect (bi-muǧarrad al-ʿaql), but also through it for making it a duty through the oral transmission of his prophets.[173]
Muhammad
Muhammad from the tribe of theQuraish is not only the seal of the prophets (ḫātam al-anbiyāʾ),[167] rather, God placed him above all otherprophets and made him Lord of men (saiyid al-bašar).[173] He is God's chosen servant (ʿabd),Messenger, theImam of the godly (imām al-atqiyāʾ) and the beloved of the Lord of the Worlds (ḥabīb rabb al-ʿālamīn). He is sent with truth (ḥaqq), guidance (hudā) and light (nūr). God has him with his message toArabs and Non-Arabs as well as sent to the general public of thejinn and humans and with hisSharia, the earlier religious lawsabrogated, except that which he has confirmed.[173] Part of the Sunnis path is to follow the traditions (āṯār) of Muhammad internally and externally. They prefer his guidance to the guidance of anyone else.[176]
Muhammad's prophethood is proven by miracles (muʿǧizāt) such as the splitting of the moon. The most obvious miracle is the Quran'sinimitability.[177] Every claim to prophethood after him is an error or imagination, since Muhammad is the last prophet.[167] Another important point of teaching is the belief inMuhammad's Ascension (miʿrāǧ).[164]Accordingly, Muhammad went on a nocturnal journey during which his person was transported to heaven while awake and from there to heights, "which God has chosen". God gave him what he had chosen for him and gave him his revelation. God has also blessed him in his life beyond and in this world.[167]
Eschatology
In the grave
According to Sunni doctrine, people are questioned in their graves byMunkar and Nakir after death.[162] Munkar and Nakīr are two terrifying, huge figures who let the person sit upright in his grave with mind and body and then tell him about the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad. They ask him: "Who is your master? What is your religion? Who is your prophet?". They are the two inspectors of the grave and their questioning is the first test (fitna) of humans after death.[173] The believer will answer to this test: "God is my Lord, Islam is my religion and Mohammed is my prophet." The doubter, on the other hand, will answer: "Oh dear, I don't know. I heard people say something, and that's how I said it." He is then hit with an iron club so that he utters a loud scream that can be heard by everyone except people and jinn. If people heard him, they would lose consciousness.[178] Children are also interviewed by Munkar and Nakīr as well as people who have disappeared, drowned or were eaten by predatory animals.[179] Deceased Muslims receive thesupplication said for them, and theSadaqa spoken in their name are a favor for them.[164]
Sign of the hour
Another point of belief are the "signs of the hour" (ašrāṭ as-sāʿa) that precede the day of resurrection. This includes the emergence of theDajjal, the rising of the sun in the west, the emergence of theDabba from the earth[180] and the excerpt fromGog and Magog. Jesus, the son of Mary, will descend from heaven[181] and kill the Dajjal.[182]
Day of resurrection
On Day of the Resurrection the resurrection (baʿṯ) and the retribution of the deeds take place.[183] First the bodies of all people, animals and jinn are put back together and revived.[184] The souls are brought back into the body, the people rise from their graves, barefoot, naked and uncircumcised. The sun is approaching them and they are sweating.[185]
A scales are set up to weigh people's deeds. The scales have twoscales and one tongue and are as big as several layers of heaven and earth. The weights will have the weight of atoms andmustard seeds in order to realize the accuracy of God's righteousness. The leaves with good deeds (ḥasanāt) are thrown in a beautiful shape into the scales of light and weigh down the scales by the grace (faḍl) of God, the leaves with bad deeds (saiyiʾāt) are thrown into the scales of darkness in an ugly form and reduce the weight of the scales through the justice (ʿadl) of God.[186]
The vision of God in the hereafter
The teachings of the Sunnis also include the vision of God (ruʾyat Allāh) in the hereafter, which has similarities with thevisio beatifica in theChristian tradition.[187] With this teaching the Sunnis set themselves apart from the Muʿtazilites, theZaidiyyah and thephilosophers who consider the vision of God intellectually impossible.[188]
There are differing views among Sunni scholars about the timing and type of the divine vision. Al-Ashari states that God is seen on the day of resurrection, whereby only the believers see him, the unbelievers not because they are kept away from God.[189] At-Tahāwī, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the vision of God was a reality for the inmates of Paradise.[190] Ibn Taimīya doubles the vision of God: people see God while they are still in the places of the resurrection, and then after entering paradise.[191]
