The Diptych
Islam and Sunni Islam
Islam stands as a Worldview; Sunni Islam stands as a Branch. This comparison renders under slot registry version 1.0, in the registry's fixed order. The Diptych displays; it does not score, rank, or adjudicate.
Coverage: Islam has 6 sections documented and 10 partial; its evaluative coverage is pending. Sunni Islam has 6 sections documented and 2 partial; its evaluative coverage is pending.
1. In its own words
The entity stated in its own words: its self-description, before any external description.
Islam
Islam began with the Prophet Muhammad's preaching in Mecca and Medina and divided within a generation over the succession to his leadership. That first division, and the schools of law and theology that grew from it, structure the tradition to this day, and this tree models them as first-class entities rather than as notes under a single heading.
Source: The Qur'an.
Confidence: high
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the tradition of roughly nine in ten of the world's Muslims. It carries no single head and no central magisterium; its unity stands in the shared scripture, the Prophet's example, the four schools of law, and the theological schools that defended them.
Source: The Qur'an; the Hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Confidence: high
2. Scale and spread
How large the entity is and where it is found: adherents, bodies, and geography, with sources.
Islam
Islam counts about 1.9 billion adherents, roughly a quarter of the world's people, and is the majority faith in 49 countries. The largest national population is Indonesia's; the Asia-Pacific region holds the most Muslims, ahead of the Middle East and North Africa.
The range inside, as documented:
- Sunni Islam: The majority tradition of Islam, which holds that leadership after the Prophet passed by the community's choice and consensus, and orders its life by the Qur'an, the Sunna, and the schools of law.
- Shia Islam: The tradition that holds leadership of the community belonged by designation to Ali and the Prophet's household, carried by the doctrine of the Imamate.
- Ibadi Islam: The tradition descended from the moderate wing of the first secession, which elects its imam on merit and survives today chiefly in Oman.
Source: Pew Research Center, 'The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050' (2015).
Confidence: high
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam counts roughly 1.6 billion adherents, about 87 to 90 percent of all Muslims, and is the majority form of Islam in most Muslim-majority countries, from Indonesia and South Asia to North Africa and Turkey.
The range inside, as documented:
- Ash'ari Theology: The theological school of al-Ash'ari, which defends the Sunna with reason: the Qur'an uncreated, God's attributes affirmed without asking how, and human acts created by God and acquired by persons.
- Sufism: The mystical path of Islam: remembrance of God, the master-disciple chain, and the orders that carry it, crossing the Sunni and Shia branches alike.
- Maturidi Theology: The theological school of al-Maturidi of Samarkand, paired with Hanafi law, which gives reason a larger place in knowing good and evil than its Ash'ari sister school.
- Mu'tazila Theology: The rationalist school that held God's unity and justice as its two principles, read the Qur'an's anthropomorphisms allegorically, and held the Qur'an created; the school the Ash'ari synthesis answered.
Source: Pew Research Center, 'Mapping the Global Muslim Population' (2009).
Confidence: high
3. Historical timeline
The entity's timeline: the events of its history, drawn from the History of Worldviews timelines.
Islam
- The muslim timeline
- Birth of Muhammad
- First revelation
- Hijra to Medina
- Battle of Badr
- Conquest of Mecca
- Death of Muhammad
Source: Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Confidence: high
Sunni Islam
- The muslim timeline
- Birth of Muhammad
- First revelation
- Hijra to Medina
- Battle of Badr
- Conquest of Mecca
- Death of Muhammad
Source: Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Confidence: high
4. Sources of authority
What the entity treats as authoritative: its scriptures, creeds, councils, and reference works.
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
5. Ultimate reality
What the entity holds to be ultimately real.
Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Ahmadiyya: The movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah, a claim the wider Muslim world does not accept.
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
6. The human person
What the entity holds a human person to be: nature, dignity, and destiny.
Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Ahmadiyya: The movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah, a claim the wider Muslim world does not accept.
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
7. Problem and solution
The entity's account of what is wrong and how it is set right.
Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Ahmadiyya: The movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah, a claim the wider Muslim world does not accept.
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
8. Ethics and hard cases
The entity's moral teaching and how it meets the hard cases.
Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Ahmadiyya: The movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah, a claim the wider Muslim world does not accept.
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
9. Practice and devotion
How the entity is practiced: worship, prayer, devotion, and the calendar.
Islam
Partial coverage
- Ṣalāh; The Five Daily Prayers
- Jumuʿah; The Friday Prayer
- Dhikr; The Remembrance of God
- The Hajj
- The Ramadan Fast
- Salah, the Daily Prayers
- Shahada
- Al-Fatiha
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
10. Community and governance
How the entity is organized: its bodies, offices, and the directory of its communities.
Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Sunni Islam: The majority tradition of Islam, which holds that leadership after the Prophet passed by the community's choice and consensus, and orders its life by the Qur'an, the Sunna, and the schools of law.
- Ibadi Islam: The tradition descended from the moderate wing of the first secession, which elects its imam on merit and survives today chiefly in Oman.
- Ahmadiyya: The movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah, a claim the wider Muslim world does not accept.
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Ash'ari Theology: The theological school of al-Ash'ari, which defends the Sunna with reason: the Qur'an uncreated, God's attributes affirmed without asking how, and human acts created by God and acquired by persons.
- Hanafi School: The school of Abu Hanifa, the oldest of the four Sunni schools of law and the most widely followed, strong in Turkey, Central and South Asia, and Egypt..
- Hanbali School: The school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the most text-bound of the four.
- Maliki School: The school of Malik ibn Anas, built on the practice of Medina.
- Shafi'i School: The school of al-Shafi'i, whose Risala founded the theory of Islamic law.
- Sufism: The mystical path of Islam: remembrance of God, the master-disciple chain, and the orders that carry it, crossing the Sunni and Shia branches alike.
- Maturidi Theology: The theological school of al-Maturidi of Samarkand, paired with Hanafi law, which gives reason a larger place in knowing good and evil than its Ash'ari sister school.
- Mu'tazila Theology: The rationalist school that held God's unity and justice as its two principles, read the Qur'an's anthropomorphisms allegorically, and held the Qur'an created; the school the Ash'ari synthesis answered.
Confidence: moderate
11. Art and material culture
The entity's art and material culture, drawn from the Religious Art section.
Islam
Partial coverage
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
12. Science and technology posture
The entity's posture toward science and technology.
Islam
Partial coverage
- Islamic Golden Age
- Contemporary
- Islamic
- The telescope
- Evolution by natural selection
- Vaccination
- Gene editing and the germline
- Climate and creation
Confidence: moderate
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
13. Internal diversity
The range inside the entity: its branches, schools, and movements, each in its own terms.
Islam
The range inside, as documented:
- Sunni Islam: The majority tradition of Islam, which holds that leadership after the Prophet passed by the community's choice and consensus, and orders its life by the Qur'an, the Sunna, and the schools of law.
- Shia Islam: The tradition that holds leadership of the community belonged by designation to Ali and the Prophet's household, carried by the doctrine of the Imamate.
Confidence: high
Sunni Islam
- Ash'ari Theology
- Hanafi School
- Hanbali School
- Maliki School
- Shafi'i School
- Sufism
- Maturidi Theology
- Mu'tazila Theology
Confidence: high
14. Contributions
What the entity has contributed, stated with sources.
Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
15. Internal critique
The critique raised from within the entity's own tradition, in its strongest form, with its reply.
Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
16. External critique and reply
The critique raised from outside, in its strongest form, with the strongest available reply.
Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
17. Contested history
The points of the entity's history that are contested, and by whom.
Islam
Partial coverage
The range inside, as documented:
- Sunni Islam: The majority tradition of Islam, which holds that leadership after the Prophet passed by the community's choice and consensus, and orders its life by the Qur'an, the Sunna, and the schools of law.
