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SUNNI ISLAM
Sunni
Muslims are the largest sect in Islam. They are also referred to as
Ahl-ul-Sunnah wal Jama'ah (people of the example of the holy Prophet
(S) and the community) which implies that they are the majority or
Ahl-ul-Sunna (people of the example of the Prophet) for short. The
word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah which means the words and
actions of the holy Prophet of Islam (S). They represent
the branch of Islam that accepted the
caliphate of Abu Bakr due to him being chosen by majority, thus
elections or Shurah in the caliphate being the first distinguishing
factor in Sunni Islam. Most Sunni jurists define themselves as those
Muslims who are rooted in one of the four orthodox schools of Sunni
law (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali). Generally, all Sunnis
uphold the Shahadah (professing of faith), Salat (five daily
prayers), Zakah (Alms), Sawm (fasting in the month of Ramadan) and
Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) to be the five pillars of religion. And
also alongside the belief in one God (Tawhid), the prophets and
messengers sent by God (Nubuwwah) Divine Books, Angels, Day of
Judgment and Destiny as articles of the faith.
SUNNI SCHOOLS OF LAW (MADHHAB)
The four
major Sunni schools of law are as follows and their respective
founders:
Hanafi school of law.
Abu
Hanifa (d. 767) was the founder of the Hanafi school and the
followers of this school are known as Hanafites or Hanafis. He was
born in Iraq. His school is considered to have more reason and logic
than the other schools. Muslims of India and Turkey follow this
school.
Maliki school of law.
Malik
Ibn Anas (d. 795) developed his idea in Medina, where he apparently
knew one of the last surviving companions of the holy Prophet (S).
His doctrine is recorded in the Muwatta which has been adopted by
most Muslims of Africa except in lower Egypt, Zanzibar and South
Africa. The Maliki legal school is the branch of Sunni that
dominates in nearly all of Africa, except Egypt, the horn area and
the East coast countries. The followers of this school are known to
be Malikis.
Shafi'i school of law.
Shafi'i
school was founded by Muhammad Ibn Idris al-Shafi'i. He died in 820
and was considered a moderate in most areas. He taught in Iraq and
then in Egypt. Present Muslims in Indonesia, lower Egypt, Malaysia
and Yemen follow this school and are known as Shafi'ites. He placed
great emphasis on the Sunnah of the Prophet (S), as embodied in
Hadith, as a source of Shari'ah.
Hanbali school of law.
Ahmad
Ibn Hanbal (d. 855) was born in Baghdad. He learnt extensively from
Al-Shafi'i. Despite persecution, he held to the doctrine that the
Qur'an was uncreated. Modern Wahabis of Saudi Arabia apparently
claim to follow this school and their followers are known as
Hanbalites. These four schools are somewhat different from each
other, but Sunni Muslims generally consider them all equally valid.
There are other Sunni schools of law, although many are followed by
only small number of people and are relatively unknown due to the
popularity of the four major schools of law; 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
madhhab or school of thought 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'ah, there has been different approaches in the methodology per
se. A madhhab is not to be confused with a religious sect. There may
be scholars representing all four madhhabs living in larger Muslim
communities, and it is up those who consult them to decide which
school they prefer. Many Sunnis advocate that a Muslim should choose
a single madhhab and follow it in all matters. However, rulings from
another madhhab are considered acceptable as dispensation in
exceptional circumstances. Some Sunnis however do not follow any
madhhab, indeed some Salafis reject strict adherence to any
particular school of thought, preferring to use the Qur'an and the Sunnah alone as the
primary source of Islamic law.
SUNNI THEOLOGICAL TRADITIONS (KALAM)
Some
Islamic scholars faced questions that they felt were not
specifically answered in the Qur'an, especially questions with
regard to philosophical conundrums like the nature of God, the
possibility of human freewill 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 Prophetic
traditions (Sunnah).
Ash'ari
founded by Abu'l-Hasan Ash'ari
(873-935). The dominant theology and the tradition embraced by Al-Ghazali,
a Muslim jurist and mystic whom many Sunnis follow and revere.
Ash'ariyyah theology stresses divine revelation over human reason.
