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.
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.
Produced by Sunni-Shia Split
632 and after · The leadership of the community: election and consensus against designation and the Imamate.
Current status of that division: In dialogue.
Sub-branch / Family
Sub-branch / Family
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…
Sub-branch / Family
Hanbali School
The school of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the most text-bound of the four.
Sub-branch / Family
Maliki School
The school of Malik ibn Anas, built on the practice of Medina.
Sub-branch / Family
Shafi'i School
The school of al-Shafi'i, whose Risala founded the theory of Islamic law.
Denomination / School
Denomination / School
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…
Denomination / School
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…
Denomination / 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…
Movements
Movements cross branches; each one below also stands under the other branches it appears in.
Sunni Islam across the site
Sources
Primary
- The Qur'an; the Hadith collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Secondary
- Jonathan A. C. Brown, Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (2018).