December 14, 2011
December 13, 2011
Sunni Islam Exploration, Conquest, Empire (incl. violence, persecution)
The most emblematic institution of Sunni authority was the caliphate, the term for the titular head of the Islamic community. Regional and sectarian divisions often came down, throughout Islamic history, to divergent views of who held this central leadership position.
The early Islamic conquests and subsequent Empire are marked features of the development of Islam as a whole. The Umayyad Dynasty, ruling during the greatest period of expansion from the mid-7th to the mid-8th centuries, existed, strictly speaking, in a period known as "formative." That is, designations such as "Sunni" were yet to have acquired any definite sectarian meaning in this early stage of Muslim life. Nonetheless, the Umayyad period is one to which we can trace basic building blocks of what would come to be known as Sunni Islam, with its particular vision of leadership and authority.Umayyad caliphate at its greatest extent (750 CE): PublicDomain
When it comes to assessing persecution and authority in Islamic history, the institution of the caliphate is the one in which tensions and rifts show through most clearly. The term "caliphate" refers, in the first instance, to the position of political and spiritual authority over the Islamic community. The caliph was referred to as "Amir al-Mu'minin," the "Commander of the Believers." The exact meaning and nuances of this phrase shifted to accommodate differing interpretations of legislative and spiritual jurisdiction.
In spite of its apparent clarity of meaning, the caliphate has been one of the most divisive issues in Islamic history, going as far back as the original succession to Muhammad. While the original caliphate was Muhammad's rule in Medina, over the course of time, several states were led by caliphates, and occasionally by rival ones. Again, with precedents as early as the election of Abu Bakr's ascension to the role of caliph in 632 C.E., Sunnis believed that a process of consensus, or shura, should determine who holds the position of caliph. The historical vision of Sunnis includes a consideration of the first four caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman and Ali, as "Rightly Guided" or "Rashidun."
"Golden Age" or "Age of Rashidun"
Death of Muhammad ... 632 CE
Caliphate of Abu Bakr ... 632-634 CE
Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab ... 634-644 CE
Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan ... 644-656 CE
Caliphate of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (cousin & son-in-law of Mohammad)... 656-661 CE
Fitna: first Islamic civil war ... 656-661 CE
Arbitration between Ali and Mu'awiyah ... 658 CE
Death of Ali ibn Abi Talib ... 661 CE
Several dynasties and empires have claimed caliphs, from the 7th until the 20th century. There have been periods in which caliphs were instituted over different parts of the Islamic Empire at the same time. For example, after the overthrow of the Umayyads by the Abbasid Dynasty in 750 C.E., a branch of the former fled to Spain, and after a period of constituting their own emirate or territorial principality under a local commander, instituted a counter caliphate that lasted from the 10th to the 11th century. The Umayyads in Spain continued the Syrian caliphate and only claimed the title of the caliphs after the Fatimids (see below) had done the same. The rapid turnover and various depositions and restorations of the Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba reveal the tumultuous circumstances under which this region of the Islamic Empire was ruled.
The Umayyad Caliphs of Cordoba
Abd al-Rahman III - changed the titular rule from emir to caliph, reigned 929-961
Al-Hakam II - reigned 961-976
Hisham II - reigned 976-1008
Mohammed II - reigned 1008-1009
Suleiman II - reigned 1009-1010
Hisham II - second reign 1010-1012
Suleiman II - second reign 1012-1016
‘Abd al-Rahman IV - reigned 1017
Interregnum by the Hammudid dynasty 1016-1023
The Umayyad dynasty returns - 1023
‘Abd al-Rahman V - reigned 1023-1024
Muhammad III - reigned 1024-1025
Hisham III - reigned 1026-1031
Meanwhile, the Abbasids had instituted their own caliphate, with its seat of power in Baghdad. Originally, the Abbasids claimed the right to rule on a professed descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of Muhammad's uncles. For a short time, the Abbasids garnered support on the ground, vilifying the Umayyads (who were descendants of a different clan) and pledging to support Shi‘is. They even claimed to have become Shi‘i themselves in order to galvanize forces for their revolt against the Umayyads, which was well-timed to coincide with rising resentment on the part of mawali, non-Arab clients of Arab clans within the Muslim community, whose growing feeling of being second-class citizens made them ripe for resistance. The Abbasids quickly abandoned their Shi‘i alliance, however, which was one of the final markers of separation between the Sunni ruling regime and the resulting Shi‘i minority.
By the 10th century, the Shi‘a Fatimids (who based their authority on descent from Muhammad's daughter, Fatima, and her husband, Ali) instituted yet another caliphate, with its base in Cairo. While the Fatimid Caliphate extended, at its height, over most of North Africa and much of the Arabian Peninsula, its legitimacy eroded when certain governors converted to Sunni Islam. Egypt was conquered by a general, Shirkuh, who then seized power, initiating the Ayyubid Dynasty (12th-13th centuries). Shirkuh's nephew, Saladin, became a leading historical figure in the solidification of Ayyubid power, extending Muslim rule particularly in Jerusalem. He became one of the chief opponents of the Crusaders in their battle over the Palestinian lands. Ongoing conflict with the Europeans and then the Mongols, who invaded from eastern Asia, diminished the Ayyubid dynasty's ability to sustain power, and the empire splintered into smaller emirates until the rise of Osman I, a Turkish leader, in the early 14th century.
Beginning as early as the 9th century, Turks had joined the Islamic world, first as slaves and soldiers. The Abbasid Caliph Mu'tasim (833-842) had a Turkish guard. Turkish officers often rose to high rank, even ruling over regions as princes. As the Abbasid Empire disintegrated politically, Turkish tribes streamed into Islamic territory. In western Asia in the second half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks constituted a third major constituency to the Islamic World.
A wave of Mongol invasions intruded into the Muslim world in the 13th century, under the famous leader Genghis Khan. This dealt a violent blow to the waning Abbasid caliphate. By the fourth decade of that century, major cities fell to the Mongols, including Baghdad, which was sacked in 1258. Al-Mutasim was to be the final in the long line of Abbasid Caliphs. Syria was next, and Damascus and Aleppo, major centers of administration, fell in 1260. In Egypt, where the Ayyubid dynasty had recently held power, a class of slave soldiers known as the Mamluks was increasing in power as well. At the Battle of Ayn Jalut in 1260, the Mamluks defeated the Mongols, a victory which was succeeded by another victory for the Mamluks on behalf of Syria. The Ottoman Empire, the last bastion of the Caliphate, declined in the Early Modern period, and collapsed in the 20th century.
Ottoman Empire in 1683
Osman I, a Turk, initiated a new regime that would result in the last Sunni caliphate, that of the Ottoman Empire, which endured through the early modern and modern era and then collapsed at the end of World War I. The institution of the caliphate was eventually abolished by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who established the secular Turkish Republic in 1923.
Departure of Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,1922Other regions that were part of the Islamic world, especially in South Asia, never instituted caliphates. Especially after the mid-13th century, devolution into a vast and fragmented commonwealth, as opposed to a highly centralized Empire, meant that local governing bodies had power over particular regions. In many ways, the position of the caliph became one that was largely symbolic, one that signified where loyalties could lie, if not where actual power or the authority to govern truly resided.
Islam had been in Africa almost from its inception. In the 7th century, when Muhammad and the earliest Muslims faced persecution in their hometown of Mecca, Muhammad had sent an expedition in search of safe haven in Ethiopia. Existing communities adapted to a diverse array of Islamic practices, including Sufism. In the Early Modern and Modern periods, trade in West Africa empowered the Muslim population. Today, Islam is practiced mainly in North and Northeast Africa, and in the Sahel.
The early Islamic conquests and subsequent Empire are marked features of the development of Islam as a whole. The Umayyad Dynasty, ruling during the greatest period of expansion from the mid-7th to the mid-8th centuries, existed, strictly speaking, in a period known as "formative." That is, designations such as "Sunni" were yet to have acquired any definite sectarian meaning in this early stage of Muslim life. Nonetheless, the Umayyad period is one to which we can trace basic building blocks of what would come to be known as Sunni Islam, with its particular vision of leadership and authority.Umayyad caliphate at its greatest extent (750 CE): PublicDomain
When it comes to assessing persecution and authority in Islamic history, the institution of the caliphate is the one in which tensions and rifts show through most clearly. The term "caliphate" refers, in the first instance, to the position of political and spiritual authority over the Islamic community. The caliph was referred to as "Amir al-Mu'minin," the "Commander of the Believers." The exact meaning and nuances of this phrase shifted to accommodate differing interpretations of legislative and spiritual jurisdiction.
