Editing Sunni Islam (section)

==Adherents==
[[File:Islam by country.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Countries by percentage of population practicing Islam.<ref>Source for distribution is the CIA World Factbook, Shiite/Sunnite distribution collected from other sources. Shiites may be underrepresented in some countries where they do not appear in official statistics.</ref>
{{legend|#4a6600|'''Sunni'''}}
{{legend|#66004a|[[Shia Islam|Shias]]}}
{{legend|#04161b|[[Ibadi]]}}
]]

Sunnis believe the [[Sahabah|companions]] of [[Muhammad]] to be reliable transmitters of Islam, since God and Muhammad accepted their integrity. Medieval sources even prohibit cursing or vilifying them.<ref>Coeli Fitzpatrick Ph.D., Adam Hani Walker ''[[Muhammad]] in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God [2 volumes]'' ABC-CLIO, 2014 {{ISBN|978-1610691789}} pp. 106–107</ref> This belief is based upon prophetic traditions such as one narrated by [[Abdullah, son of Masud]], in which Muhammad said: "The best of the people are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them." Support for this view is also found in the [[Quran|Qur'an]], according to Sunnis.<ref>{{qref|9|100|b=y}}</ref> Therefore, [[Hadith|narratives]] of companions are also reliably taken into account for knowledge of the Islamic faith. Sunnis also believe that the companions were [[Mu'min|true believers]] since it was the companions who were given the task of [[History of the Quran#Collection of the Quran|compiling the Qur'an]].

Sunni Islam does not have a formal hierarchy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law (''[[sharia]]'') or Islamic theology (''[[Kalam|Kalām]]''). Both religious and political leadership are in principle open to all Muslims.<ref>Simone Chambers, Peter Nosco ''Dissent on Core Beliefs: Religious and Secular Perspectives'' Cambridge University Press, 2015 {{ISBN|978-1107101524}} p. 138</ref> According to the Islamic Center of [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]], [[South Carolina]], anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a well-educated person to lead the service, known as a Khateeb (one who speaks).<ref>{{cite web |author=Masjid al-Muslimiin  |url=http://almasjid.com/content/organizational_structure_islam |title=Organizational Structure Of Islam |publisher= The Islamic Center of Columbia ([[South Carolina]]) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001220204/http://www.almasjid.com/content/organizational_structure_islam |archive-date=2008-10-01 |access-date=7 December 2013}}</ref>

A study conducted by the ''[[Pew Research Center]]'' in 2010 and released January 2011<ref name="pewmuslim2">{{cite web |url=http://pewforum.org/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-middle-east.aspx |title=Region: Middle East-North Africa |work=The Future of the Global Muslim Population – Executive Summary |publisher=Pew Research Center |access-date=3 April 2013 |date=2011-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309233947/http://www.pewforum.org/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-middle-east.aspx |archive-date=2013-03-09 |url-status=live }}</ref> found that there are 1.62&nbsp;billion Muslims around the world, and it is estimated over 85–90% are Sunni.<ref name="Sunni">See:
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=NI1G_9j1AhcC&pg=PA51 Eastern Europe Russia and Central Asia] "some 80% of the worlds Muslims are Sunni"
* {{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html |title=Religions |work=The World Factbook |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) |quote=Sunni Islam accounts for over 75% of the world's Muslim population |access-date=25 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327071408/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html  |archive-date=27 March 2010  }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120317195234/http://www.galesburg.com/newsnow/x917961022/Sue-Hulett-U-S-should-focus-on-sanctions-against-Iran Sue Hellett;U.S. should focus on sanctions against Iran] "Sunnis make up over 75 percent of the world's Muslim population"
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=nVcmKRyID2EC&pg=PA15 Iran, Israel and the United States] "Sunni, accounts for over 75% of the Islamic population"
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=qHXbGOUuF9YC&pg=PA252 A dictionary of modern politics] "probably 80% of the worlds Muslims are Sunni"
* {{cite web |url=http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx |title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population |work=[[Pew Research Center]] |access-date=2010-08-24 |quote=Of the total Muslim population, 10–13% are Shia Muslims and 87–90% are Sunni Muslims. |date=October 7, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827061338/http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx |archive-date= Aug 27, 2010 }}
* {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6213248.stm |title=Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism |work=BBC News |quote=The great majority of the world's more than 1.5 billion Muslims are Sunnis - estimates suggest the figure is somewhere between 85% and 90%. |date=4 January 2016 |access-date=Jan 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109030040/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-16047709 |archive-date=Jan 9, 2024 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-09-24-muslim-tension_N.htm |title=Tension between Sunnis, Shiites emerging in USA |first1=Cathy Lynn |last1=Grossman |newspaper=USA Today |quote=Among the world's estimated 1.4 billion Muslims, about 85% are Sunni and about 15% are Shiite. |date=2007-09-24 |access-date=January 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210020455/http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-09-24-muslim-tension_N.htm |archive-date=2011-12-10 |url-status=live }}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=D5_N97bAiJ0C&pg=PA3 Sunni Islam: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide] "Sunni Islam is the dominant division of the global Muslim community, and throughout history it has made up a substantial majority (85 to 90 percent) of that community."</ref>