As for the way of seeing God, al-Ash Aari and Ibn Taimiyah emphasized its visual characteristics. Al-Ashari meant that God can be seen with the eyes, just as one sees the moon on the night of the full moon.[189] Ibn Taimīya adds that the vision of God is as one sees the sun on a cloudless day.[191] In the ʿAqīda at-Tahāwīs, the transcendence of God is emphasized: the vision can neither be understood nor described, because none of the creatures are like God.[192] According to al-Ghazālī's creed the pious in the hereafter see the essence of God withoutsubstance andaccidents.[157] According to the creed of an-Nasafī, God is seen neither in one place nor in any direction or distance. There is also no connection to rays.[193]
Release of the monotheists from hell and intercession
According to the Ibn Taimīya's creed, theUmma of Muhammad is the first religious community to enter Paradise,[194] Other religious communities also have the opportunity to get to paradise, because God leads whole peoples through the grace of his mercy (aqwām) out of hellfire.[195]Ahmad ibn Hanbal andal-Ghazālī declare in their creeds that themonotheist en (al-muwaḥḥidūn) after being punished.[196] Al-Ghazālī adds that through the grace (faḍl) of God no monotheist remains in hell for all eternity.[197]
According to at-Tahāwī's creed, this only applies to the serious sinners from Muhammad's ummah: They are in hell, but not forever if they were monotheists at the time of death. What happens to them lies within God: if he wants, he forgives them through his grace (faḍl), and if he wants, he punishes them in his justice (ʿadl) and then brings them through His mercy (raḥma) and through the intercession of those who obey him out of hell and make them enter the Paradise Garden.[198]
The intercession (šafāʿa) of the Messenger of God and its effect on those of his ummah who have committed serious sins is a fixed teaching point of the Sunni faith.[199] Muhammad reserved the intercession especially for them.[200] According to al-Ghazālī, the Sunni believer has a total of the intercession of the prophets, then the scholars, then the martyrs, then to believe the other believers in accordance with their dignity and their rank in God. Those of the believers who have no advocate will be brought out of hell by the grace of God.[197]
The predestination
Extent of the predestination
According to Sunni doctrine, everything that happens happens through God's decision (qadāʾ) and predestination (Qadar) or his determination (taqdīr).[201] Predestination includes the predestination of good and bad, sweet and bitter.[174] God has that The measured (qadar) of creatures and determined their time of time.[202] He makes his creatures sick and heals them, lets them die and makes them alive, while the creatures themselves have no power over it.[141] God lets die without fear and brings to life without exertion.[203] The one who dies dies on the appointed date, even if he is killed.[164]
God has written the things predestined for the creatures on the well-kept tablet (al-lauḥ al-maḥfūẓ). The pen she wrote is the first thing God created. God commanded him to write down what will be until the day of resurrection. The pen has already dried out and the scrolls are rolled up.[204] Everything that was written on it in ancient times is immutable.[205]
God is righteous in his judgments (aqḍiya), but his righteousness cannot be decided by analogy with the righteousness of people, because unjust actions for people are only conceivable with regard to someone else's property, but God does not encounter someone else's property anywhere so that he could behave unfairly to him.[206] The principle of predestination is God's mystery with regard to his creatures. Noarchangel and no prophet is informed of this. Reflecting on predestination leads to destruction and is a step toward rebellion against God because He has hidden the knowledge about it from people.[207]
The Blessed and the Damned
It is made easy for everyone for what they were created for. Blessed are whose who are saved by God's judgment (qaḍāʾ Allāh), condemned are whose who are condemned by the judgment of God.[208] God created paradise and hell above all else; then he created the people who are worthy of them. He has designated some out of generosity (faḍlan) for paradise, the others out of justice (ʿadlan) for hell.[209] God has always known the number of those who go to paradise and the number of those who go to hell. This number is neither increased nor decreased.[208] When God creates the body of the embryo, he sends an angel to him who writes down his livelihood (rizq), the hour he dies, his deeds and whether he is a damned (šaqī) or a blessed (saʿīd).[210]
The Sunni believer does not doubt his belief.[211] Humans neither know how they are registered by God (whether as believers or unbelievers), nor how it ends with them.[212] God is also the converter of hearts (muqallib al-qulūb).[213] Therefore, it is recommended to say: "A believer, if God is willing" or "I hope that I am a Believer". Such a way of expression does not make people into doubters, because by that, they only mean that their otherworldly fate and their end are hidden from them.[212] The Sunnis do not speak to any of the people who pray to the Kaaba, to paradise or hell,[214] because of a good deed or a sin he has committed.[215]