In spite of its apparent clarity of meaning, the caliphate has been one of the most divisive issues in Islamic history, going as far back as the original succession to Muhammad. While the original caliphate was Muhammad's rule in Medina, over the course of time, several states were led by caliphates, and occasionally by rival ones. Again, with precedents as early as the election of Abu Bakr's ascension to the role of caliph in 632 C.E., Sunnis believed that a process of consensus, or shura, should determine who holds the position of caliph. The historical vision of Sunnis includes a consideration of the first four caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman and Ali, as "Rightly Guided" or "Rashidun."
"Golden Age" or "Age of Rashidun"
Death of Muhammad ... 632 CE
Caliphate of Abu Bakr ... 632-634 CE
Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab ... 634-644 CE
Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan ... 644-656 CE
Caliphate of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (cousin & son-in-law of Mohammad)... 656-661 CE
Fitna: first Islamic civil war ... 656-661 CE
Arbitration between Ali and Mu'awiyah ... 658 CE
Death of Ali ibn Abi Talib ... 661 CE
Several dynasties and empires have claimed caliphs, from the 7th until the 20th century. There have been periods in which caliphs were instituted over different parts of the Islamic Empire at the same time. For example, after the overthrow of the Umayyads by the Abbasid Dynasty in 750 C.E., a branch of the former fled to Spain, and after a period of constituting their own emirate or territorial principality under a local commander, instituted a counter caliphate that lasted from the 10th to the 11th century. The Umayyads in Spain continued the Syrian caliphate and only claimed the title of the caliphs after the Fatimids (see below) had done the same. The rapid turnover and various depositions and restorations of the Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba reveal the tumultuous circumstances under which this region of the Islamic Empire was ruled.
The Umayyad Caliphs of Cordoba
Abd al-Rahman III - changed the titular rule from emir to caliph, reigned 929-961
Al-Hakam II - reigned 961-976
Hisham II - reigned 976-1008
Mohammed II - reigned 1008-1009
Suleiman II - reigned 1009-1010
Hisham II - second reign 1010-1012
Suleiman II - second reign 1012-1016
‘Abd al-Rahman IV - reigned 1017
Interregnum by the Hammudid dynasty 1016-1023
The Umayyad dynasty returns - 1023
‘Abd al-Rahman V - reigned 1023-1024
Muhammad III - reigned 1024-1025
Hisham III - reigned 1026-1031
Meanwhile, the Abbasids had instituted their own caliphate, with its seat of power in Baghdad. Originally, the Abbasids claimed the right to rule on a professed descent from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of Muhammad's uncles. For a short time, the Abbasids garnered support on the ground, vilifying the Umayyads (who were descendants of a different clan) and pledging to support Shi‘is. They even claimed to have become Shi‘i themselves in order to galvanize forces for their revolt against the Umayyads, which was well-timed to coincide with rising resentment on the part of mawali, non-Arab clients of Arab clans within the Muslim community, whose growing feeling of being second-class citizens made them ripe for resistance. The Abbasids quickly abandoned their Shi‘i alliance, however, which was one of the final markers of separation between the Sunni ruling regime and the resulting Shi‘i minority.
By the 10th century, the Shi‘a Fatimids (who based their authority on descent from Muhammad's daughter, Fatima, and her husband, Ali) instituted yet another caliphate, with its base in Cairo. While the Fatimid Caliphate extended, at its height, over most of North Africa and much of the Arabian Peninsula, its legitimacy eroded when certain governors converted to Sunni Islam. Egypt was conquered by a general, Shirkuh, who then seized power, initiating the Ayyubid Dynasty (12th-13th centuries). Shirkuh's nephew, Saladin, became a leading historical figure in the solidification of Ayyubid power, extending Muslim rule particularly in Jerusalem. He became one of the chief opponents of the Crusaders in their battle over the Palestinian lands. Ongoing conflict with the Europeans and then the Mongols, who invaded from eastern Asia, diminished the Ayyubid dynasty's ability to sustain power, and the empire splintered into smaller emirates until the rise of Osman I, a Turkish leader, in the early 14th century.
Beginning as early as the 9th century, Turks had joined the Islamic world, first as slaves and soldiers. The Abbasid Caliph Mu'tasim (833-842) had a Turkish guard. Turkish officers often rose to high rank, even ruling over regions as princes. As the Abbasid Empire disintegrated politically, Turkish tribes streamed into Islamic territory. In western Asia in the second half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks constituted a third major constituency to the Islamic World.
A wave of Mongol invasions intruded into the Muslim world in the 13th century, under the famous leader Genghis Khan. This dealt a violent blow to the waning Abbasid caliphate. By the fourth decade of that century, major cities fell to the Mongols, including Baghdad, which was sacked in 1258. Al-Mutasim was to be the final in the long line of Abbasid Caliphs. Syria was next, and Damascus and Aleppo, major centers of administration, fell in 1260. In Egypt, where the Ayyubid dynasty had recently held power, a class of slave soldiers known as the Mamluks was increasing in power as well. At the Battle of Ayn Jalut in 1260, the Mamluks defeated the Mongols, a victory which was succeeded by another victory for the Mamluks on behalf of Syria. The Ottoman Empire, the last bastion of the Caliphate, declined in the Early Modern period, and collapsed in the 20th century.
Ottoman Empire in 1683
Osman I, a Turk, initiated a new regime that would result in the last Sunni caliphate, that of the Ottoman Empire, which endured through the early modern and modern era and then collapsed at the end of World War I. The institution of the caliphate was eventually abolished by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who established the secular Turkish Republic in 1923.
Departure of Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,1922Other regions that were part of the Islamic world, especially in South Asia, never instituted caliphates. Especially after the mid-13th century, devolution into a vast and fragmented commonwealth, as opposed to a highly centralized Empire, meant that local governing bodies had power over particular regions. In many ways, the position of the caliph became one that was largely symbolic, one that signified where loyalties could lie, if not where actual power or the authority to govern truly resided.
Islam had been in Africa almost from its inception. In the 7th century, when Muhammad and the earliest Muslims faced persecution in their hometown of Mecca, Muhammad had sent an expedition in search of safe haven in Ethiopia. Existing communities adapted to a diverse array of Islamic practices, including Sufism. In the Early Modern and Modern periods, trade in West Africa empowered the Muslim population. Today, Islam is practiced mainly in North and Northeast Africa, and in the Sahel.
Sunni Islam Schisms, Sects
Theological controversies and legal theory were important parts of the early development of Islamic thought. Different schools found ways to accommodate one another and coexist, but some theological divisions resulted in clashes over basic principles of Islamic interpretation.
The formative period of Sunni law had taken on distinct shape by the beginning of the 10th century C.E. This is the period in which scholars began to compile guides, or handbooks, for the application of law. While the madhahib comprise their own methodological approaches, the shariah itself is a system that relies upon a vast corpus of legal and exegetical scholarship. It comprises criminal, family, and commercial law. Rights and responsibilities are either individual or communal, and a broad vision of civil society is contained within the elaboration of the shariah.
Strictly speaking, each school of law or madhhab (pl. madhahib) was not a sect, but a methodological approach to religious and legal interpretation. There was no compulsion in the school of thought to which one adhered. More often than not, people simply advocated the methodology of their given locality.
Many Sunnis did and still do advocate, however, that a person choose a madhhab and follow it consistently, in spite of the fact that other schools are deemed equally valid. Current incarnations of Sunni Islam, as is typical of modern reform movements, have their own, less rigid, views about the necessity of adhering to a madhhab consistently, if at all.
Six core beliefs of Islam
Reality of one God
Existence of angels of God
Authority of the books of God
Following the prophets of God
Preparation for the Day of Judgment
Supremacy of God’s will
Leaving aside the matter of legal differentiation for a moment, there were also other lines along which different groups of Sunnis arranged themselves when it came to more interior questions about Islam. The articles of faith, iman, are enumerated as belief in God, the Angels, the revealed books, the Messengers who brought those books, the final Day of Judgment, and the belief in God's knowledge and control over everything (al-qadaa wa al-qadar). Specific views about some of these articles of faith would become defining aspects of theological controversies between Sunnis and other denominations, as well as among Sunnis themselves.
One theological school was the Mu‘tazilite, sometimes referred to as the "school of speculative theology." It was based primarily in Iraq, in Basra and Baghdad, flourishing from the 8th to the 10th centuries. While less relevant for the overall development of Sunni theology, Mu‘tazilite theological views about the nature of God influenced Shi‘ism more profoundly, especially Twelver(-Shi'ism) or Imami Shi‘ism. Its followers are generally not accepted by Sunni scholars, allegedly due to its belief in the superiority of reason to tradition, and the tendency to generate less literal interpretations of particular, namely ambiguous, verses of the Quran. The nature of the scripture, however, was to be a controversial matter in another, somewhat puzzling, episode in early Islamic history.
