Sunni and their idealogy toward islam

Sunni Islam (/ˈsuːni, ˈsʊni/) is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the tradition of Muhammad.The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions.According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad left no successor and the participants of the Saqifah event appointed Abu Bakr as the next-in-line (the first caliph).This contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.

The calligraphic representation of religious Sunni Islamic figures, such as Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, along with Allah (God).

The adherents of Sunni Islam are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah ("the people of the Sunnah and the community") or ahl as-Sunnah for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism,while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites and Ahlus Sunnah. Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as "orthodox Islam", though some scholars view this translation as inappropriate.

The Quran, together with hadith (especially those collected in Kutub al-Sittah) and binding juristic consensus, form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. Sharia rulings are derived from these basic sources, in conjunction with analogical reasoning, consideration of public welfare and juristic discretion, using the principles of jurisprudence developed by the traditional legal schools. In matters of creed, the Sunni tradition upholds the six pillars of imān (faith) and comprises the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of Kalam (theology) as well as the textualist school known as traditionalist theology.

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.[49] 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 Shiaism are the end products of several centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines.[50]

The first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the 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.[51] 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 Marwān and 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 Muāwiya, another of Uthman's kinsman. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of firm dynastic rule of Banu Umayya after Husain, the younger son of Ali from Fātima, was killed at the 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 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 (zakāt) to subsidise family interests, which Uthman justified as 'al-sila' (pious filial support)".[52][53][54] 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-Zubair, by Muāwiya and finally by the 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 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 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 Abbās.[55][56][57][58]

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, Shāfi'i and Ahmad bin Hanbal all practised during this time, so also did Jafar al Sādiq who elaborated the doctrine of 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.

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 partitioned into Pakistan and Bangladesh. The 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 Wahhabi movement.[60][61][62][63] This was followed by a considerable rise in the influence of the Wahhabi, Salafiyya, Islamist and Jihadist movements that revived the doctrines of the Hanbali theologian 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 movement. After the fall of communist regime in Afghanistan and the ensuing civil war, Taliban wrestled power from the various Mujahidin factions in Afghanistan and formed a government under the leadership of 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.[64][65][66]

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.[67] The latest attempt by a radical wing of Salafi-Jihadists to re-establish a Sunni caliphate was seen in the emergence of the militant group ISIL, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is known among his followers as caliph and Amir-al-mu'mineen, "The Commander of the Faithful".[68] 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.[69][70]

Following the puritan approach of Ibn Kathir, Muhammad Rashid Rida, etc. many contemporary Tafsir (exegetic treatises) downplay the earlier significance of 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.[71] 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.[71] 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.[72] 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.

The doctrines of the Sunnis are recorded in various creeds, which summarize the most important points in the form of a list in the manner of a Catechism. The individual teaching points differ depending on the author's affiliation to a certain teaching tradition. The most important creeds that explicitly claim to represent the teachings of the Sunnis (ahl as-sunna wal-jama or similar) include:

The text traced back to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, in which he defined "the characteristics of the believer of the Sunnis" (sifat al-Mu'min min ahl as-Sunna wa-l-jama). The text is handed down in two works in the work Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila of the Hanbali Qadi Ibn Abi Yaʿla (d. 1131). The first version comes from a treatise on the Sunnah by Ahmad ibn Hanbal's disciple Muhammad ibn Habib al-Andarani, the second is based on Ahmad's disciple Muhammad ibn Yunus al-Sarachhi.[126]The two creeds of Abu l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī in his works Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn[127] and Kitāb al-Ibāna ʿan uṣūl ad-diyāna.[30] The former is called the teaching of ahl al-ḥadīṯ wa-s-sunna, the latter as the teachings of the ahl al-ḥaqq wa-s-sunna.The confession of the Egyptian Hanafi at-Tahāwī (d. 933), also known under the title Bayān as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa ("Presentation of Sunna and Community"). It has received frequent comments from the 13th century onward.[128]The "Qadiritic Creed" (al-iʿtiqād al-Qādirī) mentioned in the world chronicle al-Muntaẓam by Ibn al-Jschauzī and referring to the Abbasid caliph al-Qādir (d. 1031) is returned. The caliph al-Qā'im is supposed to have read this text, which is shown at the end as the "Doctrine of the Sunnis" (qaul ahl as-sunna wal-jama), in the year 433 Hijra (= 1041/42 AD) which was read in front of a meeting of ascetics and scholars in the caliph's palace.[129]The creed of al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) in his second book of his religious encyclopedia Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn. It is headed "The Sunni Creed in the Two Phrases of the Shahāda" (ʿAqīdat ahl as-sunna fī kalimatai aš-šahāda) and deals first with the doctrine of God and then the other doctrinal points.[130]The confession al-ʿAqīda al-Wāsiṭīya by Ibn Taimīya (1263–1328),[131] which later received importance especially among the Wahhabis and the Ahl-i Hadīth. It was translated into French by Henri Laoust,[132] by Merlin Swartz into English[133] and by Clemens Wein into German.[134]