The Quran as it exists today in book form was compiled by Muhammad's companions (Sahabah) within a handful of months of his death, and is accepted by all sects of Islam.[216] Many matters of belief and daily life were not directly prescribed in the Quran, but were actions observed by Muhammad and the early Muslim community. Later generations sought outoral traditions regarding the early history of Islam, and the practices of Muhammad and his first followers, and wrote them down so that they might be preserved. These recorded oral traditions are called hadith.[217] Muslim scholars have through the ages sifted through the hadith and evaluated the chain of narrations of each tradition, scrutinizing the trustworthiness of the narrators and judging the strength of each hadith accordingly.[218]
Kutub al-Sittah
Kutub al-Sittah are six books containing collections of hadiths. Sunni Muslims accept the hadith collections ofBukhari andMuslim as the most authentic (sahih), and while accepting all hadiths verified as authentic, grant a slightly lesser status to the collections of other recorders. Four other hadith collections are also held in particular reverence by Sunni Muslims, making a total of six:
There are also other collections of hadith which also contain many authentic hadith and are frequently used by scholars and specialists. Examples of these collections include:
One of the most important teaching institutions of Sunni Islam worldwide is theAzhar in Egypt. Article 32b, paragraph 7 of the Egyptian Azhar Law of 1961 stipulates that the Azhar "follows the path of the Sunnis" (manhaǧ ahl as-sunna wa-l-jamāʿa), Umma has agreed to the foundations of the religion and applications of fiqh, with its fourdisciplines. Only those who stick to the paths of their science and behavior can become a "Member of the Council of Great Scholars" (haiʾat kibār al-ʿulamāʾ), among whom theGrand Imam of al-Azhar is elected.[219] Zitouna University in Tunisia and University of al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco are recognized. They are also mentioned, along with the Azhar, in the final document of the Sunni Conference in Grozny.[220]
Another body that claims to speak on behalf of Sunnism is theCouncil of Senior Religious Scholars founded in Saudi Arabia in 1971. In the past, the committee has expressed several times on fatwas about the Sunni-membership of certain Islamic groups within. In 1986 it published a fatwa excluding theAhbāsh community from Sunnism.[221] The Islamic World League in Mecca, also funded by Saudi Arabia, made a resolution from 1987 that it regards Sunnism as the pure teachings at the time of the Messenger and the rightful existence of the Caliphate.[222] However, the Council of Senior Religious Scholars is largely under control of Wahhabi scholars.[223]
The TurkishDirectorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı), follows the religious policy of the Ottoman Empire, providing a Sunni interpretation of Islam.[224] Plans by theCommittee of National Unity in the 1960s to convert the Diyanet authority into a non-denominational institution that also integrated theAlevis, failed because of resistance from conservative Sunni clergy inside and outside the Diyanet authority.[225] Since the 1990s, the Diyanet authority has presented itself as an institution that stands above the denominations (mezhepler üstü)[224] The religious education organized by the authority at the Turkish schools is based exclusively on the Sunni understanding of Islam.[226]
Self-image of the Sunnis
As the "saved sect"
A well-knownHadith, which is to be interpreted asVaticinium ex eventu, says that the MuslimUmma will split into 73 sects, only one of which will be saved.[227] The Sunnis have the idea that they are this "saved sect" ("firqa nā niya"). For example,Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 1037) explains at the beginning of hisheresiographical work al-Farq baina l-firaq ("The difference between the sects") that there are 20Rafiditic, 20Kharijite, 20Qadaritic, 3Murjiite, 3 Nadjāritic, 3karramitic and furthermore Bakriyya, Dirariyyya andJahmīya. These are the 72 erring sects. The 73rd sect that is the "saved sect" are the Sunnis (ahl as-sunna wa-l-jamaʿa). According to al-Baghdadi, they are composed of two groups, namely the followers of theRa'y and the followers of the hadith. They agreed on the fundamentals of religion (uṣūl ad-dīn). There were only differences in the derivations (furūʿ) from the norms regarding the question of whatpermitted and whatforbidden is. These differences are not so great that they considered each other to have strayed from the right path.[228]
As center of Muslims
Later Sunni scholars also present the Sunnis as the center of Muslim community. The idea already appears to some extent in the Ashʿarite ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī, who emphasizes on several dogmatic questions that the Sunnis hold a position that lies in the middle between the positions of the other Islamic groups.[229] An example is the question of predestination (Qadar), in which, according to theKasb theory, you hold exactly the middle between the two extreme positions of theJabriyya and theQadariyya.