Ethics, they say, cannot be derived from human reason. God's
commands, as revealed in the Qur'an and the practice of the holy
Prophet (S) and his companions (the Sunnah, as recorded in the
traditions or hadith) are the source of all morality. Regarding the
nature of God and the divine attributes, the Ash'aris rejected the
Mu'tazilites position that all Qur'anic references to God as having
physical attributes (that is body) were metaphorical. Ash'aris
insisted that these attributes were TRUE since the Qur'an could not
be in error, but that they were not to be understood as implying a
crude anthropomorphism. Ash'aris tend to stress divine omnipotence
over human free will. They believe that the Qur'an is eternal and
uncreated.
Maturidiyyah, founded
by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 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 Hanafi 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
the followers of the Shafi'fi, Maliki and Hanbali schools followed
the Ash'ari school. Thus, wherever can be found Hanafi followers,
there can be found the Maturidi creed. Matiridiyyah argue that
knowledge of God's existence can be derived through reason.
Athariyyah (meaning
Textualist) or Hanbal. No specific founder, but Imam Ahmad Ibn
Hanbal played a key historic role in keeping this school alive. This
school differs with Ash'ariyyah in understanding the names and
attributes of God, but rather affirms all of God's names and
attributes as they are found in the Qur'an and Sunnah, with the
disclaimer that the HOW of the attributes is not known. They say
that God is as He described Himself IN A WAY BEFITTING OF HIS
MAJESTY. Thus, regarding verses where God is described as having
a hand (Yad) or face (Wajh), the
textualists say that God is exactly as He described Himself in a way
befitting of His majesty, without inquiring as to HOW of
these attributes. The Ash'ariyyah still believe that God does not
resemble His creation in any way, as this is also found in the
texts. Thus, in the Ash'ari creed, it is still prohibited to imagine
an image of God in any way. The Athariyyah say that the yad
(hand) of God is unlike any other yad, since God does not
resemble His creation in any way, and prohibit imagining what God
would be like, even though this attribute of a yad is still
affirmed.
This is
the view of Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal who said: "The hadiths
regarding the attributes of Allah should be left as they are. We
affirm them, and we do not make any similitude for them. This is
what has been agreed upon by the scholars".
Mu'tazilah was the school established in Iraq by
Wasil Bin 'Ata (699-749), a student of the distinguished scholar
Hasan Al-Basri (642-728). It developed and was later considered as
developing into heresy by Sunnis
SUNNI VIEW OF HADITH
The
Qur'an as we have it today was compiled by Sahabas in approximately
650 A.D., and is accepted by all Muslims denominations. However,
there were many matters of belief and daily life that were not
directly prescribed in the Qur'an, but simply the practice of the
community. Later generations sought out oral traditions regarding
the early history of Islam, and the practice of the holy Prophet (S)
and his first followers, and wrote them down so that they might be
preserved. These recorded oral traditions are called hadith.
Muslim scholars sifted through the hadith and evaluated the chain of
narration of each tradition, scrutinizing the trustworthiness of the
narrators and judging the strength of each hadith accordingly. Most
Sunni accept the hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim as the
most authentic (sahih or correct) and grant a lesser status to the
other collections of other recorders. These two books (Bukhari and
Muslim) are claimed to be strict in their accuracy and are,
therefore, recognized by all Sunni Muslims. There are, however, six
collections of hadith that are held in particular reverence by Sunni
Muslims namely: Sahih-al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawud,
Sunan An-Nasa'i, Sunan at-Tirmidhi and Sunan Ibn Majah. There are
also other collections of hadith which, although less well-known,
still contain many authentic hadith and are frequently used by
specialists. Examples of these collections include Muwatta of Imam
Malik, Musnad of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Sahih Ibn Khuzaimah, Sahih Ibn
Hibban, Mustadrak of Al-Hakim, Musnaf of Abd al-Razzaq, etc.
Source of
reference and for further reading: Kitab Qawa'id al-Aqa'id, Ihya 'ulum
al-din by Imam Ghazali (d.505A.H./1111)Al-Ibanah 'an usul al-diyanat
(theological treatise) by Abu'l Hasan al-Ashari (d.324 A.H./935 C.E
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