Most of the mentioned branches testify to six principal articles of faith known as the six pillars of imān (Arabic for "faith"),[135] which are believed to be essential.[136] These six articles are common that present-day Sunnis agree on, from those who adhere to traditional Sunnism to those who adhere to latter-day movements. Additionally, classical Sunni Islam also outlined numerous other cardinal doctrines since the 8th century, such as the Creed of Tahāwi. Traditionally, these Sunni articles of faith have included the following:

Belief in the Oneness of GodBelief in the Angels of GodBelief in Holy BooksBelief in the Prophets of GodBelief in Resurrection after Death and the Day of JudgmentBelief in Preordainment (Qadar)

God

Allah in Islam

Unity

At the center of the Sunni creed is Tawhid, the belief in the oneness of God. God is a single (fard) God, besides whom there is no other deity.He is single (munfarid), has no partner (šarīk), no opposite (nidd), no counterpart (maṯīl) and no adversary (ḍidd).He has neither taken a companion nor children, neither conceived nor is he conceived.

God created everything, the years and times, day and night, light and darkness, the heavens and the earth, all kinds of creatures that are on it, the land and the sea, and everything living, dead and solid. Before he created all of this, he was completely alone, with nothing with him.In contrast to his creation, God has a timeless nature. He is beginningless (azalī) because he has existed for all eternity and nothing precedes him, and he is endless (abadī) because he continues to exist without interruption for all eternity. He is the first and the last, as it says in the Quran (Sura 57: 3).God brought forth creation not because he needed it, but to demonstrate his power and as the implement his previous will and his primordial speech.God is creator, but has no needs. He does not need food,does not feel lonely and does not keep company with anyone.

Transcendence

To absolve God of all anthropomorphism, the Qur'anic statements that "God sat on the throne" (istawā ʿalā l-ʿarš; Surah 7:54; 20: 5) receive a lot of the Sunni creeds attention. The creed of al-Qādir emphasizes that God did not set himself up on the throne (ʿarš) "in the manner of the rest of the creatures" and that he created this throne, although he did not need it.Al-Ghazali's knowledge of the faith states that the "sitting down" is free from contact (mumāssa) with the throne. It is not the throne that carries God, but the throne and its bearers are carried through the grace of his power.According to al-Ashʿari,

Sunnis believe in angels.God hid the angels from the vision of humans, thus they can usually not see them. Just in some special occusations God unveils them for individual humans. Like when the archangel Gabrel appeared to the prophet Muhammad one time in his true form with 600 wings, filling the entire horizon and another time when he was among the circles of the Sahaba, in the form of a white clothed traveller.

Angels fulfil duties assigned by God. The angel Gabriel has the mission to transmit God's revelations to chosen Prophets. The angel Michael is assigned over rain and plants. The angel Israfil must blow into the trumpet during thunder and the day of resurrection. Furthermore to the angels belong the recording angels, who supervise humans and the angel of death, who takes the souls (lit. spirits) of the inhabitants of the world.

Unlike the Mutazilites and the Jahmites, the Sunnis believe that Satan whispers doubts to humans and hits them, as the Quran states.But humans, jinn, angels and devils are all created by the power of God and bound to his will. Even if humans, jinn, angels and devils aligned to move or stop one atom, they could not succeed without God's will.

