Editing Sunni Islam (section)

==History==
[[File:Kaaba daylight.png|thumb|[[Masjid al-Haram]], the home of the [[Kaaba]], in [[Mecca]] is the largest and most important [[mosque]] in the world.]]
One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammad's death, and that [[Sufism]] and [[Shi'ism]] developed out of Sunni Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Aaron |title=Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam |page=115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95jSBFFaDkUC&pg=PA115 |quote=It is a mistake to assume, as is frequently done, that Sunni Islam emerged as normative from the chaotic period following Muhammad's death and that the other two movements simply developed out of it. This assumption is based in... the taking of later and often highly ideological sources as accurate historical portrayals – and in part on the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims throughout the world follows now what emerged as Sunni Islam in the early period. |isbn=978-0231531924 |date=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press }}</ref> This perception is partly due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works, and also because the vast majority of the population is Sunni. Both Sunnism and Shiism are the end products of several centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Aaron |title=Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95jSBFFaDkUC&pg=PA115 |quote=Each of these sectarian movements... used the other to define itself more clearly and in the process to articulate its doctrinal contents and rituals. |isbn=978-0231531924 |date=2013|publisher=Columbia University Press }}</ref>

The first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the [[Rashidun|Rāshidun]] or "Rightly-Guided Ones". Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned [[Abu Bakr]] as the first, [[Umar]] as the second, [[Uthman]] as the third, and [[Ali]] as the fourth.<ref>{{cite web |author=Tore Kjeilen |url=http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ali.htm |title=Lexic Orient.com |access-date=2011-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605031233/http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ali.htm |archive-date=2011-06-05 |url-status=live }}</ref> Sunnis recognised different rulers as the [[caliph]], though they did not include anyone in the list of the rightly guided ones or ''Rāshidun'' after the murder of Ali, until the caliphate was constitutionally abolished in [[Turkey]] on 3 March 1924.

===Transition of caliphate into dynastic monarchy of Banu Umayya===
The seeds of metamorphosis of caliphate into kingship were sown, as the second caliph Umar had feared, as early as the regime of the third caliph Uthman, who appointed many of his kinsmen from his clan [[Banu Umayya]], including [[Marwan I|Marwān]] and [[Al-Walid ibn Uqba|Walid bin Uqba]] on important government positions, becoming the main cause of turmoil resulting in his murder and the ensuing infighting during Ali's time and rebellion by [[Muawiyah I|Muāwiya]], another of Uthman's kinsman. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of firm dynastic rule of [[Banu Umayya]] after [[Husayn ibn Ali|Husain]], the younger son of Ali from [[Fatima bint Muhammad|Fātima]],  was killed at the [[Battle of Karbala|Battle of Karbalā]]. The rise to power of Banu Umayya, the Meccan tribe of elites who had vehemently opposed Muhammad under the leadership of [[Abu Sufyan ibn Harb|Abu Sufyān]], Muāwiya's father, right up to the [[conquest of Mecca]] by Muhammad, as his successors with the accession of Uthman to caliphate, replaced the egalitarian society formed as a result of Muhammad's revolution to a society stratified between haves and have-nots as a result of [[nepotism]], and in the words of El-Hibri through "the use of religious charity revenues (''[[zakat|zakāt]]'') to subsidise family interests, which Uthman justified as '''al-sila''<nowiki />' (pious filial support)".<ref>{{cite book |last=El-Hibri |first=Tayeb |date=October 22, 2010 |title=Parable and Politics in Early Islamic History:The Rashidun Caliphs |url=https://www.amazon.com/Parable-Politics-Early-Islamic-History-ebook/dp/B0060LSOCE/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me= |location=New York Chichester West Sussex |publisher=A Columbia University Press |page=526 (kindle) |isbn=978-0231521659}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Maududi |first=Abul A'la |date=July 2000 |title=Khilafat o Malookiat |trans-title=Caliphate and Monarchistic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lDfeCQzP1cYC&pg=PT1 |language=ur |location=Lahore, Pakistan |publisher=Adara Tarjuman-ul-Quran (Private) Ltd, Urdu Bazar, Lahore, Pakistan |pages=105–153}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hazleton |first=Lesley |date=4 September 2009 |title=After the Prophet:The Epic Story of Shia-Sunni Split in Islam |url=https://archive.org/details/afterprophetepic0000hazl/page/193 |location=New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland |publisher=Anchor (Doubleday) |page=[https://archive.org/details/afterprophetepic0000hazl/page/193 193 (kindle)] |isbn=978-0385523936 }}</ref> Ali, during his rather brief regime after Uthman maintained austere life style and tried hard to bring back the egalitarian system and supremacy of law over the ruler idealised in Muhammad's message, but faced continued opposition, and wars one after another by [[Aisha]]-[[Talhah#Battle of the Camel and Death|Talhah]]-[[Zubayr ibn al-Awwam|Zubair]], by Muāwiya and finally by the [[Kharjites|Khārjites]]. After he was murdered, his followers immediately elected [[Hasan ibn Ali]] his elder son from Fātima to succeed him. Hasan shortly afterward signed a treaty with [[Muāwiya]] relinquishing power in favour of the latter, with a condition inter alia, that one of the two who will outlive the other will be the caliph, and that this caliph will not appoint a successor but will leave the matter of selection of the caliph to the public. Subsequently, Hasan was poisoned to death and Muawiya enjoyed unchallenged power. Dishonouring his treaty with Hasan, he nominated his son [[Yazid I|Yazid]] to succeed him. Upon Muāwiya's death, [[Yazid]] asked Husain, the younger brother of Hasan, Ali's son and Muhammad's grandson, to give his allegiance to Yazid, which he plainly refused. His caravan was cordoned by Yazid's army at Karbalā and he was killed with all his male companions – total 72 people, in a day long [[Battle of Karbala|battle]] after which Yazid established himself as a sovereign, though strong public uprising erupted after his death against his dynasty to avenge the massacre of Karbalā, but [[Banu Umayya]] were able to quickly suppress them all and ruled the Muslim world, till they were finally overthrown by [[Banu Abbas|Banu Abbās]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Irving |first=Washington |date=1859 |title=Lives of the Successors of Mahomet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWAOAAAAQAAJ |location=Sunnyside |publisher=W. Clowes |pages=163–218 |isbn=978-1273126963}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Nadvi |first=Syed Abul Hasan Ali |title=Al-Murtaza |trans-title=The Murtaza |pages=218–382 |language=ur |location=Karachi Pakistan |publisher=Majlis-e-Nashriyat-e-Islam}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Maududi |first=Abul A'la |date=July 2000 |title=Khilafat o Malookiat |trans-title=Caliphate and Monarchistic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lDfeCQzP1cYC&pg=PT1 |language=ur |location=Lahore, Pakistan |publisher=Adara Tarjuman-ul-Quran (Private) Ltd, Urdu Bazar, Lahore, Pakistan |page=90}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Jafri |first=Syed Husain Mohammad |date=976 |title=The Origins and Early Development of Shi'a Islam (Millennium (Series)) (The Millennium (Series).) |location=Karachi |publisher=Oxford University Press (First Published By Longman Group Ltd and Librairie du Liban 1979) |pages=108–109 |isbn=978-0195793871}}</ref>