Mihna was a sort of mini-inquisition that began in 833 C.E. The Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun sought to impose his theological views on his subjects, particularly those views concerning the nature of the Quran. Although all sides could agree that the text of the scripture was the Word of God, they differed as to whether it was Created (i.e., it did not always co-exist with the eternal God, who is totally unified and un-partnered) or Uncreated (always existent and co-eternal with God). Al-Ma'mun's position was that only God could be eternal and that therefore the text was inviolable but could not be Uncreated. To enforce his position, al-Ma'mun persecuted his opponents, sometimes dismissing them from official posts, putting them in prison, or flogging them in public. The Mihna continued under subsequent caliphs and was ended in 861 by al-Ma'mun's nephew al-Mutawakkil.
It was generally thought that al-Ma'mun instituted the Mihna under the guidance of Mu‘tazilite advisors, though this is a simplified and polemical view. In the end, it was most likely begun as an attempt to garner and solidify caliphal power under the banner of theological opinions. After all, the Createdness of the Quran was a doctrine that was not the exclusive purview of Mu‘tazilites. Other groups also espoused this doctrine. Neither was al-Ma'mun exclusively supportive of Mu‘tazilites as such. His own beliefs are not easily ensconced in one camp or another, as regard the Quran or the issues of predestination and free will.
Ultimately, the prevailing Sunni theology was Ash‘ari theology, founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Asha‘ri who died in 936 C.E. This school's views were that ultimate comprehension of God's nature and the attributes of God were beyond human understanding. They also held that while humans had free will, only God had the power to create, to discern good from evil, or to determine morality from immorality. Only God's decree on such matters was possible, and people had simply to follow His edicts. These views were not based on an aversion to intellectual critique, but on a belief in the ultimate superiority and complete otherness of God with respect to the realm of humans, who are by nature limited and inferior to God's perfection.
In this same period, a third approach to Islamic practice was Sufism, commonly referred to as Islamic Mysticism. To be a Sufi was not to be outside of the realm of law or theology, and Sufis could follow any of the aforementioned schools of law or theology. In addition, Sufis attempted to follow a practice that brought the soul closer to God. This was manifested in a variety of practices and paths, which developed into different Sufi orders called tariqas. Tariqas originated with a particular teacher whose discipline and method for spiritual training were passed down to his or her students. Almost every Sufi order traces its lineage to teachings that originated with Muhammad.
The formative period of Sunni law had taken on distinct shape by the beginning of the 10th century C.E. This is the period in which scholars began to compile guides, or handbooks, for the application of law. While the madhahib comprise their own methodological approaches, the shariah itself is a system that relies upon a vast corpus of legal and exegetical scholarship. It comprises criminal, family, and commercial law. Rights and responsibilities are either individual or communal, and a broad vision of civil society is contained within the elaboration of the shariah.
Strictly speaking, each school of law or madhhab (pl. madhahib) was not a sect, but a methodological approach to religious and legal interpretation. There was no compulsion in the school of thought to which one adhered. More often than not, people simply advocated the methodology of their given locality.
Many Sunnis did and still do advocate, however, that a person choose a madhhab and follow it consistently, in spite of the fact that other schools are deemed equally valid. Current incarnations of Sunni Islam, as is typical of modern reform movements, have their own, less rigid, views about the necessity of adhering to a madhhab consistently, if at all.
Six core beliefs of Islam
Reality of one God
Existence of angels of God
Authority of the books of God
Following the prophets of God
Preparation for the Day of Judgment
Supremacy of God’s will
Leaving aside the matter of legal differentiation for a moment, there were also other lines along which different groups of Sunnis arranged themselves when it came to more interior questions about Islam. The articles of faith, iman, are enumerated as belief in God, the Angels, the revealed books, the Messengers who brought those books, the final Day of Judgment, and the belief in God's knowledge and control over everything (al-qadaa wa al-qadar). Specific views about some of these articles of faith would become defining aspects of theological controversies between Sunnis and other denominations, as well as among Sunnis themselves.
One theological school was the Mu‘tazilite, sometimes referred to as the "school of speculative theology." It was based primarily in Iraq, in Basra and Baghdad, flourishing from the 8th to the 10th centuries. While less relevant for the overall development of Sunni theology, Mu‘tazilite theological views about the nature of God influenced Shi‘ism more profoundly, especially Twelver(-Shi'ism) or Imami Shi‘ism. Its followers are generally not accepted by Sunni scholars, allegedly due to its belief in the superiority of reason to tradition, and the tendency to generate less literal interpretations of particular, namely ambiguous, verses of the Quran. The nature of the scripture, however, was to be a controversial matter in another, somewhat puzzling, episode in early Islamic history.
Mihna was a sort of mini-inquisition that began in 833 C.E. The Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun sought to impose his theological views on his subjects, particularly those views concerning the nature of the Quran. Although all sides could agree that the text of the scripture was the Word of God, they differed as to whether it was Created (i.e., it did not always co-exist with the eternal God, who is totally unified and un-partnered) or Uncreated (always existent and co-eternal with God). Al-Ma'mun's position was that only God could be eternal and that therefore the text was inviolable but could not be Uncreated. To enforce his position, al-Ma'mun persecuted his opponents, sometimes dismissing them from official posts, putting them in prison, or flogging them in public. The Mihna continued under subsequent caliphs and was ended in 861 by al-Ma'mun's nephew al-Mutawakkil.
It was generally thought that al-Ma'mun instituted the Mihna under the guidance of Mu‘tazilite advisors, though this is a simplified and polemical view. In the end, it was most likely begun as an attempt to garner and solidify caliphal power under the banner of theological opinions. After all, the Createdness of the Quran was a doctrine that was not the exclusive purview of Mu‘tazilites. Other groups also espoused this doctrine. Neither was al-Ma'mun exclusively supportive of Mu‘tazilites as such. His own beliefs are not easily ensconced in one camp or another, as regard the Quran or the issues of predestination and free will.
Ultimately, the prevailing Sunni theology was Ash‘ari theology, founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Asha‘ri who died in 936 C.E. This school's views were that ultimate comprehension of God's nature and the attributes of God were beyond human understanding. They also held that while humans had free will, only God had the power to create, to discern good from evil, or to determine morality from immorality. Only God's decree on such matters was possible, and people had simply to follow His edicts. These views were not based on an aversion to intellectual critique, but on a belief in the ultimate superiority and complete otherness of God with respect to the realm of humans, who are by nature limited and inferior to God's perfection.
In this same period, a third approach to Islamic practice was Sufism, commonly referred to as Islamic Mysticism. To be a Sufi was not to be outside of the realm of law or theology, and Sufis could follow any of the aforementioned schools of law or theology. In addition, Sufis attempted to follow a practice that brought the soul closer to God. This was manifested in a variety of practices and paths, which developed into different Sufi orders called tariqas. Tariqas originated with a particular teacher whose discipline and method for spiritual training were passed down to his or her students. Almost every Sufi order traces its lineage to teachings that originated with Muhammad.
Sunni Islam Early Developments
Sunnism itself is a designation for a sectarian group in Islam, so within Sunnism there are no other sects per se. There are, however, different approaches to the application of Islamic law and an Islamic system of belief and practice, called the shariah.
Sectarianism emerged early in Islamic history. The major split, between Sunni and Shi‘a leadership, centered on questions of authority and political legitimacy. By the 2nd century of the Islamic era, this split had affected the production and trajectories of traditional literature, including hadith (sayings by and about Muhammad). As each camp devised different ways to understand the past, Sunnism became more than a "side" in the factionalization that resulted from the controversial caliphate of Ali.
The designation "Sunni" contains theological and legal implications. In the first centuries of Islamic life, from the mid-7th to the 10th century or so, a system of Islamic law that encapsulated what would become a typically Sunni approach to the interpreting the Quran (scripture) and hadith would develop slowly and organically, alongside other branches of study like theology, philosophy, grammar, and other disciplines.
The Sunni schools of law, four of which have survived in significant numbers and continue to exist today, incorporate their own historical vision and interpretive methodologies. Often, the term shariah is used as a synonym for Islamic law, but this is a misnomer. Shariah is a term for a way of life, a legal system within a belief system. A more accurate synonym for law or jurisprudence in Arabic is fiqh.