The Hanbali scholarIbn Taymiyya (d. 1328), who was otherwise known for his uncompromising attitude, also adhered to this view. He said that the Sunnis represented "the middle among the sects of theUmma" (al-wasaṭ fī firaq al-umma), just as the Islamic Umma is the middle between the other religious communities. He illustrates this with the following examples:
When it comes to the attributes of God, the Sunnis stand in the middle between the Jahmiyya, who completely drains God of attributes, and the Muschabbiha, who make God similar to creation,
in the works of God they stand in the middle between the Qadariyya and the Jabriyya,
on the question of the threat from God (waʿid Allah) they stand in the middle between the Murdschi'a and the Waʿīdiyya, a subgroup of the Qadariyya,
When it comes to the question of faith and religion, they stand in the middle between Haruiyya (= Kharijites) andMuʿtazila on the one hand and Murji'a and Jahmiyya on the other,
The Hanafi scholarʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1606) continued this idea later. In his anti-Shiite pamphletŠamm al-alawāriḍ fī ḏamm ar-rawāfiḍ he quotes a tradition according to whichʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib said: "Two kinds of people perish on me: the exaggerated lover and the exaggerated hater." He notes that the exaggerated lover is the Rafidites and the exaggerated hater is the Kharijit. The Sunni, on the other hand, loves ʿAlī in high esteem and is thus in the balanced middle (al-wasaṭ allaḏī huwa al-qisṭ). This relates al-Qari to the Qur'anic sura 2: 143, in which it is said that God made the Muslims a community standing in the middle (umma wasaṭ). Since the Sunnis stay away from the exaggeration described in the traditional ʿAlī saying, al-Qārī believes that they are also the actual "Party of ʿAlīs" (šīʿat ʿAlī).[231]
As the essential bearers of Islamic science and culture
ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī portrays the Sunnis in his workal-Farq baina l-firaq as the actual bearers of Islamic science and culture. Of all the sciences, knowledge and efforts of which Muslims are proud, al-Baghdādī explains that the Sunnis have a major share.[232] In the last chapter of his book, al-Baghdadi also relates this to building activity in Islamic countries. He believes that the Sunnis with theirmosques,madrasas, palaces, factories and hospitals have achieved an unattainable position because none of the non-Sunnis have performed such services.[233]
Contemporary Ashʿarī – Salafī relations
Ahmed el-Tayeb, Great-Imam of Azhar, was one of the most important participants of the Sunni-conference in Grozny, distanced himself from the declaration
Since the second half of the 20th century, there have been fierce clashes within the Sunni camps betweenAshʿarites on the one hand andSalafiyya on the other, who exclude each other from Sunnism. InIndonesia, the Ashʿarite scholar Sirajuddin Abbas (d. 1980) wrote several books in the 1960s in which he explicitly excluded theAhl as-salaf from Sunnism. Among other things, he argued that there was no Salafi madhhab in the first 300 years of Islam. From this he deduced that those who called other Muslims to obey the Salafimadhhab, were promoting amadhhab which did not even exist.[234] In his view, only the Ashʿarites were real Sunnis. Abbas' books served as the theological basis for anti-Salafist campaigns inAceh in 2014.[235] During these campaigns, various Salafist schools in Aceh were closed by the provincial government.[236]
ThePermanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta inSaudi Arabia issued a fatwa in 1996 stating that Salafis are Sunnis.[237] Like many Ashʿarites, the Salafis believe their teachings are the only true form of Sunnism, and hence reject the Asharites andMaturidites as part of Sunnism.[238] An example is the Saudi scholarMuhammad Ibn al-ʿUthaimīn, who in his 2001 published commentary onAqīda Wāsiṭīya byIbn Taimiyya expressed the opinion that Ash'arites and Māturīdites would not count among the Sunnis, because their doctrine of attributes would be in contrast to the doctrine of Muhammad and his companions. For this reason, the view that three groups belong to Sunnism should also be rejected. Sunnis are only those who aresalaf in terms of belief.[239]