=== Three group doctrines ===
There is no agreement among Muslim scholars as to which dogmatic tendencies are to be assigned to Sunni tradition. Since the early modern period, is the idea that a total of three groups belong to the Sunnis: 1. those named after [[Al-Ash'ari|Abu l-Hasan al-Aschʿari]] (d. 935) [[Ash'ari|Ashʿarites]], 2. those named after [[Abu Mansur al-Maturidi]] (d. 941) named [[Maturidi]]tes and 3. a differently named third group, which is traditionalistic-oriented and rejects the rational discourse of [[Kalām]] advocated by the Maturidites and Ashʿarites. The Syrian scholar ʿAbd al-Baqi Ibn Faqih Fussa (d. 1661) calls this third traditionalist group the Hanbalites.<ref>[[Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad]] aṣ-Ṣaffārīnī ''Lawāmiʿ al-anwār al-bahīya wa-sawāṭiʿ al-asrār al-aṯarīya''. Muʾassasat al-Ḫāfiqain, Damaskus, 1982. Bd. I, S. 73. [https://archive.org/stream/lawme3/labsaa1#page/n71/mode/2up Digitalisat]</ref> The late Ottoman thinker {{ill|İsmail Hakkı İzmirli|tr|İsmail Hakkı İzmirli}} (d. 1946), who agreed to dividing Sunnis into these three groups, called the traditionalist group [[Salafism|Salafiyya]], but also used ''Athariyya'' as an alternative term. For the Maturidiyya he gives ''Nasafīyya'' as a possible alternative name.<ref name="IsmailHakki75">İsmail Hakkı İzmirli: ''Muḥaṣṣalü l-kelâm ve-l-ḥikme''. Istanbul 1336h (= 1917/18 n.Chr.). S. 75. [https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/eyayin/pdf/OGT01091.pdf#page=122 Digitalisat]</ref> Another used for the traditionalist-oriented group is "people of [[Hadith]]" (''ahl al-ḥadīṯ''). It is used, for example, in the final document of the [[2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny|Grozny Conference]]. Only those "people of the Hadith" are assigned to Sunnism who practice ''[[Tafwid|tafwīḍ]]'', i.e. who refrain from interpreting the ambiguous statements of the Quran.<ref name="Grosny">Abschlussdokument der Grosny-Konferenz von 2016, [https://chechnyaconference.org/material/chechnya-conference-statement-arabic.pdf arabisches Original] und [https://chechnyaconference.org/material/chechnya-conference-statement-german.pdf deutsche Übersetzung].</ref>

====Ash'ari====
{{Main|Ash'ari}}
Founded by [[Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari]] (873–935). This [[theological school]] of Aqeedah was embraced by many [[Muslim scholars]] and developed in parts of the Islamic world throughout history; [[al-Ghazali]] wrote on the creed discussing it and agreeing upon some of its principles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fethullahgulenforum.org/articles/13/fethullah-gulen-al-ghazzali-on-tolerance |title=Fethullah Gülen and Al-Ghazzali on Tolerance |author=J. B. Schlubach |access-date=2010-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304153120/http://fethullahgulenforum.org/articles/13/fethullah-gulen-al-ghazzali-on-tolerance |archive-date=2010-03-04 |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 ''Quran'' 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'tazili]] position that all Quranic references to God as having real attributes were metaphorical. The Ash'aris insisted that these attributes were as they "best befit His Majesty". The Arabic language is a wide language in which one word can have 15 different meanings, so the Ash'aris endeavor to find the meaning that best befits God and is not contradicted by the Quran. Therefore, when God states in the Quran, "He who does not resemble any of His creation", this clearly means that God cannot be attributed with body parts because He created body parts. Ash'aris tend to stress divine [[omnipotence]] over human free will and they believe that the Quran is eternal and uncreated.