Islamic law, as an organized scholarly field, developed rather early relative to other genres of Islamic scholarship. It is a sophisticated and comprehensive legal system, which has occasionally led modern scholars to characterize Islam as an extremely litigious religion. However, in a manner more analogous to Jewish law, Islamic law is one component of a broader system of belief and practice. Based on the hadith, it was necessarily a system that incorporated a sense of history, of tradition, and of a communal identity. The formation of Islamic law, then, is central to the historical development of the Muslim community.
The Islamic World expansion, 622-750
Expansion 622-632
Expansion 632-661
Expansion 661-750
The term shariah, literally "a way," occurs in both the Quran and the hadith. In spite of such austere origins, interpreters and exegetes have never been shy about exploring legal definitions and applications in a variety of ways, which led to their creation of systems and rules of interpretation. In other words, despite its sacred meaning for Muslims, religious law was not to be handled with kid gloves. For the first three centuries of Islamic history, legal scholars interpreted shariah for an adapting and growing Empire.
No system of thought or cultural development begins ex nihilo. In terms of Sunni law, pre-existing norms, from the Arabian Peninsula as well as from the well-established Sasanian (Persian) Empire, affected patterns of early Islamic thought. For example, the law of retaliation for bodily crimes against specific people already existed in the Arabian Peninsula before the dawn of Islam. It was incorporated, with some modification, into an Islamic legal principle called qisas. While the Quran contains injunctions regarding elements of Islamic conduct, and despite the fact that many of its verses regarding inheritance or divorce are quite litigious, the scripture does not contain an actual law code. The hadith, obviously important for rounding out interpretation of the scripture, were vast and numerous and already a subject of their own study. Combining interpretations of these sources required theoretical structures to accommodate the needs of the changing Islamic empire.
Umayyad caliphate at its greatest extent (750 CE): PublicDomainMoreover, the empire was indeed growing. Over the course of just under a hundred years, the Umayyad dynasty presided over the expansion of Islam into India, North Africa, and Spain. To legislate matters of everyday life in these diverse areas, judges called qadis presided over the affairs of the Muslim populations. In the following century, the Abbasid dynasty ruled from its own capital, Baghdad, a period that began the age commonly referred to as the "Golden Age" of Islamic thought. Impacted enormously by sophisticated Persian court culture, the Abbasids had their own views about the centralization of government, while provincial qadis continued to preside over civil law
Over time it became inevitable, however, that local concerns and customs would engender different interpretations of law. Different legal systems began to develop in several regions. There is no official clerical class, doctrinal council, or sole spiritual authority in Islamic society. The formalization of Islamic law was therefore organic and multi-faceted. Four schools of Sunni law exist today. Developed through generations of students and scholars, these four "schools of law," or madhahib in Arabic, are named for the teachers whose approach to hadith and religious practice was later elaborated on. It is important to remember that these schools are not distinguished from one another along doctrinal lines; they differ, rather, in terms of the execution of certain ritual and practical aspects of Islam and in their approaches to the interpretation of sources. Adherents of each Sunni school all regard one another as valid. The four remaining schools of Sunni law and their eponymous founders are:
The Hanafi School, named after Abu Hanifa (d. 767)
The Maliki School, named after Malik ibn Anas (d. 796)
The Shafi‘i School, named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i (d. 820)
The Hanbali School, named after Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 855)
Al-Shafi‘i (the Shafi'i School) in particular had an enormous impact on the formalization of Sunni approaches to Islamic law, arguing for the primacy of the Quran, followed by the hadith. If those two sources failed to produce adequate guidance on a matter, a qadi was to seek the guidance of the consensus, called ijma‘, of other legal scholars. Only as a final recourse should a qadi rely upon his own judgment in finding some analogous precedent. Originally, this inspired some controversy, as other jurists were more comfortable resorting to their own judgment, or ra'y, in times of necessity. Camps termed the ahl al-hadith ("proponents of tradition") and the ahl al-ra'y ("proponents of reason") argued over the validity of their differing approaches. In spite of these controversies, Al-Shafi‘i had a major and lasting impact on Sunni Islam.
Sectarianism emerged early in Islamic history. The major split, between Sunni and Shi‘a leadership, centered on questions of authority and political legitimacy. By the 2nd century of the Islamic era, this split had affected the production and trajectories of traditional literature, including hadith (sayings by and about Muhammad). As each camp devised different ways to understand the past, Sunnism became more than a "side" in the factionalization that resulted from the controversial caliphate of Ali.
The designation "Sunni" contains theological and legal implications. In the first centuries of Islamic life, from the mid-7th to the 10th century or so, a system of Islamic law that encapsulated what would become a typically Sunni approach to the interpreting the Quran (scripture) and hadith would develop slowly and organically, alongside other branches of study like theology, philosophy, grammar, and other disciplines.
The Sunni schools of law, four of which have survived in significant numbers and continue to exist today, incorporate their own historical vision and interpretive methodologies. Often, the term shariah is used as a synonym for Islamic law, but this is a misnomer. Shariah is a term for a way of life, a legal system within a belief system. A more accurate synonym for law or jurisprudence in Arabic is fiqh.
Islamic law, as an organized scholarly field, developed rather early relative to other genres of Islamic scholarship. It is a sophisticated and comprehensive legal system, which has occasionally led modern scholars to characterize Islam as an extremely litigious religion. However, in a manner more analogous to Jewish law, Islamic law is one component of a broader system of belief and practice. Based on the hadith, it was necessarily a system that incorporated a sense of history, of tradition, and of a communal identity. The formation of Islamic law, then, is central to the historical development of the Muslim community.
The Islamic World expansion, 622-750
Expansion 622-632
Expansion 632-661
Expansion 661-750
The term shariah, literally "a way," occurs in both the Quran and the hadith. In spite of such austere origins, interpreters and exegetes have never been shy about exploring legal definitions and applications in a variety of ways, which led to their creation of systems and rules of interpretation. In other words, despite its sacred meaning for Muslims, religious law was not to be handled with kid gloves. For the first three centuries of Islamic history, legal scholars interpreted shariah for an adapting and growing Empire.
No system of thought or cultural development begins ex nihilo. In terms of Sunni law, pre-existing norms, from the Arabian Peninsula as well as from the well-established Sasanian (Persian) Empire, affected patterns of early Islamic thought. For example, the law of retaliation for bodily crimes against specific people already existed in the Arabian Peninsula before the dawn of Islam. It was incorporated, with some modification, into an Islamic legal principle called qisas. While the Quran contains injunctions regarding elements of Islamic conduct, and despite the fact that many of its verses regarding inheritance or divorce are quite litigious, the scripture does not contain an actual law code. The hadith, obviously important for rounding out interpretation of the scripture, were vast and numerous and already a subject of their own study. Combining interpretations of these sources required theoretical structures to accommodate the needs of the changing Islamic empire.
Umayyad caliphate at its greatest extent (750 CE): PublicDomainMoreover, the empire was indeed growing. Over the course of just under a hundred years, the Umayyad dynasty presided over the expansion of Islam into India, North Africa, and Spain. To legislate matters of everyday life in these diverse areas, judges called qadis presided over the affairs of the Muslim populations. In the following century, the Abbasid dynasty ruled from its own capital, Baghdad, a period that began the age commonly referred to as the "Golden Age" of Islamic thought. Impacted enormously by sophisticated Persian court culture, the Abbasids had their own views about the centralization of government, while provincial qadis continued to preside over civil law
Over time it became inevitable, however, that local concerns and customs would engender different interpretations of law. Different legal systems began to develop in several regions. There is no official clerical class, doctrinal council, or sole spiritual authority in Islamic society. The formalization of Islamic law was therefore organic and multi-faceted. Four schools of Sunni law exist today. Developed through generations of students and scholars, these four "schools of law," or madhahib in Arabic, are named for the teachers whose approach to hadith and religious practice was later elaborated on. It is important to remember that these schools are not distinguished from one another along doctrinal lines; they differ, rather, in terms of the execution of certain ritual and practical aspects of Islam and in their approaches to the interpretation of sources. Adherents of each Sunni school all regard one another as valid. The four remaining schools of Sunni law and their eponymous founders are:
The Hanafi School, named after Abu Hanifa (d. 767)
The Maliki School, named after Malik ibn Anas (d. 796)
The Shafi‘i School, named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i (d. 820)
The Hanbali School, named after Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 855)
Al-Shafi‘i (the Shafi'i School) in particular had an enormous impact on the formalization of Sunni approaches to Islamic law, arguing for the primacy of the Quran, followed by the hadith. If those two sources failed to produce adequate guidance on a matter, a qadi was to seek the guidance of the consensus, called ijma‘, of other legal scholars. Only as a final recourse should a qadi rely upon his own judgment in finding some analogous precedent. Originally, this inspired some controversy, as other jurists were more comfortable resorting to their own judgment, or ra'y, in times of necessity. Camps termed the ahl al-hadith ("proponents of tradition") and the ahl al-ra'y ("proponents of reason") argued over the validity of their differing approaches. In spite of these controversies, Al-Shafi‘i had a major and lasting impact on Sunni Islam.