The accusation by someWahhabis that the Ashʿarites were not Sunnis was subject of afatwa by the "Egyptian Fatwa Office" in July 2013. In its fatwa, the office rejected this accusation, affirming that the Ashʿarites still represented the "multitude ofscholars" (jumhūr al-ʿulamāʾ), and stressed out that they were the ones who in the past rejected the arguments of theatheists (šubuhāt al-malāḥida). Anyone who declares them to be unbelieving or who doubts their orthodoxy should fear for their religion.[240] On the same day, the fatwa office made clear in a fatwa that, according to their understanding, theAhl as-Sunna wa-l-jama only refer to those Muslims who are Ashʿarites or Maturidites.[98]
The rivalry betweenAshʿarīyya andSalafiyya became visible again at the two Sunni conferences in 2016, which were directed against the terror of the IS organization. Thefirst conference with the title "Who are the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-jama?" took place in the Chechen capitalGrozny in August 2016 under the patronage ofRamzan Kadyrov. Numerous religious figures fromEgypt,India,Syria,Yemen and theRussian Federation took part, includingAhmed el-Tayeb, theGrand Imam of the Azhar, andSheikh Aboobacker Ahmed, theGrand Mufti of India. According to its organizers, the conference should "mark a blessed turning point in efforts to correct the serious and dangerous distortion of religion by those extremists trying to usurp the venerable name ofAhl al-Sunna wa-al-Jama'a, him to coin exclusively on itself and to exclude its true representatives from it."[220] In the final declaration the Salafis andIslamist groups likeMuslim Brotherhood,Hizb ut-Tahrir, etc. and theTakfiri organisations likeISIL were excluded from Sunni Islam.[241] In response to this, various prominentSalafiyya figures held a counter-conference inKuwait in November 2016 under the title "The Correct Meaning of Sunnism" (al-Mafhūm aṣ-ṣaḥīḥ li-ahl as-sunna wa-l-jama), in which they also distanced themselves from extremist groups, but at the same time insisted thatSalafiyya was not only part of Sunnism, but represented Sunnism itself. The conference was chaired by Ahmad ibn Murabit, Grand Mufti ofMauritania.[242][243] A few days later,Grand Imam of Al-AzharAhmed el-Tayeb publicly distanced himself from the final declaration of the Grozny conference, reiterating that he had not participated in it and stressed that he naturally viewed the Salafists as Sunnis.[244]
^abTayeb El-Hibri, Maysam J. al Faruqi (2004). "Sunni Islam". In Philip Mattar (ed.).The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa (Second ed.). MacMillan Reference.
^Jafri, Syed Husain Mohammad (27 August 1976).The Origins and Early Development of Shi'a Islam (Millennium (Series)) (The Millennium (Series).). Karachi, Pakistan:Oxford University Press (First Published By Longman Group Ltd and Librairie du Liban 1979). pp. 19–21.ISBN978-0195793871.The Shi'a unequivocally take the word in the meaning of leader, master and patron and therefore the explicitly nominated successor of the Prophet. The Sunnis, on the other hand, interpret the word mawla in the meaning of a friend or the nearest kin and confidant.
^Ess:Der Eine und das Andere. 2011, Bd. II, S. 1271.
^Ess:Der Eine und das Andere. 2011, Bd. II, p. 1272. (German)
^Patricia Crone und Martin Hinds:God's Caliph. Religious authority in the first centuries of Islam. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986. S. 59–61.
^Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān al-Fasawī:Kitāb al-Maʿrifa wa-t-tārīḫ. Ed. Akram Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿUmarī. 3 Bde. Bagdad: Maṭbaʿat Aršād 1975. Bd. II, p. 813.Digitalisat.
^Šams ad-Dīn aḏ-Ḏahabī:Siyar aʿlām an-nubalāʾ. Ed. Šuʿaib al-Arnāʾūṭ. 11. Aufl. Muʾassasat ar-Risāla, Beirut, 1996. Bd. IV, S. 300.Digitalisat
^Ibn Taimīya:Minhāǧ as-sunna an-nabawīya. Ed. Muḥammad Rašād Sālim. Ǧamiʿat al-Imām Muḥammad Ibn-Saʿid, Riad, 1986. Bd. II, S. 221, 224.Digitalisat
^So zum Beispiel bei Mohammad Heidari-Abkenar:Die ideologische und politische Konfrontation Schia-Sunna: am Beispiel der Stadt Rey des 10. – 12. Jh. n. Chr. Inaugural-Dissertation Köln 1992 und Ofra Bengo und Meir Litvak:The Sunna and Shi'a in history. Division and ecumenism in the Muslim Middle East. 1. Aufl. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2011.
^G.H.A. Juynboll:Muslim tradition. Studies in chronology, provenance and authorship of early ḥadīṯ. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1983. S. 17f.
^Zaman:Religion and politics under the early ʿAbbāsids. 1997, S. 49.