====Maturidi====
{{Main|Maturidi}}
Founded by [[Abu Mansur al-Maturidi]] (d. 944), Maturidiyyah was the major tradition in [[Central Asia]]<ref>Marlène Laruelle Being ''Muslim in Central Asia: Practices, Politics, and Identities'' Brill, 2018 {{ISBN|978-9004357242}} p. 21</ref> based on [[Hanafi]]-law. It is more influenced by Persian interpretations of Islam and less on the traditions established within Arabian culture.<ref>Marlène Laruelle ''Being Muslim in Central Asia: Practices, Politics, and Identities'' Brill, 2018 {{ISBN|978-9004357242}} p. 21</ref> In contrast to the traditionalistic approach, Maturidism allows to reject [[hadith]]s based on reason alone.<ref>Rico Isaacs, Alessandro Frigerio ''Theorizing Central Asian Politics: The State, Ideology and Power'' Springer, 2018 {{ISBN|978-3319973555}} p. 108</ref> Nevertheless, revelation remains important to inform humans about that is beyond their intellectual limits, such as the concept of an afterlife. [[Ethics]] on the other hand, do not need prophecy or revelation, but can be understood by reason alone. One of the tribes, the [[Seljuk Turks]], migrated to [[Turkey]], where later the [[Ottoman Empire]] was established.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/islam/sunni/matur.html |title=Maturidiyyah |work=Philtar |access-date=2006-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223020644/http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/islam/sunni/matur.html |archive-date=2006-02-23 }}</ref> 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 and Athari schools of thought. Thus, wherever can be found [[Hanafi]] followers, there can be found the [[Maturidi]] creed.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jeffry R. Halverson |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ |date=2010 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0230106581 |pages=23–24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Shamim Akhter |title=Faith & Philosophy of Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wikG_iOhSc8C |date=2009 |publisher=Kalpaz Publications |isbn=978-8178357195 |page=174}}</ref>

====Athari====
{{Main|Athari}}

Traditionalist or Athari theology is a movement of [[Islam]]ic scholars who reject rationalistic Islamic theology (''[[kalam]]'') in favor of strict textualism in interpreting the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[sunnah]]''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Binyamin |last=Abrahamov |title=Scripturalist and Traditionalist Theology |editor=Sabine Schmidtke |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2014 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.025 |isbn=978-0199696703 |url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199696703-e-025 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The name derives from "tradition" in its technical sense as translation of the Arabic word ''[[hadith]]''. It is also sometimes referred to as ''athari'' as by [[Traditionalist Theology (Islam)#Terminology|several other names]].

Adherents of traditionalist theology believe that the ''[[Zahir (Islam)|zahir]]'' (literal, apparent) meaning of the ''Qur'an'' and the [[hadith]] have sole authority in matters of belief and law; and that the use of rational disputation is forbidden even if it verifies the truth.<ref name="Halverson-36">{{cite book |last=Halverson |first=Jeffry R. |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |url=https://archive.org/details/theologycreedsun00halv |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1137473578 |page=[https://archive.org/details/theologycreedsun00halv/page/n44 36]}}</ref> They engage in a literal reading of the ''Qur'an'', as opposed to one engaged in ''[[ta'wil]]'' (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the ''Qur'an'' rationally, and believe that their realities should be consigned to God alone (''[[tafwid]]'').<ref name="Halverson-3637">{{cite book |last=Halverson |first=Jeffry R. |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |url=https://archive.org/details/theologycreedsun00halv |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1137473578 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/theologycreedsun00halv/page/n44 36]–37}}</ref> In essence, the text of the Qur'an and Hadith is accepted without asking "how" or "[[Bi-la kaifa]]".