Sunni Islam Scriptures
Like all Muslims, Sunnis believe that the Quran is the inviolable word of God. What distinguishes Sunni Islam is a tradition of hadith literature that underwent its own processes of elaboration and canonization over the course of the first several centuries of the Islamic era.
It is important to remember that Islamic culture was initially an oral one, based not on the written word but on the memorization and recitation of all types of knowledge, from poetry to the Quran to battle stories and hadith themselves. It is unclear precisely when the transition from oral to written culture took place, but there is some evidence that suggests people were compiling notes and "books" as early as the mid-1st century of Islam, or the beginning of the 7th century of the Common Era. The earliest recorded fragments of the This copy of the Quran is believed to be the oldest one, compiled during Caliph Uthman's reign: Public DomainQuran are not from books, but from verses painted or inscribed on artifacts such as camel bones that date from the mid-7th century.
Sunnis, like all Muslims, believe that the Quran is the only actual "scripture" revealed to Muhammad by God, and they consider the text to be the inimitable and uncorrupt record of God's communication with humans during the twenty-three years of the Prophet's career. What distinguishes Sunni Islam, however, is its reliance upon hadith within the broader historical and literary traditions. The hadith elucidate, clarify, and even emend some of the legal rulings and prescriptions contained in the Quran, and Sunni jurists developed methodologies for approaching hadith in order to apply this second body of texts to rulings and interpretations based or stemming from the Quran itself. Thus the hadith and their accompanying literary genres are crucial for the formation of Sunni doctrine. They serve as secondary sources for the interpretation of the Quran. Different schools of law and different sects have devised varied methods for interpreting this body of texts.
Every hadith is accompanied by an isnad, or list of names also called a "chain of transmission" that details who heard and passed down a particular narrative report. Therefore the credibility and scholarly pedigree of those men and women listed in an isnad was of vital importance for determining the veracity and accuracy of any given hadith. Over time, certain transmitters developed reputations ranging from "extremely trustworthy" to "well intentioned, but of faulty memory" to outright "deceitful." Analyzing the names in given a isnad thus provided medieval scholars with technical criteria for determining the utility, either for determining doctrine and practice, or for applicability in legal rulings, of a given hadith. Credibility and scholarly pedigree comprised the essential information of a given transmitter or scholar. This information was contained in biographies of these men and women, which were in turn collected into biographical compilations. ‘Ilm al-Rijal, the "Science of Men" was a study of the biographies and training of Muslim scholars, and was applied to discerning the reliability of people who transmitted information about the Prophet and the first four Sunni caliph. The genre eventually expanded to encompass scholars who learned from and passed on hadith.
Eventually, as the numbers of scholars grew, biographies were arranged alphabetically, into biographical dictionaries. At first, however, biographical compilations were arranged chronologically. That is, a biographical compilation would be collected and arranged according to generations, starting with the Companions of Muhammad. One of the most relied upon such compilations was by Ibn Sa‘d al-Baghdadi, who died in 845, and wrote the Tabaqat al-Kubra, which is divided into eight books:
Books 1 and 2 comprise the biography of Muhammad.
Books 3 and 4 comprise biographies of the Companions.
Books 5, 6, and 7 comprise biographies of later Islamic scholars.
Book 8 comprises biographies of Muslim women.
Ibn Sa‘d composed another work that extends to subsequent generations, as well. The formalization of hadith sciences was taking place at around the same time as Ibn Sa‘d was making his compilation, so his Tabaqat reflects his collection of pivotal figures, as well as other medieval Muslim personalities.
The "Science of hadith," a methodological approach for classifying the relative strength and weakness of traditions about the Prophet, was firmly established by a scholar named Ali ibn al-Madani (d. 834). One of his students, al-Bukhari (d. 870) would go on to compile one of the six recognized canonical collections, now known as the Sahih Bukhari. While not universally accepted by Sunni hadith scholars until the early 11th century, his approach marks the onset of the real formalization of hadith canonization. According to these methods, nearly all hadith were adjudged to be authentic (sahih), fair (hasan), or weak (da‘if). Another, much narrower category, was mutawatir, designating hadith that had been transmitted by so many witnesses and through so many different isnads it was considered impossible for them to be inauthentic. Taken together, the "canonization" of the six authentic hadith collections, aided by the evolution of the biographical genre ‘ilm al-rijal (literally, "the science of men"), constitute a kind of auxiliary scriptural tradition, though not a literal one, that characterizes Sunni Islam. The Science of Men was an elaborate system of collecting and analyzing the biographies and scholarly reputations of people who transmitted hadith.
It is important to remember that Islamic culture was initially an oral one, based not on the written word but on the memorization and recitation of all types of knowledge, from poetry to the Quran to battle stories and hadith themselves. It is unclear precisely when the transition from oral to written culture took place, but there is some evidence that suggests people were compiling notes and "books" as early as the mid-1st century of Islam, or the beginning of the 7th century of the Common Era. The earliest recorded fragments of the This copy of the Quran is believed to be the oldest one, compiled during Caliph Uthman's reign: Public DomainQuran are not from books, but from verses painted or inscribed on artifacts such as camel bones that date from the mid-7th century.
Sunnis, like all Muslims, believe that the Quran is the only actual "scripture" revealed to Muhammad by God, and they consider the text to be the inimitable and uncorrupt record of God's communication with humans during the twenty-three years of the Prophet's career. What distinguishes Sunni Islam, however, is its reliance upon hadith within the broader historical and literary traditions. The hadith elucidate, clarify, and even emend some of the legal rulings and prescriptions contained in the Quran, and Sunni jurists developed methodologies for approaching hadith in order to apply this second body of texts to rulings and interpretations based or stemming from the Quran itself. Thus the hadith and their accompanying literary genres are crucial for the formation of Sunni doctrine. They serve as secondary sources for the interpretation of the Quran. Different schools of law and different sects have devised varied methods for interpreting this body of texts.
Every hadith is accompanied by an isnad, or list of names also called a "chain of transmission" that details who heard and passed down a particular narrative report. Therefore the credibility and scholarly pedigree of those men and women listed in an isnad was of vital importance for determining the veracity and accuracy of any given hadith. Over time, certain transmitters developed reputations ranging from "extremely trustworthy" to "well intentioned, but of faulty memory" to outright "deceitful." Analyzing the names in given a isnad thus provided medieval scholars with technical criteria for determining the utility, either for determining doctrine and practice, or for applicability in legal rulings, of a given hadith. Credibility and scholarly pedigree comprised the essential information of a given transmitter or scholar. This information was contained in biographies of these men and women, which were in turn collected into biographical compilations. ‘Ilm al-Rijal, the "Science of Men" was a study of the biographies and training of Muslim scholars, and was applied to discerning the reliability of people who transmitted information about the Prophet and the first four Sunni caliph. The genre eventually expanded to encompass scholars who learned from and passed on hadith.
Eventually, as the numbers of scholars grew, biographies were arranged alphabetically, into biographical dictionaries. At first, however, biographical compilations were arranged chronologically. That is, a biographical compilation would be collected and arranged according to generations, starting with the Companions of Muhammad. One of the most relied upon such compilations was by Ibn Sa‘d al-Baghdadi, who died in 845, and wrote the Tabaqat al-Kubra, which is divided into eight books:
Books 1 and 2 comprise the biography of Muhammad.
Books 3 and 4 comprise biographies of the Companions.
Books 5, 6, and 7 comprise biographies of later Islamic scholars.
Book 8 comprises biographies of Muslim women.
Ibn Sa‘d composed another work that extends to subsequent generations, as well. The formalization of hadith sciences was taking place at around the same time as Ibn Sa‘d was making his compilation, so his Tabaqat reflects his collection of pivotal figures, as well as other medieval Muslim personalities.