^Vgl.Yāqūt ar-Rūmī:Muʿǧam al-Buldān Ed. F. Wüstenfeld. Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1866–1870. Bd. III, S. 213f.DigitalisatArchived 28 April 2023 at theWayback Machine und van Ess:Der Eine und das Andere. 2011, S. 332. (german)
^Ess:Der Eine und das Andere. 2011, Bd. II, S. 1273f.
^abEss:Der Eine und das Andere. 2011, Bd. II, S. 1276.
^Er kommt bei ihm nur einmal vor, nämlich al-Ašʿarī:Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn wa-iḫtilāf al-muṣallīn. 1963, S. 471, Zeile 10.DigitalisatArchived 28 April 2023 at theWayback Machine
^van Ess:Der Eine und das Andere. 2011, S. 681, 718.
^Brodersen: "Sunnitische Identitätssuche im Transoxanien des 5./11. Jahrhunderts." 2019, S. 345.
^Brodersen: "Sunnitische Identitätssuche im Transoxanien des 5./11. Jahrhunderts." 2019, S. 347. (German)
^Šams ad-Dīn al-Muqaddasī:Kitāb Aḥsan at-taqāsīm fī maʿrifat al-aqālīm. Ed. M. J. de Goeje. 2. Aufl. Brill, Leiden 1906. S. 37.DigitalisatArchived 5 April 2023 at theWayback Machine – Französische Übersetzung André Miquel. Institut Français de Damas, Damaskus, 1963. S. 88.
^So Kate Chambers Seelye in ihrer Übersetzung von al-BaghdādīsAl-Farq baina l-firaq, siehe Seelye:Moslem Schisms and Sects. 1920, S. 38.
^See z. B. aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī:al-ʿAqīda aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīya. 1995, S. 24. – Engl. Übers. Watt:Islamic creeds: a selection. 1994, S. 53.
^Siehe z. B. aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī:al-ʿAqīda aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīya. 1995, S. 24. – Engl. Übers. Watt:Islamic creeds: a selection. 1994, S. 53.
^aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī:al-ʿAqīda aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīya. 1995, S. 31. – Engl. Übers. Watt:Islamic creeds: a selection. 1994, S. 56.
^Ibn Taimīya:al-ʿAqīda al-Wāsiṭīya. 1999, S. 128. – Dt. Übers. Wein S. 99.
^abMurtaḍā az-Zabīdī:Itḥāf as-sāda al-muttaqīn bi-šarḥ Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn. Muʾassasat at-taʾrīḫ al-ʿArabī, Beirut, 1994. Bd. II, S. 6Digitalisat
^Saleh:Modern Trends in Islamic Theological Discourse in 20th Century Indonesia. 2001, S. 91–96. (German)
^Hughes, Aaron (2013).Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam. Columbia University Press. p. 115.ISBN978-0231531924.It is a mistake to assume, as is frequently done, that Sunni Islam emerged as normative from the chaotic period following Muhammad's death and that the other two movements simply developed out of it. This assumption is based in... the taking of later and often highly ideological sources as accurate historical portrayals – and in part on the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims throughout the world follows now what emerged as Sunni Islam in the early period.
^Hughes, Aaron (2013).Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam. Columbia University Press. p. 116.ISBN978-0231531924.Each of these sectarian movements... used the other to define itself more clearly and in the process to articulate its doctrinal contents and rituals.
^Maududi, Abul A'la (July 2000).Khilafat o Malookiat [Caliphate and Monarchistic] (in Urdu). Lahore, Pakistan: Adara Tarjuman-ul-Quran (Private) Ltd, Urdu Bazar, Lahore, Pakistan. pp. 105–153.
^Nadvi, Syed Abul Hasan Ali.Al-Murtaza [The Murtaza] (in Urdu). Karachi Pakistan: Majlis-e-Nashriyat-e-Islam. pp. 218–382.
^Maududi, Abul A'la (July 2000).Khilafat o Malookiat [Caliphate and Monarchistic] (in Urdu). Lahore, Pakistan: Adara Tarjuman-ul-Quran (Private) Ltd, Urdu Bazar, Lahore, Pakistan. p. 90.
^Jafri, Syed Husain Mohammad (976).The Origins and Early Development of Shi'a Islam (Millennium (Series)) (The Millennium (Series).). Karachi: Oxford University Press (First Published By Longman Group Ltd and Librairie du Liban 1979). pp. 108–109.ISBN978-0195793871.
