Sunni Islam ( or ) or Sunnism ( or ) is the largest branch of Islam;. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ''ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah'' (, "people of the tradition [of Muhammad] and the community") or ''ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah'' () for short; in English, they are known as Sunnis or Sunnites.

Sunni Islam is referred to as the orthodox version of the religion. The word "Sunni" comes from the term ''Sunnah'' (), which refers to the sayings and actions of Muhammad that are recorded in hadiths (collections of narrations regarding Muhammad). Sunni Muslims generally consider ''Sahih al-Bukhari'' and ''Sahih Muslim'' to be entirely authentic and accurate hadiths.

Etymology

Sunni is a broad term derived from ''Sunnah'' , plural سنن ''sunan'' )}}, which is an Arabic word that means "habit" or "usual practice". The Muslim usage of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of Muhammad. In its full form, this branch of Islam is referred to as "Ahlus-Sunnah Wa Al-Jama'ah" (literally, "People of the Tradition and the Congregation"). Anyone claiming to follow the Sunnah and can show that they have no action or belief against the Prophetic Sunnah can consider him or herself to be a Sunni Muslim. However, it should be noted that Shi'a Muslims also hold that they follow the Sunnah.

Schools of law (''Madh'hab'')

Islamic law is known as the ''Sharī'ah''. The Sharī'ah is based on the ''Qur'an'' and the ''Sunnah''. The Madh'hab translates to "way", and different Madhaheb (plural of Madh'hab) reflect different opinions on some laws and obligations of the sharia, for example when one ''Madh'hab'' sees a certain act as an obligation, while the other does not. It has to be clear that each one of these schools consider the others to be fully valid and accepted.

Below are the most famous four:

Hanafi School

Abu Hanifah (died 767), was the founder of the Hanafi school and student of Ja'far al-Sadiq. He was born in the year 702 CE in Kufa, Iraq. Muslims of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Muslim areas of Southern Russia, the Caucasus, most of the Muslim areas of the Balkans and Turkey and parts of Iraq, all follow this school of jurisprudence. It is also the dominant school of Muslims in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Maliki School

Malik ibn Anas (died 795) Student of the imam Abu Hanifah's eldest student, Muhammad, Malik ibn Anas developed his ideas in Medina. His doctrine is recorded in the Muwatta which has been adopted by most North African and West African countries like Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria and others except Egypt, Horn of Africa and Sudan. Also, the Maliki madhab is the official state madhhab of Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. He was one of the teachers of Imam al-Shafi'i. One of greatest historical centers of Maliki teaching, especially during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries, is the Mosque of Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan (in Tunisia).

Shafi'i school

Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i (died 820 CE) was a student of Malik. He taught in Iraq and then in Egypt. Muslims in Indonesia, Lower Egypt, Malaysia, Southern Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Coastal Maharashtra/Konkan and Kerala in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Palestine, Yemen and Kurds in the Kurdish regions follow the Shafi'i school. Al-Shafi'i placed great emphasis on the Sunnah of Muhammad, as embodied in the Hadith, as a source of the Shari'ah.

Hanbali School

Ahmad bin Hanbal (died 855), the namesake of the Hanbali school, was born in Baghdad. He learned extensively from al-Shafi'i. This school of jurisprudence is followed predominantly in the Arabian Peninsula.

Theology of the four Madhab

The followers of these four schools follow the same basic belief system but differ from one another in terms of practice and execution of rituals, and in juristic interpretation of "divine principles" (or Shariah) as envisaged in Quran and Hadith. However Sunni Muslims consider them all equally valid.

There are other Sunni schools of law. However, many are followed by only small numbers of people and are relatively unknown due to the popularity of the four major schools; also, many have died out or were not sufficiently recorded by their followers to survive.

