Sunni Islam



Sunni Muslims believe in following the example of the Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis are also called Ahlus Sunnah, Sunni Muslims, and just Muslims. It is also know as Orthodox Islam.

Demography
The Sunnis makeup 50% of the Muslims world wide. Majority of Sunni Muslims are in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Syria, and other places.

History
After Muhammad's death the Muslims had to chose a caliph. The ones who supported Abu Bakr (ra) were called Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamah  "the people of tradition and unification" in order to differentiate them from  the Shia, who rejected Abu Bakr's authority in favor of Hazrat  Ali , whom Sunnis accepted as the fourth Caliph rather than the first.

The first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rashidun or "Rightly-Guided Ones". Sunni recognition included as the first was the aforementioned Abu Bakr; as, the second, Umar; as the third, Uthman ibn Affan; and as the fourth, as mentioned above, Ali.

After the first four caliphs, the Caliphate was upheld as a political system by dynasties such as the Abbasids and the Ottomans and the Mughal Empire of South Asia. It was also upheld for relatively short periods of time by other competing dynasties in Spain, North Africa and Egypt.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the system of the Ottoman Caliphate after Abdülmecid II was officially deposed and expelled from what was once the Ottoman Empire, whereby the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 upon secular principles.

Schools of Islamic Law
The Sunnis have 4 schools of Islamic law. They are Hanafi, Shafi'i, Malaki, and Hanbali. They are not considered sects. They are schools on Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh). The founders of these schools are the four great Imams which were early Sunni scholars. The imams are Abu Hanifa, Shafi, Malik bin Anas, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. There are some difference in these schools (e.g. Hanafis put hands below navel in Salah, Shafi'is and Hanbalis put hands on chest in prayer, and Malikis put hands at the side in prayer). It is not required for a Sunni to follow one particular madhab (methodology). All jurists of these schools judge by Quran and Sunnah.

Adherents
Sunnis believe that the  companions  of Muhammad were the best of the Muslims. This belief is based on 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, according to Sunnis. [8]  Sunnis also believe that the companions were  true believers  since it was the companions who were given the task of  compiling the Quran. Furthermore, narrations that were narrated by the companions (ahadith) are considered by Sunnis to be a second source of knowledge of the Muslim faith. A study conducted by the  Pew Research Center  in 2010 and released January 2011 [9]  found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, and it is estimated that the  Sunni population  is between 75% and 90%

Articles of Faith
The Sunnis believe in the six articles of faith. They are:
 * Oneness of God (Tawhid )
 * The Messengers/Prophets
 * The Angels
 * Final Day
 * Holy Books
 * Predistination (Qadr)

Hadith
The Sunnis believe in following the sunnah (tradition) of Prophet Muhammad. They have books of the sayings and actions of Muhammad called ahadith. There are the six major books (al-kutub al-Sittah). The six major collections are by: Bukhari, Muslim, an Nasa'i, at-Tirmidhi, ibn Majah, and Abu Dawud. In Sunni Islam it is required to follow the Quran and Sunnah.