=== Caliphate and the dynastic monarchy of Banu Abbās ===
The rule of and "caliphate" of Banu Umayya came to an end at the hands of Banu Abbās a branch of Banu Hāshim, the tribe of Muhammad, only to usher another dynastic monarchy styled as caliphate from 750 CE. This period is seen formative in Sunni Islam as the founders of the four schools viz, [[Abu Hanifa]], [[Malik ibn Anas]], [[Shafi'i|Shāfi'i]] and [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal|Ahmad bin Hanbal]] all practised during this time, so also did [[Jafar al Sadiq|Jafar al Sādiq]] who elaborated the doctrine of [[imamate|imāmate]], the basis for the Shi'a religious thought. There was no clearly accepted formula for determining succession in the Abbasid caliphate. Two or three sons or other relatives of the dying caliph emerged as candidates to the throne, each supported by his own party of supporters. A trial of strength ensued and the most powerful party won and expected favours of the caliph they supported once he ascended the throne. The caliphate of this dynasty ended with the death of the Caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 CE, when the period of Turkish domination began.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh |date=2016 |title=The Early Abbasid Caliphate: A Political History (Routledge Revivals) 1st Edition |location=Oxon |publisher=Routledge |pages=15–16 |isbn=978-1138953215}}</ref>

===Sunni Islam in the contemporary era===
[[File:Grand Istiqlal Mosque.jpg|thumb|[[Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta|Istiqlal Mosque]] in [[Jakarta]], Indonesia.]]
The fall, at the end of [[World War I]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]], the biggest Sunni empire for six centuries, brought the caliphate to an end. This resulted in Sunni protests in far off places including the [[Khilafat Movement]] in India, which was later on upon gaining independence from Britain divided into Sunni dominated [[Pakistan]] and secular [[India]]. Pakistan, the most populous Sunni state at its dawn, was later [[Bangladesh Independence War|partitioned]] into Pakistan and [[Bangladesh]]. The [[Abolition of the Caliphate|demise of Ottoman caliphate]] also resulted in the emergence of [[Saudi Arabia]], a dynastic absolute monarchy that championed the reformist doctrines of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]]; the eponym of the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi movement]].<ref>Gail Minault, ''The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India'' (1982).</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rogan |first=Eugene |date=26 February 2015 |title=The Fall of the Ottomans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tP-4BAAAQBAJ |location=UK |publisher=Penguin  |isbn=978-0141968704 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Contemporary Religions: A World Guide |author=Ian Harris |author2=Stuart Mews |author3=Paul Morris |author4=John Shepherd |year=1992 |isbn=978-0582086951 |page=369|publisher=Longman }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |ref=Bowen |title=The History of Saudi Arabia |author=Bowen, Wayne H. |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0313340123}}</ref> This was followed by a considerable rise in the influence of the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]], ''[[Salafi movement|Salafiyya]]'', [[Islamism|Islamist]] and [[Jihadism|Jihadist]] movements that revived the doctrines of the Hanbali theologian [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Taqi Al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah]] (1263–1328 C.E/ 661–728 A.H), a fervent advocate of the traditions of the Sunni Imam [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]]. The expediencies of [[Cold War]] resulted in the radicalisation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who fought the [[communist]] regime backed by [[USSR]] forces in Afghanistan giving birth to the [[Taliban|Taliban movement]]. After the fall of communist regime in Afghanistan and the ensuing [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|civil war]], Taliban wrestled power from the various [[Afghan mujahideen|Mujahidin factions]] in [[Afghanistan]] and formed a government under the leadership of [[Mullah Omar|Mohammed Omar]], who was addressed as the [[Emir]] of the faithful, an honorific way of addressing the caliph. The Taliban regime was recognised by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia till after [[9/11]], perpetrated by [[Osama bin Laden]] – a Saudi national by birth and harboured by the Taliban – took place, resulting in a [[war on terror]] launched against the Taliban.