Interpreting the ''Shari'ah'' to derive specific rulings (such as how to pray) is known as ''fiqh,'' which literally means understanding. A ''madh'hab'' is a particular tradition of interpreting ''fiqh.'' These schools focus on specific evidence (Shafi'i and Hanbali) or general principles (Hanafi and Maliki) derived from specific evidences. The schools were started by eminent Muslim scholars in the first four centuries of Islam. As these schools represent clearly spelled out methodologies for interpreting the ''Shari'aa,'' there has been little change in the methodology per se. However, as the social and economic environment changes, new ''fiqh'' rulings are being made. For example, when tobacco appeared it was declared as 'disliked' because of its smell. When medical information showed that smoking was dangerous, that ruling was changed to 'forbidden'. Current ''fiqh'' issues include things like downloading pirated software and cloning. The consensus is that the ''Shari'ah'' does not change but ''fiqh'' rulings change all the time.

A ''madh'hab'' is not to be confused with a religious sect. There may be scholars representing all four ''madh'habs'' living in larger Muslim communities, and it is up to those who consult them to decide which school they prefer.

Demographics

The vast majority (approximately 80-90%) of Muslims worldwide practice Sunni Islam. The remaining are Shia along with other smaller groups.

Sunni theological traditions

Some Islamic scholars faced questions that they felt were not explicitly answered in the ''Qur'an'', especially questions with regard to philosophical conundra like the nature of God, the existence of human free will, or the eternal existence of the ''Qur'an.'' Various schools of theology and philosophy developed to answer these questions, each claiming to be true to the ''Qur'an'' and the Muslim tradition (''sunnah''). Among Sunnites, the following were the dominant traditions:

Athari (Arabic: أثري), or "textualism", is derived from the Arabic word athar, literally meaning "remnant", and also referring to "narrations". Their disciples are called the Atharis. The Atharis are considered to be one of three Sunni schools of Aqidah: Athari, Ashari, and Maturidi.

* The Athari methodology of textual interpretation is to avoid delving into extensive theological speculation. They believe in Allah and his attributes in the exact fashion that they were mentioned in the Quran, the Sunnah, and by the Sahabah. They do not attempt to further interpret the aforementioned texts by giving a literal meaning like in Ẓāhirīya (literalism) or the Tashbih (simile or likening), nor through tahrif (distortion), nor ta`weel (allegory or metaphor), nor ta'teel (denial). They avoid entering into deep rational philosophical discussions of matters relating to Islamic beliefs that are not supported by the Quran, the Sunnah or the understanding of the Sahabah with specific wording; rather, their discussion and presentation of beliefs revolves entirely around textual evidences found in these three main sources, while remaining cautious to avoid taking the path of the Ẓāhirīs (literalists) either. The Atharis believe this to be the methodology adhered to by the first three generations of Muslims (i.e. the Salaf), therefore making it the school of Sunni Aqidah that they believe is adhering to the truth.

Due to the emphasis of the Hanbali school of thought on textualism, Muslims who are Hanbali usually prefer the Athari methodology in Aqidah. However, Atharis are not exclusively Hanbali, many Muslims from other schools of thought adhere to the Athari school of Aqidah also.

The Atharis are also called sometimes the Salafis. And their theological system of Aqidah is most of the time called Aqidat al-Salaf (or in fewer occasions: Aqidat As-hab al-Hadith).

Ash'ari, founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (873–935). This theological system of Aqidah was embraced by plenty of Muslim scholars such as Imam al-Ghazali.

* Ash'ari theology stresses divine revelation over human reason. Contrary to the Mu'tazilites, they say that ethics cannot be derived from human reason, but that God's commands, as revealed in the ''Qur'an'' and the ''Sunnah'' (the practices of Muhammad and his companions as recorded in the traditions, or ''hadith''), are the sole source of all morality and ethics.

Regarding the nature of God and the divine attributes, the Ash'ari rejected the Mu'tazilite position that all Qur'anic references to God as having physical attributes were metaphorical. The Ash'aris insisted that these attributes were "true", since the ''Qur'an'' could not be inclusive of an error, but that they were not to be understood as implying anthropomorphism or any materialistic bodily nature.

* Ash'aris tend to stress divine omnipotence over human free will.

* Ash'aris believe that the ''Qur'an'' is eternal and uncreated.