Books of God

The Sunnis further believe in the books of God, sent to the envoys of God. To them belong the Quran, the Torah, the Gospel and the Psalms

The Quran is according to Sunni views the speech of God. Who listens to it and regards it as human speech is according to Sunni Creed by at-Tahāwī an infidel.The Quran as the speech of God is sent down by the „trustworthy Spirit" (ar-rūḥ al-amīn; surah 26:193) and taught by Muhammad.God sent him down as inspiration (wahy) on his Messenger.The path of God's speech to the community of Muslims is a multi-stage process: God pronounced it, the angel Gabriel heard it and Mohammed repeated it, Mohammed repeated it to his companions, and the Ummah repeated them

As the speech of God, the Quran is according to Sunnism uncreated. The teachings of the creation of the Quran is rejected by Sunnis.Anyone who takes this teaching is regarded as an unbeliever.The Quran is recited with the tongue, written into books and memorized by the heart, but remains the uncreated speech of God, because it is individable and can not be split by the transmition from heart to paper.At-Tahāwī specifies that the Quran is not created like human speech. Rather, it came from God in an unexplained way as a word ( qaul ).Ibn Taimīya explains that the Quran originated from God and will return (sc. At the end of times) too.

Prophets

Messages

Confessing to the Prophets of God is also part of the Sunni faith.The first of the prophets is Adam. The original contract ( mīṯāq ) that God concluded with him and his descendants according to sura 7:172-3 is a reality according to Sunni belief. God has taken Abraham as a friend ( ḫalīl ) and talked to Moses directly.The last of the prophets is Mohammed from the tribe of the Quraish.The Sunnis do not differentiate between the messengers of God, (By rejecting some of them), but consider everything they have brought to be true.

God called the prophets and presented their truthfulness through obvious miracles. The prophets conveyed God's command and prohibition, his promise and threat, and it is incumbent on people to believe what they have brought to be true.God has given people the act of obedience ( ṭāʿa ) and opposition ( maʿṣiya ) forbidden.God's right to the acts of obedience is not only an obligation for people through the intellect ( bi-muǧarrad al-ʿaql ), but also through it for making it a duty through the oral transmission of his prophets.

Muhammad

Muhammad from the tribe of the Quraish is not only the seal of the prophets (ḫātam al-anbiyāʾ),rather, God placed him above all other prophets and made him Lord of men (saiyid al-bašar).He is God's chosen servant (ʿabd), Messenger, the Imam of the godly ( imām al-atqiyāʾ ) and the beloved of the Lord of the Worlds (ḥabīb rabb al-ʿālamīn). He is sent with truth (ḥaqq), guidance (hudā) and light (nūr). God has him with his message to Arabs and Non-Arabs as well as sent to the general public of the jinn and humans and with his Sharia, the earlier religious laws abrogated, except that which he has confirmed. Part of the Sunnis path is to follow the traditions (āṯār) of Muhammad internally and externally. They prefer his guidance to the guidance of anyone else.

Muhammad's prophethood is proven by miracles (muʿǧizāt) such as the splitting of the moon. The most obvious miracle is the Quran's inimitability.Every claim to prophethood after him is an error or imagination, since Muhammad is the last prophet.Another important point of teaching is the belief in Muhammad's Ascension (miʿrāǧ).Accordingly the Prophet went on a nocturnal journey during which his person was transported to heaven while awake and from there to heights, "which God has chosen". God gave him what he had chosen for him and gave him his revelation. God has also blessed him in his life beyond and in this world.

Eschatology

In the grave

According to Sunni doctrine, people are questioned in their graves by Munkar and Nakir after death. Munkar and Nakīr are two terrifying, huge figures who let the person sit upright in his grave with mind and body and then tell him about the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad. They ask him: "Who is your master? What is your religion? Who is your prophet?". They are the two inspectors of the grave and their questioning is the first test ( fitna ) of humans after death.The believer will answer to this test: "God is my Lord, Islam is my religion and Mohammed is my prophet." The doubter, on the other hand, will answer: "Oh dear, I don't know. I heard people say something, and that's how I said it." He is then hit with an iron club so that he utters a loud scream that can be heard by everyone except people and jinn. If people heard him, they would lose consciousness.Children are also interviewed by Munkar and Nakīr as well as people who have disappeared, drowned or were eaten by predatory animals.Deceased Muslims receive the supplication said for them, and the Sadaqa spoken in their name are a favor for them.