Traditionalist theology emerged among scholars of hadith who eventually coalesced into a movement called ''[[Ahl al-Hadith|ahl al-hadith]]'' under the leadership of [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]].<ref name="Lapidus130">{{Cite book |last=Lapidus |first=Ira M. |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |title=A History of Islamic Societies |publisher=Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) |year=2014 |isbn=978-0521514309 |page=130}}</ref> In matters of faith, they were pitted against [[Mu'tazilites]] and other theological currents, condemning many points of their doctrine as well as the rationalistic methods they used in defending them.<ref name="Lapidus130" /> In the 10th century AD [[al-Ash'ari]] and [[al-Maturidi]] found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalism and [[Hanbalite]] literalism, using the rationalistic methods championed by Mu'tazilites to defend most tenets of the traditionalist doctrine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lapidus |first=Ira M. |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |title=A History of Islamic Societies |publisher=Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) |year=2014 |isbn=978-0521514309 |pages=123–124}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Khalid |last=Blankinship |author-link=Khalid Yahya Blankinship |year=2008 |chapter=The early creed |editor=Tim Winter |title=The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology |publisher=Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) |page=53}}</ref> Although the mainly Hanbali scholars who rejected this synthesis were in the minority, their emotive, narrative-based approach to faith remained influential among the urban masses in some areas, particularly in [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] [[Baghdad]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Halverson |first=Jeffry R. |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |url=https://archive.org/details/theologycreedsun00halv |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1137473578 |page=[https://archive.org/details/theologycreedsun00halv/page/n43 35]}}</ref>

While [[Ash'arism]] and [[Maturidism]] are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", traditionalist theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be the orthodox Sunni faith.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jonathan A.C. |last=Brown |year=2009 |title=Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World |publisher=Oneworld Publications (Kindle edition) |page=180 |quote=The Ash'ari school of theology is often called the Sunni 'orthodoxy.' But the original ahl al-hadith, early Sunni creed from which Ash'arism evolved has continued to thrive alongside it as a rival Sunni 'orthodoxy' as well.}}</ref> In the modern era, it has had a disproportionate impact on Islamic theology, having been appropriated by [[Wahhabi]] and other traditionalist [[Salafi]] currents and have spread well beyond the confines of the [[Hanbali]] school of law.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Jon |last=Hoover |entry=Ḥanbalī Theology |volume=1 |editor=Sabine Schmidtke |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2014 |entry-url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199696703-e-014 |entry-url-access=subscription |page=625 |isbn=978-0199696703 |access-date=2016-08-02}}</ref>

=== Narrow definition ===
There were also Muslim scholars who wanted to limit the Sunni term to the ''[[Ash'ari]]tes'' and ''[[Maturidi|Māturīdites]]'' alone. For example, Murtadā az-Zabīdī (d. 1790) wrote in his commentary on [[al-Ghazali]]s "Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn": "When (sc. The term) ''ahl as-sunna wal jamaʿa'' is used, the Ashʿarites and Māturīdites are meant."<ref name="Zabidi6">Murtaḍā az-Zabīdī. [https://archive.org/stream/FP78871/ithafsm02#page/n6/mode/2up ''Itḥāf as-sāda al-muttaqīn bi-šarḥ Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn'']. Muʾassasat at-taʾrīḫ al-ʿArabī, Beirut, 1994. Vol. II, p. 6.</ref> This position was also taken over by the Egyptian Fatwa Office in July 2013.<ref name="Daralifta2366">[https://www.dar-alifta.org/AR/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=12579 ''al-Murād bi-ahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417060444/https://www.dar-alifta.org/AR/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=12579 |date=17 April 2021 }} Fatwa No. 2366 of the Egyptian Fatwa Office of 24 July 2013.</ref> In [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] times, many efforts were made to establish a good harmony between the teachings of the Ashʿarīya and the Māturīdīya.<ref name="Daralifta2366"/> Finally, there were also scholars who regarded the Ashʿarites alone as Sunnis. For example, the Moroccan Sufi Ahmad ibn ʿAdschiba (d. 1809) stated in his commentary on [[al-Fatiha|Fatiha]]: "As far as the Sunnis are concerned, it is the Ashʿarites and those who follow in their correct belief."<ref>Aḥmad b. ʿAǧība: ''Tafsīr al-Fātiḥa al-kabīr''. Ed. ʿĀṣim Ibrāhīm al-Kaiyālī. Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmīya, Beirut, 2005. p. 347.</ref>