The "Science of hadith," a methodological approach for classifying the relative strength and weakness of traditions about the Prophet, was firmly established by a scholar named Ali ibn al-Madani (d. 834). One of his students, al-Bukhari (d. 870) would go on to compile one of the six recognized canonical collections, now known as the Sahih Bukhari. While not universally accepted by Sunni hadith scholars until the early 11th century, his approach marks the onset of the real formalization of hadith canonization. According to these methods, nearly all hadith were adjudged to be authentic (sahih), fair (hasan), or weak (da‘if). Another, much narrower category, was mutawatir, designating hadith that had been transmitted by so many witnesses and through so many different isnads it was considered impossible for them to be inauthentic. Taken together, the "canonization" of the six authentic hadith collections, aided by the evolution of the biographical genre ‘ilm al-rijal (literally, "the science of men"), constitute a kind of auxiliary scriptural tradition, though not a literal one, that characterizes Sunni Islam. The Science of Men was an elaborate system of collecting and analyzing the biographies and scholarly reputations of people who transmitted hadith.
Sunni Islam Founders
Sunni Islam was not a singular movement or the result of any one person's approach to religion, but rather a broad tradition stemming from diverse and organic developments in the early Muslim community.
One of Sunnism's crucial components is a perspective, evolved over the course of the 1st to the early 3rd Islamic centuries, which privileged the early Muslim community and its unity as a pious ideal. This perspective also solidified the primacy of the Prophet's Companions, especially Abu Bakr and Umar, and most importantly, emphasized adherence to the Prophet's custom, his Sunna, as the path to proper Islamic worship and legitimate Muslim identity.
Because Sunnism is a label for a set of beliefs and traditions within the broader tradition of Islam, there are no specific founders per se. There are, however, important individuals and crucial historical components of Sunnism that can be said to be foundational. The evolution of Sunnism was gradual; it was not a pre-formed ideology that issued abruptly. Like all sectarian delineations, it would also eventually contain its own subsets and divisions. The main centers of sectarian affiliation in the early period of Islam were, in fact, outside Arabia, in Syria and Iraq, where the first ruling dynasties, the Umayyads and Abbasids respectively, had their capital cities. Abbasid Caliphate (green) at its greatest extent, c. 850:Public DomainAs such, the continued administrative and cultural legacies of both Byzantium and Persia affected the development of theological and political perspectives in the early Muslim world.
The medieval Muslim community was never a monolithic or simple collective group, and the elaboration of the historical perspective described above was neither simple nor instantaneous. The term "Sunnism" itself reflects the later phrase "ahl al-Sunna" (the people of the custom of the Prophet) and is the result, rather than generator, of any particular theological or political view. Over the 1st and 2nd centuries of Islam, which correspond to the 7th and 8th centuries of the Common Era, several groups whose existence turned out to be short lived nevertheless influenced what would, by the 3rd century A.H./9th century C.E. come to be known as Sunnism. One of the most decisive aspects of which groups and individual ulama (scholars) would become central to articulating the historical vision of Sunnism was the patronage and support of the Abbasid regime (8th-13th centuries C.E.), ruling from Baghdad.
As noted, a hallmark of Sunni Islam, which in basic tenets (the "five pillars" of shahadah, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage) is identical to any sect of Islam, is its vision of the primacy of the unity of the Muslim community (the umma) and its earliest leaders, notably the Prophet himself and his successors and Companions. Because this vision was necessarily constructed upon a framework of scholarship that revolved around hadith, scholars who specialized in hadith were crucial to the articulation of Sunnism. Early scholars, such as Ibn Sa‘d (d. 784) and Ibn Hanbal (d. 855), played a critical role in the pre-Sunni (or, as it has been called, proto-Sunni) elaboration of approaches to Islamic doctrine and practice. The consolidation of hadith literature is therefore another foundational aspect of Sunnism.
There is no centralized doctrinal council or concentrated spiritual authority for all of Islamic society. Processes that led up to the formalization of Islamic law, the shariah, were therefore multi-faceted. There are four schools of Sunni law that survived the vicissitudes of history and still exist today. (Though there are other Sunni schools of law, they are followed by very few people and are relatively unknown.) These four madhahib (schools of law) are named for four great teachers whose methodologies and approach to hadith and practice were most extensively expounded upon after their deaths by generations of students and scholars. All four of these agree about basic doctrine, but differ somewhat in terms of the execution of certain ritual aspects of Islam, and in their approaches to the interpretation of sources. They all consider one another, however, equally valid. The four remaining schools of Sunni law and their eponymous founders are:
The Hanafi School, named after Abu Hanifa (d. 767). He was born in Kufa (modern-day Iraq) around 702. Today, many Muslims of West and Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Iraq, and Turkey are Hanafis.
The Maliki School, named after Malik ibn Anas (d. 796) Malik's ideas were deeply rooted in Medina, and they place an even greater emphasis on the practice of the Companions of Muhammad and their descendants. Many Muslims in Africa adhere to the Maliki school, with some significant exceptions, including Egypt.
The Shafi‘i School, named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i (d. 820) who was a student of Malik's. He taught in Iraq and Egypt. Many Muslims all over the world, including Indonesia, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Somalia, the Levant, India, Sri Lanka, and Yemen follow this school.
The Hanbali School, named after Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 855), who was born in Baghdad. He was a student of al-Shafi‘i and was also an important figure in early Muslim theological disputes, which led to his persecution by the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun.
Sunni Islam Influences
Sunni Islam emphasizes the prophetic legacy of Muhammad. The evolution of hadith literature during the early years of Islamic society's expansion and development is the major influence on the trajectory of the tradition.
Before the polarization of Islam into Sunnism and Shi‘ism in the early tenth century, previous incarnations of sectarian division existed in the Muslim community. Several groups, defined in part by their different approaches to theology and politics, included Kharijites, Murjiites, Qadarites and Mutazilites, and Shi ‘is. The greatest and most substantial influence on the emergence of Sunni Islam was the development, over the first three centuries of Islam, of hadith literature. The hadith consist of short, narrative reports detailing what Muhammad said, did, and approved of during his life and prophetic career. These short narratives range in subject from mundane daily activities, including eating and sleeping habits, to far-reaching legal decisions. A hadith is composed of two essential parts that are pertinent to how this genre of literature developed: an isnad (chain of transmission) and a matn (body of the narrative). The isnad is a list of names, listing the people who heard and transmitted the content of the narrative.
Because Islamic culture was initially comprised of oral tradition, it was important for early generations to attribute the narratives that they related to one another and to subsequent generations to credible sources. A typical isnad-matn combination could read, for example, "so-and-so heard from so-and-so that he heard from so-and-so that the Prophet used to raise his hands to shoulder level at the beginning of a prayer."
Sunni Islam developed detailed principles regarding the legitimacy and applicability of hadith that were narrated in this way. A primary consideration was the reputation and reliability of the people (men and women, though the majority were men) named in the isnad. What distinguished Sunni hadith was the "cast of characters" deemed acceptable to later scholars who parsed and organized these reports once the genre passed from oral to written culture.
Sunnis elaborated a methodology that emphasized the authority of Muhammad's Companions, known collectively as the Sahaba. These men and women shared a closeness and familiarity with the Prophet that made them repositories of valuable information for how he lived. Second to the scripture of the Quran, the hadith served to elucidate aspects of practice and law so crucially that they are considered a second source for Sunni practitioners. Over the course of the first two centuries of Islam, scholars and theologians elaborated a complex and nuanced set of principles, the Science of Hadith, for analyzing the credibility of chains of transmitters and the veracity of the content of what had emerged as a vast body of texts. Hadith Sciences eventually led to the consolidation of this type of literature into six canonized collections, which are sometimes called "Al-Sihah al-Sittah" or "Kutub al-Sittah."
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Their authors and dates, according to both the Islamic (hijri year, also noted as A.H., or Anno Hegirae,) and the Gregorian calendar, are as follows (the Islamic calendar begins in the 7th century):
- Muhammad b. Isma‘il al-Bukhari, who died in 256/869-70.
- Muslim b. Hajjaj al-Nishapuri, who died in 261/874-5.
- Abu Dawud Suleyman b. Ash‘ath al-Sijistani, who died in 275/888-9.
- Muhammad b. Isa al-Tirmidhi, who died in 279/892-3.
- Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i, who died in 303/915-16.
- Ibn Majah al-Qazwini, who died in 273/886-7.
Al-Bukhari's and Muslim's collections are among the most popular, though Sunnis accept the validity of all six compilations.
Because so much of the development of Sunnism was connected to the Companions and their transmission of hadith material, the boundaries and shape of early Sunnism over the course of the first three centuries of Islam reflected an emerging vision of who the key players were in the formative period of Islamic life. Intertwined with the conflicts and controversies among the first generation of Muslims concerning the leadership of the community was the question of which Companions to prefer over others in the transmission of hadith.