Sign of the hour

Another point of belief are the "signs of the hour" (ašrāṭ as-sāʿa) that precede the day of resurrection. This includes the emergence of the Dajjal, the rising of the sun in the west, the emergence of the Dabba from the earth and the excerpt from Gog and Magog. Jesus, the son of Mary, will descend from heaven and kill the Dajjal.

Day of resurrection

On Day of the Resurrection the resurrection ( baʿṯ ) and the retribution of the deeds take place.First the bodies of all people, animals and jinn are put back together and revived.The souls are brought back into the body, the people rise from their graves, barefoot, naked and uncircumcised. The sun is approaching them and they are sweating.

A scales are set up to weigh people's deeds. The scales have two scales and one tongue and are as big as several layers of heaven and earth. The weights will have the weight of atoms and mustard seeds in order to realize the accuracy of God's righteousness. The leaves with good deeds (ḥasanāt) are thrown in a beautiful shape into the scales of light and weigh down the scales by the grace (faḍl) of God, the leaves with bad deeds ( saiyiʾāt ) are thrown into the scales of darkness in an ugly form and reduce the weight of the scales through the justice (ʿadl) of God.

The vision of God in the hereafter

The teachings of the Sunnis also include the vision of God (ruʾyat Allāh) in the hereafter, which has similarities with the visio beatifica in the Christian tradition. With this teaching the Sunnis set themselves apart from the Muʿtazilites, the Zaidiyyah and the philosophers who consider the vision of God intellectually impossible.

There are differing views among Sunni scholars about the timing and type of the divine vision. Al-Ashari states that God is seen on the day of resurrection, whereby only the believers see him, the unbelievers not because they are kept away from God. At-Tahāwī, on the other hand, was of the opinion that the vision of God was a reality for the inmates of Paradise.Ibn Taimīya doubles the vision of God: people see God while they are still in the places of the resurrection, and then after entering paradise.

As for the way of seeing God, al-Ash Aari and Ibn Taimiyah emphasized its visual characteristics. Al-Ashari meant that God can be seen with the eyes, just as one sees the moon on the night of the full moon.Ibn Taimīya adds that the vision of God is as one sees the sun on a cloudless day.In the ʿAqīda at-Tahāwīs, the transcendence of God is emphasized: the vision can neither be understood nor described, because none of the creatures are like God.According to al-Ghazālī's creed the pious in the hereafter see the essence of God without substance and accidents. According to the creed of an-Nasafī, God is seen neither in one place nor in any direction or distance. There is also no connection to rays.

Release of the monotheists from hell and intercession

According to the Ibn Taimīya's creed, the Umma of Muhammad is the first religious community to enter Paradise,Other religious communities also have the opportunity to get to paradise, because God leads whole peoples through the grace of his mercy (aqwām) out of hellfire.Ahmad ibn Hanbal and al-Ghazālī declare in their creeds that the monotheist en (al-muwaḥḥidūn) after being punished. Al-Ghazālī adds that through the grace (faḍl) of God no monotheist remains in hell for all eternity.

According to at-Tahāwī's creed, this only applies to the serious sinners from Muhammad's ummah: They are in hell, but not forever if they were monotheists at the time of death. What happens to them lies within God: if he wants, he forgives them through his grace (faḍl), and if he wants, he punishes them in his justice (ʿadl) and then brings them through His mercy (raḥma) and through the intercession of those who obey him out of hell and make them enter the Paradise Garden.

The intercession (šafāʿa) of the Messenger of God and its effect on those of his ummah who have committed serious sins is a fixed teaching point of the Sunni faith.The Prophet reserved the intercession especially for them.According to al-Ghazālī, the Sunni believer has a total of the intercession of the prophets, then the scholars, then the martyrs, then to believe the other believers in accordance with their dignity and their rank in God. Those of the believers who have no advocate will be brought out of hell by the grace of God.