^Kennedy, Hugh (2016).The Early Abbasid Caliphate: A Political History (Routledge Revivals) 1st Edition. Oxon: Routledge. pp. 15–16.ISBN978-1138953215.
^Gail Minault,The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India (1982).
^abcJohanna Pink (2010).Sunnitischer Tafsīr in der modernen islamischen Welt: Akademische Traditionen, Popularisierung und nationalstaatliche Interessen. Brill,ISBN978-9004185920, pp. 114–116.
^Johanna Pink (2010).Sunnitischer Tafsīr in der modernen islamischen Welt: Akademische Traditionen, Popularisierung und nationalstaatliche Interessen. Brill,ISBN978-9004185920, pp. 120–121.
^Source for distribution is the CIA World Factbook, Shiite/Sunnite distribution collected from other sources. Shiites may be underrepresented in some countries where they do not appear in official statistics.
^Coeli Fitzpatrick Ph.D., Adam Hani WalkerMuhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God [2 volumes] ABC-CLIO, 2014ISBN978-1610691789 pp. 106–107
^"Region: Middle East-North Africa".The Future of the Global Muslim Population – Executive Summary. Pew Research Center. 27 January 2011.Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved3 April 2013.
"Religions".The World Factbook.Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Archived fromthe original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved25 August 2010.Sunni Islam accounts for over 75% of the world's Muslim population
"Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism".BBC News. 4 January 2016.Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved19 January 2024.The great majority of the world's more than 1.5 billion Muslims are Sunnis - estimates suggest the figure is somewhere between 85% and 90%.
Grossman, Cathy Lynn (24 September 2007)."Tension between Sunnis, Shiites emerging in USA".USA Today.Archived from the original on 10 December 2011. Retrieved22 January 2019.Among the world's estimated 1.4 billion Muslims, about 85% are Sunni and about 15% are Shiite.
Sunni Islam: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide "Sunni Islam is the dominant division of the global Muslim community, and throughout history it has made up a substantial majority (85 to 90 percent) of that community."
^Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad aṣ-ṢaffārīnīLawāmiʿ al-anwār al-bahīya wa-sawāṭiʿ al-asrār al-aṯarīya. Muʾassasat al-Ḫāfiqain, Damaskus, 1982. Bd. I, S. 73.Digitalisat
^abİsmail Hakkı İzmirli:Muḥaṣṣalü l-kelâm ve-l-ḥikme. Istanbul 1336h (= 1917/18 n.Chr.). S. 75.Digitalisat
^Blankinship, Khalid (2008). "The early creed". In Tim Winter (ed.).The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology. Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition). p. 53.
^Brown, Jonathan A.C. (2009).Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition). p. 180.The Ash'ari school of theology is often called the Sunni 'orthodoxy.' But the original ahl al-hadith, early Sunni creed from which Ash'arism evolved has continued to thrive alongside it as a rival Sunni 'orthodoxy' as well.
^Hoover, Jon (2014)."Ḥanbalī Theology". In Sabine Schmidtke (ed.).The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 625.ISBN978-0199696703. Retrieved2 August 2016.
^Introduction of Ahle Sunnat wal Jama'at (Sawad E Azam Ahl E Sunnat Wal Jama'at Aqaed W Mamulat) byYaseen Akhtar Misbahi, published by Darul Qalam, Delhi 2014
^Ibn Abī Yaʿlā:Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila. 1952, Bd. I, S. 294f und S. 329f.
^al-Ašʿarī:Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn wa-iḫtilāf al-muṣallīn. 1963, p. 290–297.DigitalisatArchived 30 April 2023 at theWayback Machine – Compare to the translations ofJoseph Schacht:Der Islām mit Ausschluss des Qur'āns. Mohr/Siebeck, Tübingen 1931, pp. 54–61.Digitalisat
^Abū Jafar aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī:al-ʿAqīda aṭ-Ṭaḥāwīya. Dār Ibn Ḥazm, Beirut, 1995.Digitalisat – Engl. Übersetzung inWilliam Montgomery Watt:Islamic creeds: a selection. Edinburgh Univ. Press, Edinburgh, 1994. pp. 56–60.
