Sunni

Sunni

Adjective & Noun · /ˈsʊni/ · of or relating to the largest branch of Islam

Definition

Sunni refers to the largest denomination of Islam, comprising roughly 85 to 90 percent of the world's 1.8 billion Muslims. The word describes both the tradition itself and its adherents. A Sunni Muslim follows the Sunnah — the recorded words, actions, and tacit approvals of the Prophet Muhammad — as the authoritative guide to Islamic practice, alongside the Quran. Sunni Islam is sometimes described as orthodox Islam in Western writing, though Muslims themselves rarely use that framing, preferring to describe it simply as following the way of the Prophet.

Origin

The word Sunni derives from the Arabic ahl as-sunnah wa'l-jama'ah — meaning the people of the prophetic tradition and the community. The key root is sunnah, from the Arabic verb sanna, meaning to establish a customary way or to make something a practice. The Sunni-Shia split emerged shortly after the Prophet Muhammad's death in 632 CE, centring on disagreement over his rightful successor. Sunnis held that the community should elect a leader from among the companions; the Shia held that leadership belonged to Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law. The theological and political divergence deepened over subsequent centuries into two distinct traditions.