The predestination

Extent of the predestination

According to Sunni doctrine, everything that happens happens through God's decision (qadāʾ) and predestination (Qadar) or his determination (taqdīr).Predestination includes the predestination of good and bad, sweet and bitter. God has that The measured (qadar) of creatures and determined their time of time.He makes his creatures sick and heals them, lets them die and makes them alive, while the creatures themselves have no power over it.God lets die without fear and brings to life without exertion.The one who dies dies on the appointed date, even if he is killed.

God has written the things predestined for the creatures on the well-kept tablet (al-lauḥ al-maḥfūẓ). The pen she wrote is the first thing God created. God commanded him to write down what will be until the day of resurrection. The pen has already dried out and the scrolls are rolled up.Everything that was written on it in ancient times is immutable.

God is righteous in his judgments (aqḍiya), but his righteousness cannot be decided by analogy with the righteousness of people, because unjust actions for people are only conceivable with regard to someone else's property, but God does not encounter someone else's property anywhere so that he could behave unfairly to him.The principle of predestination is God's mystery with regard to his creatures. No Archangel and no prophet is informed of this. Reflecting on predestination leads to destruction and is a step toward rebellion against God because He has hidden the knowledge about it from people.

The Blessed and the Damned

It is made easy for everyone for what they were created for. Blessed are whose who are saved by God's judgment (qaḍāʾ Allāh), condemned are whose who are condemned by the judgment of God.God created paradise and hell above all else; then he created the people who are worthy of them. He has designated some out of generosity (faḍlan) for paradise, the others out of justice (ʿadlan) for hell.God has always known the number of those who go to paradise and the number of those who go to hell. This number is neither increased nor decreased.When God creates the body of the embryo, he sends an angel to him who writes down his livelihood (rizq), the hour he dies, his deeds and whether he is a damned (šaqī) or a blessed (saʿīd).

The Sunni believer does not doubt his belief.Humans neither know how they are registered by God (whether as believers or unbelievers), nor how it ends with them.God is also the converter of hearts (muqallib al-qulūb).Therefore it is recommended to say: "A believer, if God is willing" or "I hope that I am a Believer". Such a way of expression does not make people into doubters, because by that, they only mean that their otherworldly fate and their end are hidden from them. The Sunnis do not speak to any of the people who pray to the Kaaba, to paradise or hell, because of a good deed or a sin he has committed.

The Quran as it exists today in book form was compiled by Muhammad's companions (Sahabah) within a handful of months of his death, and is accepted by all sects of Islam. Many matters of belief and daily life were not directly prescribed in the Quran, but were actions observed by Muhammad and the early Muslim community. Later generations sought out oral traditions regarding the early history of Islam, and the practices of Muhammad and his first followers, and wrote them down so that they might be preserved. These recorded oral traditions are called hadith.Muslim scholars have through the ages sifted through the hadith and evaluated the chain of narrations of each tradition, scrutinizing the trustworthiness of the narrators and judging the strength of each hadith accordingly.

Kutub al-Sittah

Kutub al-Sittah are six books containing collections of hadiths. Sunni Muslims accept the hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim as the most authentic (sahih), and while accepting all hadiths verified as authentic, grant a slightly lesser status to the collections of other recorders. Four other hadith collections are also held in particular reverence by Sunni Muslims, making a total of six:

Sahih al-Bukhari of Muhammad al-BukhariSahih Muslim of Muslim ibn al-HajjajSunan al-Sughra of Al-Nasa'iSunan Abu Dawud of Abu DawoodJami' at-Tirmidhi of Al-TirmidhiSunan Ibn Majah of Ibn Majah

There are also other collections of hadith which also contain many authentic hadith and are frequently used by scholars and specialists. Examples of these collections include:

Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq of 'Abd ar-Razzaq as-San'aniMusnad of Ahmad ibn HanbalMustadrak of Al HaakimMuwatta of Imam MalikSahih Ibn HibbaanSahih Ibn Khuzaymah of Ibn KhuzaymahSunan al-Darimi of Al-Darimi