- Shia Islam: The tradition that holds leadership of the community belonged by designation to Ali and the Prophet's household, carried by the doctrine of the Imamate.
- Ibadi Islam: The tradition descended from the moderate wing of the first secession, which elects its imam on merit and survives today chiefly in Oman.
Confidence: moderate
18. What each says about the other
What each of the two entities says about the other. This slot renders only when both directions stand populated and reviewed.
Islam
Not yet documented
This slot renders only when both directions stand populated and reviewed.
Sunni Islam
Not yet documented
This slot renders only when both directions stand populated and reviewed.
19. What this comparison cannot settle
This comparison sets two self-descriptions side by side; it does not decide between them. A tradition is a living range of positions, and each panel renders the range this site has documented, which is not the whole of the tradition. Where a cell is marked not yet documented, the gap belongs to this site's documentation, not to the tradition. Questions of truth between the panels turn on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, what authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. The instrument does not score, rank, or adjudicate.
Sections this comparison cannot yet speak to, because the documentation is incomplete: Sources of authority, Ultimate reality, The human person, Problem and solution, Ethics and hard cases, Practice and devotion, Art and material culture, Science and technology posture, Contributions, Internal critique, External critique and reply, What each says about the other.
On the questions where these two panels disagree, the outcome turns on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, which authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. This instrument settles none of those.
20. Sources
Islam
- The Qur'an.
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization (2003).
Sunni Islam
- The Qur'an; the Hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
- Jonathan A. C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (2018).
Citations resolve to the site's References register as that rebuild lands; exports of this comparison stand under the tools above.
| Section | Islam | Sunni Islam |
|---|---|---|
| In its own words | populated: Islam began with the Prophet Muhammad's preaching in Mecca and Medina and divided within a generation over the succession to his leadership. That first division, and the schools of law and theology that grew from it, structure the tradition to this day, and this tree models them as first-class entities rather than as notes under a single heading. | populated: Sunni Islam is the tradition of roughly nine in ten of the world's Muslims. It carries no single head and no central magisterium; its unity stands in the shared scripture, the Prophet's example, the four schools of law, and the theological schools that defended them. |
| Scale and spread | populated: Islam counts about 1.9 billion adherents, roughly a quarter of the world's people, and is the majority faith in 49 countries. The largest national population is Indonesia's; the Asia-Pacific region holds the most Muslims, ahead of the Middle East and North Africa. | populated: Sunni Islam counts roughly 1.6 billion adherents, about 87 to 90 percent of all Muslims, and is the majority form of Islam in most Muslim-majority countries, from Indonesia and South Asia to North Africa and Turkey. |
| Historical timeline | populated | populated |
| Sources of authority | partial | not documented |
| Ultimate reality | partial | not documented |
| The human person | partial | not documented |
| Problem and solution | partial | not documented |
| Ethics and hard cases | partial | not documented |
| Practice and devotion | partial | not documented |
| Community and governance | partial | partial |
| Art and material culture | partial | not documented |
| Science and technology posture | partial | not documented |
| Internal diversity | populated | populated |
| Contributions | not documented | not documented |
| Internal critique | not documented | not documented |
| External critique and reply | not documented | not documented |
| Contested history | partial | partial |
| What each says about the other | not documented | not documented |
| What this comparison cannot settle | populated: This comparison sets two self-descriptions side by side; it does not decide between them. A tradition is a living range of positions, and each panel renders the range this site has documented, which is not the whole of the tradition. Where a cell is marked not yet documented, the gap belongs to this site's documentation, not to the tradition. Questions of truth between the panels turn on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, what authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. The instrument does not score, rank, or adjudicate. | populated: This comparison sets two self-descriptions side by side; it does not decide between them. A tradition is a living range of positions, and each panel renders the range this site has documented, which is not the whole of the tradition. Where a cell is marked not yet documented, the gap belongs to this site's documentation, not to the tradition. Questions of truth between the panels turn on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, what authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. The instrument does not score, rank, or adjudicate. |
| Sources | populated | populated |