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hitti |first=Philip K. |title=History of The Arabs |year=1970 |publisher=Macmillan Education |pages=689–741 |isbn=978-0333098714 |edition=Tenth }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kepel |first1=Gilles |title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam |date=2003 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLvTNk75hUoC&pg=PA318 |isbn=978-1845112578}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiktorowicz |first=Quintan |year=2005 |title=A Genealogy of Radical Islam |journal=Studies in Conflict & Terrorism |volume=28 |issue=2 |page=83 |doi=10.1080/10576100590905057 |s2cid=55948737 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The sequence of events of the 20th century has led to resentment in some quarters of the Sunni community due to the loss of pre-eminence in several previously Sunni-dominated regions such as the [[Levant]], [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Balkans]], the [[North Caucasus]] and the [[Indian sub continent]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Minahan |first1=James |title=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations |date=2002 |page=547}}</ref> The latest attempt by a radical wing of [[Salafi jihadism|Salafi-Jihadists]] to re-establish a Sunni caliphate was seen in the emergence of the militant group [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIL]], whose leader [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]] is known among his followers as caliph and ''Amir-al-mu'mineen'', "The Commander of the Faithful".<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Profile: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27801676 |work=BBC News |date=15 May 2015 }}</ref> Jihadism is opposed from within the Muslim community (known as the ''[[ummah]]'' in Arabic) in all quarters of the world as evidenced by turnout of almost 2% of the Muslim population in London protesting against ISIL.<ref>{{cite news |last=Da Silva |first=Chantel |date=16 June 2017 |title=Cologne rally: As many as 10,000 Muslims to protest Islamic extremism |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cologne-rally-muslims-protest-islamic-extremism-germany-terror-attacks-uk-nichtmituns-not-with-us-a7792876.html |work=Independent |location=Cologne |access-date=5 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063638/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cologne-rally-muslims-protest-islamic-extremism-germany-terror-attacks-uk-nichtmituns-not-with-us-a7792876.html |archive-date=2018-01-06 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the puritan approach of [[Ibn Kathir]], [[Muhammad Rashid Rida]], etc. many contemporary ''[[Tafsir]]'' (exegetic treatises) downplay the earlier significance of [[Isra'iliyyat|Biblical material]] (''Isrā'iliyyāt''). Half of the Arab commentaries reject ''Isrā'iliyyāt'' in general, while Turkish tafsir usually partly allow referring to Biblical material. Nevertheless, most non-Arabic commentators regard them as useless or not applicable.<ref name="Pink_pp_114-116">Johanna Pink (2010). ''Sunnitischer Tafsīr in der modernen islamischen Welt: Akademische Traditionen, Popularisierung und nationalstaatliche Interessen''. Brill, {{ISBN|978-9004185920}}, pp. 114–116.</ref> A direct reference to the [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict]] could not be found. It remains unclear whether the refusal of ''Isrā'iliyyāt'' is motivated by political discourse or by traditionalist thought alone.<ref name="Pink_pp_114-116" /> The usage of ''tafsir'ilmi'' is another notable characteristic of modern Sunni tafsir. ''Tafsir'ilmi'' stands for alleged scientific miracles found in the Qur'an. In short, the idea is that the Qur'an contains knowledge about subjects an author of the 7th century could not possibly have. Such interpretations are popular among many commentators. Some scholars, such as the Commentators of [[Al-Azhar University]], reject this approach, arguing the Qur'an is a text for religious guidance, not for science and scientific theories that may be disproved later; thus ''tafsir'ilmi'' might lead to interpreting Qur'anic passages as falsehoods.<ref name="Pink_pp_120-121">Johanna Pink (2010). ''Sunnitischer Tafsīr in der modernen islamischen Welt: Akademische Traditionen, Popularisierung und nationalstaatliche Interessen''. Brill, {{ISBN|978-9004185920}}, pp. 120–121.</ref> Modern trends of Islamic interpretation are usually seen as adjusting to a modern audience and purifying Islam from alleged alterings, some of which are believed to be intentional corruptions brought into Islam to undermine and corrupt its message.<ref name="Pink_pp_114-116" />