^Mustafa Kabha und Haggai Erlich: "Al-Ahbash and Wahhabiyya: Interpretations of Islam" inInternational Journal of Middle East Studies 38/4 (2006) 519–538. Hier p. 527f. und Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd ar-Razzāq ad-Darwīš:Fatāwā al-Laǧna ad-dāʾima li-l-buḥūṯ al-ʿilmīya wal-iftāʾ. Dār al-ʿĀṣima, Riad, 1996. Bd. XII, p. 308–323.Digitalisat
^Arbitrament10/9Ḥukm al-ḫilāf al-ʿaqadī wa-l-fiqhī wa-t-taʿaṣṣub al-maḏhabī from 21. Oktober 1987, See:Qarārāt al-maǧmaʿ al-fiqhī al-Islāmī bi-Makka al-mukarrama fī daurātihī al-ʿišrīn (1398-1432h/1977-2010m) Rābiṭat al-ʿālam al-islāmī, Mekka o. D. p. 257–260. p. 258Digitalized
^Steinberg, Guido. "THE WAHHABIYA, SAUDI ARABIA AND THE SALAFIST MOVEMENT." Islamic Movements of Europe: Public Religion and Islamophobia in the Modern World (2014): 38.
^abLord:Religious Politics in Turkey: From the Birth of the Republic to the AKP. 2018, p. 138.
^Lord:Religious Politics in Turkey: From the Birth of the Republic to the AKP. 2018, p. 142–147.
^Lord:Religious Politics in Turkey: From the Birth of the Republic to the AKP. 2018, p. 155.
^Juynboll: "An Excursus on ahl as-sunnah". 1998, p. 323f.
^al-Baġdādī:Al-Farq baina l-firaq. S. 38f. – Engl. Übers. Chambers Seelye S. 38 (the termahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa is here translated as "the orthodoxy").
^John B. Henderson:The construction of orthodoxy and heresy: Neo-Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, and early Christian patterns. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 1998. p. 107.
^Ibn Taimīya:al-ʿAqīda al-Wāsiṭīya. 1999. S. 82.Digitalized Deutsche Übers. Cl. Wein. 1973, S. 84f.
^ʿAlī al-Qārī:Šamm al-al-ʿawāriḍ fī ḏamm ar-rawāfiḍ. Ed. Maǧīd Ḫalaf. Markaz al-Furqān, Kairo, 2004. p. 74, 76.Digitalized
^It is also calledSunnism in academic studies and sometimes asOrthodox Islam,[1][2][3] although some scholars view this translation as inappropriate.[4]
Further reading
Ahmed, Khaled.Sectarian war: Pakistan's Sunni-Shia violence and its links to the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Charles River Editors.The History of the Sunni and Shia Split: Understanding the Divisions within Islam (2010) 44ppexcerpt; brief introduction.
Farooqi, Mudassir, Sarwar Mehmood Azhar, and Rubeena Tashfeen. "Jihadist Organizations History and Analysis."Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 43.1/2 (2018): 142–151.online
Gesink, Indira Falk.Islamic reform and conservatism: Al-Azhar and the evolution of modern Sunni Islam (Tauris Academic Studies, 2010)
Haddad, Fanar.Understanding 'Sectarianism': Sunni-Shi'a Relations in the Modern Arab World (Oxford UP, 2020).
Haddad, Fanar. "Anti-Sunnism and anti-Shiism: Minorities, majorities and the question of equivalence."Mediterranean Politics (2020): 1–7online[dead link].
Halverson, Jeffry.Theology and creed in Sunni Islam: the Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and political Sunnism (Springer, 2010).
Hazleton, Lesley.After the prophet: the epic story of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam (Anchor, 2010).
Kamolnick, Paul.The Al-Qaeda Organization and the Islamic State Organization: History, Doctrine, Modus, Operandi, and US Policy to Degrade and Defeat Terrorism Conducted in the Name of Sunni Islam (Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College, 2017)online.
Khaddour, Kheder.Localism, War, and the Fragmentation of Sunni Islam in Syria (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace., 2019)online.
McHugo, John.A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi'is (2018)excerpt
Nuruzzaman, Mohammed. "Conflicts in Sunni Political Islam and Their Implications."Strategic Analysis 41.3 (2017): 285–296online[dead link].
Nydell, Margaret K.Understanding Arabs: A guide for modern times (3rd ed. Hachette UK, 2018).
Tezcan, Baki. "The Disenchantment of Sufism, the Rationalization of Sunni Islam, and Early Modernity."Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association 7.1 (2020): 67–69online.
Sunni: Islam, inEncyclopædia Britannica Online, by The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, Asma Afsaruddin, Yamini Chauhan, Aakanksha Gaur, Gloria Lotha, Matt Stefon, Noah Tesch and Adam Zeidan
Wikimedia Commons has media related toSunni Islam.