Conversely, there were also scholars who excluded the Ashʿarites from Sunnism. The Andalusian scholar [[Ibn Hazm]] (d. 1064) said that Abu l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī belonged to the [[Murji'a]], namely those who were particularly far removed from the Sunnis in terms of faith.<ref name="Ibn Hazm265f">Ibn Ḥazm: ''al-Faṣl fi-l-milal wa-l-ahwāʾ wa-n-niḥal.'' Ed. Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Naṣr; ʿAbd-ar-Raḥmān ʿUmaira. Dār al-Jīl, Beirut 1985. Vol. II, pp. 265ff.</ref> Twentieth-century [[Syrians|Syrian]]-[[Albanians|Albanian]] Athari [[Salafi movement|Salafi]] theologian [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani]] rejected extremism in excluding [[Ash'ari]]s from Sunni Islam. He believed that despite that their fundamental differences from Atharis, not every Ash'ari is to be excluded from ''Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama'ah'', unless they openly disapprove of the doctrines of the ''[[Salaf]]'' (''mad'hab as-Salaf''). According to Albani:

{{quote|I do not share [the view of] some of the noble scholars of the past and present that we say about a group from the [many] Islamic groups that it is not from ''Ahlus-Sunnah'' due to its deviation in one issue or another&nbsp;...  as for whether the Ash’aris or the Maaturidis are from ''Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah'', I say that they are from ''Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah'' in many things related to ''aqidah'' but in other ''[[aqidah]]'' issues they have deviated away from ''Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah&nbsp;...'' I don't hold that we should say that they are not from ''Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah'' whatsoever<ref>{{Cite web|title=Are the Ash'aris from Ahlus-Sunnah?|url=https://www.salafiri.com/are-asharis-from-ahlus-sunnah/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025091711/https://www.salafiri.com/are-asharis-from-ahlus-sunnah/|archive-date=25 October 2021|website=Salafi Research Institute|date=14 August 2016}}</ref>}}

=== Sunnism in general and in a specific sense ===
The [[Hanbalism|Hanbali]] scholar [[Ibn Taymiyyah]] (d. 1328) distinguished in his work ''Minhāj as-sunna'' between Sunnis in the general sense (''ahl as-unna al-ʿāmma'') and Sunnis in the special sense (''ahl as-sunna al-ḫāṣṣa''). Sunnis in the general sense are all Muslims who recognize the caliphate of the three caliphs ([[Abū Bakr]], [[ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb]] and [[ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān]]). In his opinion, this includes all Islamic groups except the Shiite [[Rafida|Rafidites]]. Sunnis in the special sense are only the "people of the hadith" (''ahl al-ḥadīṯ'').<ref>Ibn Taimīya: ''Minhāǧ as-sunna an-nabawīya''. Ed. Muḥammad Rašād Sālim. Ǧamiʿat al-Imām Muḥammad Ibn-Saʿid, Riad, 1986. Bd. II, S. 221f. [https://archive.org/stream/WAQ94871/msn2#page/n219/mode/2up Digitalized]</ref>

İsmail Hakkı İzmirli, who took over the distinction between a broader and narrower circle of Sunnis from Ibn Taimiya, said that [[Ibn Kullab|Kullabiyya]] and the Ashʿarīyya are Sunnis in the general sense, while the [[Salafism|Salafiyya]] represent Sunnis in the specific sense. About the Maturidiyya he only says that they are closer to the Salafiyya than the Ashʿariyya because they excel more in [[Fiqh]] than in [[Kalām]].<ref name="IsmailHakki75"/> The [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi scholar]] [[Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen|Muhammad Ibn al-ʿUthaimin]] (d. 2001), who like Ibn Taimiya differentiated between Sunnis in general and special senses, also excluded the Asharites from the circle of Sunnis in the special sense and took the view that only the pious ancestors (''as-salaf aṣ-ṣāliḥ'') who have agreed on the Sunnah belonged to this circle.<ref name="Ibn Uthaimin">Muḥammad ibn ʿUṯaimīn: ''Aš-Šarḥ al-mumtiʿ ʿalā Zād al-mustaqniʿ''. Dār Ibn al-Ǧauzī, Dammam, 2006. Bd. XI, S. 306 [https://archive.org/stream/waq53629/11_53639#page/n306/mode/2up Digitalized]</ref>