Maturidi, founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (died 944). Maturidiyyah was a minority tradition until it was accepted by the Turkish tribes of Central Asia (previously they had been Ash'ari and followers of the Shafi'i school, it was only later on migration into Anatolia that they became Hanafis and followers of the Maturidi creed). One of the tribes, the Seljuk Turks, migrated to Turkey, where later the Ottoman Empire was established. Their preferred school of law achieved a new prominence throughout their whole empire although it continued to be followed almost exclusively by followers of the Hanafi school while followers of the Shafi and Maliki schools within the empire followed the Ash'ari school. Thus, wherever can be found Hanafi followers, there can be found the Maturidi creed.

* Maturidis argue that the knowledge of God's existence can be derived through pure reason.

Sunni view of hadith

The ''Qur'an'' as it exists today in book form was compiled by Muhammad's companions (Sahaba) in approximately 650 CE, and is accepted by all Muslim denominations. However, there were many matters of belief and daily life that were not directly prescribed in the Qur'an, but were actions that were observed by Muhammad and the early Muslim community. Later generations sought out oral 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''. 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.

Most Sunni Muslims accept the ''hadith'' collections of Bukhari and Muslim as the most authentic (''sahih,'' or correct), and while accepting all hadiths verified as authentic, grant a slightly lesser status to the collections of other recorders. There are, however, four other collections of ''hadith'' that are also held in particular reverence by Sunni Muslims, making a total of six:

Sahih al-Bukhari

Sahih Muslim

Sunan an-Nasa'ii

Sunan Abu Dawud

Sunan at-Tirmidhi

Sunan ibn Majah

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:

Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq

Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Mustadrak of Al Haakim

Muwatta of Imam Malik

Sahih Ibn Hibbaan

Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah

See also

Islamic schools and branches

Sunni view of the Sahaba

Shia Islam

Notes

Further reading

Branon Wheeler, Applying the Canon in Islam: The Authorization and Maintenance of Interpretive Reasoning in Ḥanafī Scholarship, SUNY Press, 1996

External links

Books Related of Ahle Sunnat Wa Jamat Aqaid

Books relating to belief of ahl as-Sunnat

Ahl as-sunnat belief

Translation and Detailed Commentary on Quran

SunniPath - Study Islam Online

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Name	Sid Roth
Birthname	Sidney Roth
Birth date	May 30, 1936
Birth place	Rochester, New York, U.S.
Occupation	radio show host, television show host, bible scholar, author
Yearsactive	1972 - present
Religion	Messianic Jewish }}

name	Sid Roth
birthname	Sidney Roth
birth date	May 30, 1936
birth place	Rochester, New York, U.S.
church	Messianic Jewish
title	Host, ''It's Supernatural'' TV program Host, ''Messianic Vision'' radio program }}

Sid Roth (born May 30, 1936, in Rochester, New York) is a television and radio religious show host, author, Bible teacher, and scholar. His religion is Messianic Judaism, considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity.

Career

Roth serves as host of ''Messianic Vision'', a daily radio show broadcast on various radio stations across the United States, including KLNG (Omaha, Nebraska), KLTT (Denver), KCNW (Kansas City), KNOF (St. Paul, Minnesota), and KXEG (Phoenix). He is a former account executive for Merrill Lynch who left Judaism in 1972. Roth claimed that he was set free from demonic oppression through a supernatural encounter with Jesus. Roth developed a theology which he calls "One new man", claiming that God never intended to start a new religion, but intends the convergence of Jew and Gentile into one stream called the “One New Man.”

Roth also has a weekly national TV program, called ''"It's Supernatural"'', featuring guests who claim divine visitations, demonic possession, deliverance, and various miracles. The program is transmitted by Daystar Television Network, Trinity Broadcasting Network, VisionTV (Canada), World Harvest Television, and other channels. The show frequently cuts to advertising for what DVD the guest happens to be selling with the discussion always geared towards why viewers should buy it, though the show always insists that the viewers may have the DVD for a donation, not a payment, and is usually in the vicinity of $39.99. Roth has written several books, including ''They Thought for Themselves'' and his autobiography, ''There Must Be Something More!''.

References

Category:1936 births Category:Messianic Jews Category:Living people Category:American radio personalities Category:American television personalities Category:People from Rochester, New York Category:American writers Category:American Christians