Both Ali and those who opposed his leadership counted, after all, among the Companions. Ali could not be dismissed in spite of the divisions his caliphate inspired. For this reason, a distinct Sunni identity depended upon fashioning a view of history that bolstered the elections of Abu Bakr and Umar, and eventually of Uthman, while also accommodating the eventual ascension and acceptance of Ali. Following the establishment of the unprecedented dynastic succession policies of the Umayyad Empire at the hands of Ali's opponent Muawiya, himself a man of mixed reputation, this was no easy matter. One major solution to this protracted problem was the accommodation of Ali into a grouping of the first four caliphs who led the community after the death of Muhammad, called al-khulafaa al-rashidun, the "Rightly Guided Caliphs." This term became an enduring hallmark of Sunni Islam.
Sunni Islam Beginnings
The roots of Sunni Islam lie in the earliest sectarian divides that affected the Muslim community immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
The name Following Muhammad's death in 632 C.E., the early Muslim community was immediately confronted with the question of who would succeed the prophet as the spiritual and political leader of the community. This was an important issue, since Muhammad had no living male heirs, and left no universally agreed upon successor. The terms for the subsequent and long-lasting divisions of the community, along the lines of proper leadership, are Shi'a and Sunni. The former comes from the Arabic phrase "Shi'at Ali," the "Party of Ali," which supported the leadership of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. The term Sunni refers to those who did not support The Investiture of Ali, at Ghadir Khumm (MS Arab 161, fol.162r, AD 1309/8 Ilkhanid manuscript illustration).: Public DomainAli's leadership at this crucial juncture, and is also a term derived from an Arabic phrase, "ahl al-sunna wa al-jamaa," the "People of the Prophet's way and Community." While there are subdivisions within each of these two categories, they represent the main sectarian divide among Muslims.
While Sunnism proper would develop legal and theological traditions in subsequent centuries, its origins lie in this original disagreement over who should lead the young Muslim community. It was generally agreed upon that the next leader, or Caliph, should be a member of the prophet's tribe of Quraysh. According to Sunni tradition, an ailing Muhammad designated his longtime companion Abu Bakr as his successor when he asked his friend to lead the community in congregational prayer. Traditionally an indication of leadership, the role of leading prayer is thus interpreted by Sunnis as a gesture signifying Abu Bakr as the proper heir to the prophet's authority.
Following Muhammad's death, a group composed of émigrés from Mecca (the Prophet's birthplace) and of Medinans who supported them (called the Ansar, Arabic for helpers, supporters), gathered at a place called Saqifah and chose Abu Bakr as their new leader, eschewing dynastic succession. This type of consensus, called shura, was rooted in longstanding methods of communal arbitration in the Arabian Peninsula. Later traditions developed, in the wake of this controversial decision, that had the prophet singling Abu Bakr out more explicitly or even naming him in particular, but these are parts of an ongoing dialogue and disagreement with sectarian adversaries who supported other candidates.
Following Abu Bakr's death in 634, he was succeeded by another prominent Companion, Umar ibn al-Khattab. When Umar was murdered in 644, he was succeeded by yet another member of Quraysh, Uthman ibn Affan. It was Uthman's murder, in 656, that entrenched sectarian affiliations for the long term, since his supporters felt that Ali, upon assuming the caliphate, was lax in his pursuit of the criminals. It is important to note at the outset that Sunnis still held Ali in high esteem, as he was related to the prophet and had been an early convert to Islam. His prominence in the community, even to those who did not pledge him their initial loyalty, was and would remain intact. He would even eventually succeed to the caliphate himself. Yet the initial divide over the justice of his having been passed over was sufficient to lay the groundwork for permanent sectarian divides.
These divides were exacerbated and made firm by the conflict and turmoil that continued to plague the Muslim community in its first decades. The First Civil War took place upon the murder of the third Sunni caliph, Uthman. The caliph, of a mixed reputation because of claims of ineffective leadership and nepotism, was besieged in his home and brutally killed. By this time, Ali had succeeded to the caliphate, and Uthman's supporters accused Ali of failing to avenge his slain predecessor.
"Golden Age" or "Age of Rashidun"
Death of Muhammad ........... 632 CE
Caliphate of Abu Bakr ........... 632-634 CE
Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab ........... 634-644 CE
Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan ........... 644-656 CE
Caliphate of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (cousin & son-in-law of Mohammad) ........... 656-661 CE
Fitna: first Islamic civil war ........... 656-661 CE
Arbitration between Ali and Mu'awiyah ........... 658 CE
Death of Ali ibn Abi Talib ........... 661 CE
For the next five years, the entirety of his reign, Ali faced opposition and revolts. In 656, he faced and defeated an uprising led by one of the prophet's widows, Aisha, and her supporters Talhah and al-Zubayr. This event, dubbed the Battle of the Camel because Aisha herself is said to have ridden into battle in a litter on a camel's back, was not the last obstacle Ali would face. Contenders for power in Syria, relatives of Uthman, faced off in the Battle of Siffin in 658. This prolonged battle came to a close when Muawiya, the leader of the Syrian opposition, had his troops ride into an arbitration with copies of the Quran affixed to the ends of their lances. Ali agreed to arbitration, a fact for which he would pay dearly. Secessionists from his own group of supporters, called Kharijites, betrayed him and declared him an illegitimate leader. Ali was assassinated by a Kharijite in 661.Muawiya, poised for leadership from his base in Syria, became caliph. His was the first caliphate to end with the explicit designation of a successor, his son Yazid. The institution of dynastic succession for leadership over the numerical majority of the Muslim community, while not entirely uncontroversial, signified a decisive answer to Shi'i claims about Muhammad's direct descendants (Ali had married the prophet's daughter, Fatima, so her children and their descendants were the most direct hereditary line going back to Muhammad) having the right to lead, and entrenched the Sunni/Shi'i divide.
The name Following Muhammad's death in 632 C.E., the early Muslim community was immediately confronted with the question of who would succeed the prophet as the spiritual and political leader of the community. This was an important issue, since Muhammad had no living male heirs, and left no universally agreed upon successor. The terms for the subsequent and long-lasting divisions of the community, along the lines of proper leadership, are Shi'a and Sunni. The former comes from the Arabic phrase "Shi'at Ali," the "Party of Ali," which supported the leadership of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. The term Sunni refers to those who did not support The Investiture of Ali, at Ghadir Khumm (MS Arab 161, fol.162r, AD 1309/8 Ilkhanid manuscript illustration).: Public DomainAli's leadership at this crucial juncture, and is also a term derived from an Arabic phrase, "ahl al-sunna wa al-jamaa," the "People of the Prophet's way and Community." While there are subdivisions within each of these two categories, they represent the main sectarian divide among Muslims.
While Sunnism proper would develop legal and theological traditions in subsequent centuries, its origins lie in this original disagreement over who should lead the young Muslim community. It was generally agreed upon that the next leader, or Caliph, should be a member of the prophet's tribe of Quraysh. According to Sunni tradition, an ailing Muhammad designated his longtime companion Abu Bakr as his successor when he asked his friend to lead the community in congregational prayer. Traditionally an indication of leadership, the role of leading prayer is thus interpreted by Sunnis as a gesture signifying Abu Bakr as the proper heir to the prophet's authority.
Following Muhammad's death, a group composed of émigrés from Mecca (the Prophet's birthplace) and of Medinans who supported them (called the Ansar, Arabic for helpers, supporters), gathered at a place called Saqifah and chose Abu Bakr as their new leader, eschewing dynastic succession. This type of consensus, called shura, was rooted in longstanding methods of communal arbitration in the Arabian Peninsula. Later traditions developed, in the wake of this controversial decision, that had the prophet singling Abu Bakr out more explicitly or even naming him in particular, but these are parts of an ongoing dialogue and disagreement with sectarian adversaries who supported other candidates.
Following Abu Bakr's death in 634, he was succeeded by another prominent Companion, Umar ibn al-Khattab. When Umar was murdered in 644, he was succeeded by yet another member of Quraysh, Uthman ibn Affan. It was Uthman's murder, in 656, that entrenched sectarian affiliations for the long term, since his supporters felt that Ali, upon assuming the caliphate, was lax in his pursuit of the criminals. It is important to note at the outset that Sunnis still held Ali in high esteem, as he was related to the prophet and had been an early convert to Islam. His prominence in the community, even to those who did not pledge him their initial loyalty, was and would remain intact. He would even eventually succeed to the caliphate himself. Yet the initial divide over the justice of his having been passed over was sufficient to lay the groundwork for permanent sectarian divides.
These divides were exacerbated and made firm by the conflict and turmoil that continued to plague the Muslim community in its first decades. The First Civil War took place upon the murder of the third Sunni caliph, Uthman. The caliph, of a mixed reputation because of claims of ineffective leadership and nepotism, was besieged in his home and brutally killed. By this time, Ali had succeeded to the caliphate, and Uthman's supporters accused Ali of failing to avenge his slain predecessor.