=== Classification of the Muʿtazila ===
The [[Muʿtazila|Muʿtazilites]] are usually not regarded as Sunnis. [[Ibn Hazm]], for example, contrasted them with the Sunnis as a separate group in his heresiographic work ''al-Faṣl fi-l-milal wa-l-ahwāʾ wa-n-niḥal''.<ref name="Ibn Hazm265f"/> In many medieval texts from the Islamic East, the ''Ahl as-Sunna'' are also differentiated to the Muʿtazilites.<ref>for example: Halm: "Der Wesir al-Kundurī und die Fitna von Nišāpūr". 1971, pp. 214, 216ff. (German)</ref> In 2010 the Jordanian ''[[fatwa]]'' office ruled out in a [[fatwa]] that the Muʿtazilites, like the Kharijites, represent a doctrine that is contrary to Sunnism.<ref>Dāʾirat al-Iftāʾ fī l-Mamlaka al-Urdunnīya al-Hāšimīya: [https://www.aliftaa.jo/Question2.aspx?QuestionId=489#.XtPmRsDgqUl al-Ašāʿira hum ǧumhūr ahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa] Fatwa Nr. 489 vom 2. Februar 2010. [https://www.aliftaa.jo/Question2En.aspx?QuestionId=489#.XtPmkcDgqUk Englische Übersetzung]</ref> Ibn Taymiyya argued that the Muʿtazilites belong to the Sunnis in the general sense because they recognize the caliphate of the first three caliphs.<ref>Ibn Taimīya: ''Minhāǧ as-sunna an-nabawīya''. Ed. Muḥammad Rašād Sālim. Jamiʿat al-Imām Muḥammad Ibn-Saʿid, Riad, 1986. Bd. VI, S. 379. [https://archive.org/stream/WAQ94871/msn6#page/n377/mode/2up Digitalized]</ref>

=== Mysticism ===
{{Main|Sufism}}
There is broad agreement that the [[Sufism|Sufis]] are also part of Sunnism. This view can already be found in the [[Shafiʽi school|Shafi'ite]] scholar [[Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi]] (d. 1037). In his [[heresiography|heresiographical]] work '' al-Farq baina l-firaq '' he divided the Sunnis into eight different categories (''aṣnāf'') of people: 1. the theologians and [[Kalam]] Scholars, 2. the [[Fiqh]] scholars, 3. the traditional and [[Hadith]] scholars, 4. the [[Adab (Islam)|Adab]] and language scholars, 5. the [[Koran]] – Scholars, 6. the [[Sufism|Sufi]] ascetics (''az-zuhhād aṣ-ṣūfīya''), 7. those who perform the ''[[ribat]]'' and ''[[jihad]]'' against the enemies of Islam, 8. the general crowd.<ref>al-Baġdādī: ''Al-Farq baina l-firaq.'' pp. 272–274. – Engl. Übers. Halkin S. 159–163.</ref> According to this classification, the Sufis are one of a total of eight groups within Sunnism, defined according to their religious specialization.

The [[Tunisia]]n scholar Muhammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Bakkī (d. 1510) also included the Sufis in Sunnism. He divided the Sunnis into the following three groups according to their knowledge (''istiqrāʾ''):
# the people of [[Hadith]] (''[[Ahl al-Hadith|ahl al-ḥadīṯh]]''): Their principles are based on the hearing-based evidence, namely [[Quran|the Book]] (''Qur'an''), the ''[[Sunnah]]'' and the ''[[Ijma|Ijmāʿ]]'' (consensus).
# The people of theory and the intellectual trade (''ahl an-naẓar wa-ṣ-ṣināʿa al-fikrīya''): They include the [[Ash'ari|Ashʿarites]] and the [[Hanafi]]s, the latter of whom consider [[Abu Mansur al-Maturidi|Abū Mansūr al-Māturīdī]] as their master. They agree in the rational principles on all questions where there is no hearing-based evidence, in the hearing-based principles in everything that reason conceives as possible, and in the rational as well as the hearing-based principles in all other questions. They also agree on all dogmatic questions, except for the question of creation (''takwīn'') and the question of ''[[Taqlid|Taqlīd]]''.
# the people of feeling and revelation (''ahl al-wiǧdān wa-l-kašf''): These are the [[Sufism|Sufis]]. Its principles correspond in the initial stage to the principles of the other two groups, but in the final stage they rely on revelation (''kašf'') and inspiration (''ilhām'').<ref>Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Bakkī: ''Taḥrīr al-maṭālib fīmā taḍammanathū ʿAqīdat Ibn Ḥāǧib''. Muʾassasat al-Maʿārif, Beirut, 2008. S. 40f. [https://archive.org/details/tahreer/page/n47 Digitalisat]</ref>
Similarly, [[Murtada al-Zabidi|Murtadā az-Zabīdī]] stated elsewhere in his commentary on [[Al-Ghazali|Ghazzali's]] ''[[The Revival of the Religious Sciences|Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn]]'' '' that the Sunnis consisted of four groups (firaq''), namely the [[hadith scholar]]s (''muḥaddiṯhūn), the Sufis, the Ashʿarites and the Māturīdites.<ref>Murtaḍā az-Zabīdī: ''Itḥāf as-sāda al-muttaqīn bi-šarḥ Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn''. Muʾassasat at-taʾrīḫ al-ʿArabī, Beirut, 1994. Bd. II, S. 86 [https://archive.org/stream/FP78871/ithafsm02#page/n86/mode/2up Digitalisat]</ref>''

Some ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' wanted to exclude the Sufis from Sunnism. The Yemeni scholar ʿAbbās ibn Mansūr as-Saksakī (d. 1284) explained in his doxographic work '' al-Burhān fī maʿrifat ʿaqāʾid ahl al-adyān '' ("The evidence of knowledge of the beliefs of followers of different religions") about the Sufis: "They associate themselves with the Sunnis, but they do not belong to them, because they contradict them in their beliefs, actions and teachings." That is what distinguishes the Sufis from Sunnis according to as-Saksakī their orientation to the hidden inner meaning of the ''Qur'an'' and the ''Sunnah''. In this, he said, they resemble the [[Batiniyya|Bātinites]].<ref>ʿAbbās ibn Manṣūr as-Saksakī: ''al-Burhān fī maʿrifat ʿaqāʾid ahl al-adyān.'' Ed. Bassām ʿAlī Salāma al-ʿAmūš. 2. Aufl. Maktabat al-Manār, az-Zarqā', 1996. p. 101. [http://www.archive.org/stream/agi09/087#page/n101/mode/2up Digitalisat]</ref> According to the final document of the Grozny Conference, only those Sufis are to be regarded as Sunnis who are "people of pure Sufism" (''ahl at-taṣauwuf aṣ-ṣāfī'') in the knowledge, ethics and purification of the interior, according to [[Tariqa|Method]] as practiced by [[Junayd of Baghdad|al-Junaid Al- Baghdadi]] and the "Imams of Guidance" (''aʾimma al-hudā'') who followed his path.<ref name="Grosny"/>

In the 11th century, Sufism, which had previously been a less "codified" trend in Islamic piety, began to be "ordered and crystallized"<ref name="Seyyed Hossein Nasr 2007 p. 76">Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ''The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr'', ed. William C. Chittick (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2007), p. 76</ref> into ''[[Tariqa]]hs'' (orders) which have continued until the present day.<ref name="Seyyed Hossein Nasr 2007 p. 76" /> All these orders were founded by a major Sunni Islamic [[Saint (Islamic)|saint]], and some of the largest and most widespread included the [[Qadiriyya]] (after [[Abdul-Qadir Gilani]] [d. 1166]), the [[Rifa'i]]yya (after [[Ahmed al-Rifa'i]] [d. 1182]), the [[Chishti Order|Chishtiyya]] (after [[Moinuddin Chishti]] [d. 1236]), the [[Shadiliyya]] (after [[Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili]] [d. 1258]), and the [[Naqshbandi]]yya (after [[Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari]] [d. 1389]).<ref name="Seyyed Hossein Nasr 2007 p. 76" /> Contrary to popular [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] depictions,<ref name="Martin Lings 1983, p.16">Martin Lings, ''What is Sufism?'' (Lahore: Suhail Academy, 2005; first imp. 1983, second imp. 1999), p. 16</ref> neither the founders of these orders nor their followers considered themselves to be anything other than orthodox Sunni Muslims,<ref name="Martin Lings 1983, p.16" /> Many of the most eminent defenders of Islamic orthodoxy, such as [[Abdul Qadir Gilani|'Abd al-Qadir Jilani]], [[Al-Ghazali]], Sultan Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Al-Ayyubi ([[Saladin]]) were connected with Sufism."<ref>Titus Burckhardt, ''Introduction to Sufi Doctrine'' (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2008, p. 4, note 2</ref> The [[Salafi]] and [[Wahhabi]] strands of Sunnism do not accept many mystical practices associated with the contemporary Sufi orders.<ref>Jeffrey Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam'', 2010, p. 48</ref>