"Golden Age" or "Age of Rashidun"
Death of Muhammad ........... 632 CE
Caliphate of Abu Bakr ........... 632-634 CE
Caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab ........... 634-644 CE
Caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan ........... 644-656 CE
Caliphate of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (cousin & son-in-law of Mohammad) ........... 656-661 CE
Fitna: first Islamic civil war ........... 656-661 CE
Arbitration between Ali and Mu'awiyah ........... 658 CE
Death of Ali ibn Abi Talib ........... 661 CE
For the next five years, the entirety of his reign, Ali faced opposition and revolts. In 656, he faced and defeated an uprising led by one of the prophet's widows, Aisha, and her supporters Talhah and al-Zubayr. This event, dubbed the Battle of the Camel because Aisha herself is said to have ridden into battle in a litter on a camel's back, was not the last obstacle Ali would face. Contenders for power in Syria, relatives of Uthman, faced off in the Battle of Siffin in 658. This prolonged battle came to a close when Muawiya, the leader of the Syrian opposition, had his troops ride into an arbitration with copies of the Quran affixed to the ends of their lances. Ali agreed to arbitration, a fact for which he would pay dearly. Secessionists from his own group of supporters, called Kharijites, betrayed him and declared him an illegitimate leader. Ali was assassinated by a Kharijite in 661.Muawiya, poised for leadership from his base in Syria, became caliph. His was the first caliphate to end with the explicit designation of a successor, his son Yazid. The institution of dynastic succession for leadership over the numerical majority of the Muslim community, while not entirely uncontroversial, signified a decisive answer to Shi'i claims about Muhammad's direct descendants (Ali had married the prophet's daughter, Fatima, so her children and their descendants were the most direct hereditary line going back to Muhammad) having the right to lead, and entrenched the Sunni/Shi'i divide.
| Shi'a | Sunni |
| *believe Muhammad named Ali as successor | *Do not believe Muhammad named succesor |
| *Muhammad's family has sole claim to legitimate leadership | *the Prophet's companions have authoritative leadership |
| *rely on authoritative teaching of Muhammad's decedants | *rely on consensus (Arabic, ijma) of religions and re |
December 12, 2011
18 Answers of The Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
18 Answers of The Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
Aik bar aik traveler masjid ma Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W.W) se milnay aaya, Mulaqaat ke bahd, uss se poocha gaya ke wo kahaan se aaya ha?
Traveler ne jawaab diya ke wo bahot dour se aaya hai sirf in sawalaat ke jawaab hasil kernay ke lia.
Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W.W) aur traveler ma ye baat cheet hui.
Aik bar aik traveler masjid ma Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W.W) se milnay aaya, Mulaqaat ke bahd, uss se poocha gaya ke wo kahaan se aaya ha?
Traveler ne jawaab diya ke wo bahot dour se aaya hai sirf in sawalaat ke jawaab hasil kernay ke lia.
Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W.W) aur traveler ma ye baat cheet hui.
Traveller : main chahta hon ke meray aamaal namay ma adha'b na likha jaye.
Prophet: apnay walidain se acha salook kero.
Traveller :main chahta hon ke log mujhe sumajhedar insaan janain.
Prophet : Allah se humesha dertay raho.
Traveller : main Allah ke pasandida logon ma shumaar honna chahta hon.
Prophet : Her Subha aur shaam ko Quran ki tilawat kero.
Traveller : main chata hon mera dil humesha Munawar rahay.
Prophet : mout ko kabhi mat bhoolo.
Traveller : main Allah ki nahmatoon se dour nahi jaana chahta.
Prophet : humesha fellow creatures se acha treat kero.
Traveller: main chahta hon ke meray dushman mujhe kabhi nuksaan na pooncha sakain.
Prophet : humesha sirf Allah per yaqeen aur imaan rakho.
Traveller : main kabhi sharminda nahi honna chahta.
Prophet : apnay actions se humesha ba'khaber raho.
Traveller : main zyada arsay tak jeena chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha sile rahmi kerro (blood relations ke saath achay raho).
Traveller : main apni roozi ma izafa chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha wudhoo se raho.
Traveller : main khud ko qaber ke adhab se mahfooz rakhna chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha paak kapray pahnoo.
Traveller : main kabhi dozkh ki aag ma jalna nahi chahta.
Prophet : apni nighaa aur zuban per qaboo rakho.
Traveller : main kaisay apnay gunnah maaf kera sakta hon.
Prophet : humesha Allah se taoba kertay raho bahot hi aajazi ke saath.
Traveller : main chahta hon log meri humesha respect kerain.
Prophet : kabhi zuroorat ke liay logon ke aagay haath na phailao.
Traveller : main humesha honour chahta hon.
Prophet : kabhi kisi ko sharminda na kero ya neecha na dekhaoo.
Traveller : main kabhi fishare qabr se squeeze nahi hoona chahta ya meri qabr tang na ho.
Prophet : Surat Al Mulk aksir parhtay raho.
Traveller : main chahta hon meri dolat ma izafa ho.
Prophet : Surat wl Waqiah her raat tilawat kero.
Traveller : main qayamat ke din safe aur peace ke saath rahna chahta hon.
Prophet : Allah ka zikr dusk se night tak kero.
Traveller : main nimaz ma full attention aur concentration hasil kerna chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha wudhoo concentration aur attention se kero.
Prophet: apnay walidain se acha salook kero.
Traveller :main chahta hon ke log mujhe sumajhedar insaan janain.
Prophet : Allah se humesha dertay raho.
Traveller : main Allah ke pasandida logon ma shumaar honna chahta hon.
Prophet : Her Subha aur shaam ko Quran ki tilawat kero.
Traveller : main chata hon mera dil humesha Munawar rahay.
Prophet : mout ko kabhi mat bhoolo.
Traveller : main Allah ki nahmatoon se dour nahi jaana chahta.
Prophet : humesha fellow creatures se acha treat kero.
Traveller: main chahta hon ke meray dushman mujhe kabhi nuksaan na pooncha sakain.
Prophet : humesha sirf Allah per yaqeen aur imaan rakho.
Traveller : main kabhi sharminda nahi honna chahta.
Prophet : apnay actions se humesha ba'khaber raho.
Traveller : main zyada arsay tak jeena chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha sile rahmi kerro (blood relations ke saath achay raho).
Traveller : main apni roozi ma izafa chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha wudhoo se raho.
Traveller : main khud ko qaber ke adhab se mahfooz rakhna chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha paak kapray pahnoo.
Traveller : main kabhi dozkh ki aag ma jalna nahi chahta.
Prophet : apni nighaa aur zuban per qaboo rakho.
Traveller : main kaisay apnay gunnah maaf kera sakta hon.
Prophet : humesha Allah se taoba kertay raho bahot hi aajazi ke saath.
Traveller : main chahta hon log meri humesha respect kerain.
Prophet : kabhi zuroorat ke liay logon ke aagay haath na phailao.
Traveller : main humesha honour chahta hon.
Prophet : kabhi kisi ko sharminda na kero ya neecha na dekhaoo.
Traveller : main kabhi fishare qabr se squeeze nahi hoona chahta ya meri qabr tang na ho.
Prophet : Surat Al Mulk aksir parhtay raho.
Traveller : main chahta hon meri dolat ma izafa ho.
Prophet : Surat wl Waqiah her raat tilawat kero.
Traveller : main qayamat ke din safe aur peace ke saath rahna chahta hon.
Prophet : Allah ka zikr dusk se night tak kero.
Traveller : main nimaz ma full attention aur concentration hasil kerna chahta hon.
Prophet : humesha wudhoo concentration aur attention se kero.
***
December 11, 2011
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
اللهم صلي على محمد و على آل محمد كما صليت على إبراهيم و على أل إبراهيم ا نك حميد مجيد
O Allah Send your Peace and Blessings upon our Master Muhammad, his blessed family. Also the mighty Prophet Ibrahim and his Family. And indeed you are worthy of all Praise and Glorification
Ashura in Karbala - Muharram - Arabic All Languages
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
اللهم صلي على محمد و على آل محمد كما صليت على إبراهيم و على أل إبراهيم ا نك حميد مجيد
O Allah Send your Peace and Blessings upon our Master Muhammad, his blessed family. Also the mighty Prophet Ibrahim and his Family. And indeed you are worthy of all Praise and Glorification
Ashura in Karbala - Muharram - Arabic All Languages
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