210-545: The Rashidun Caliphate ( Arabic : ٱلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ , romanized : al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah ) consisted of the first four successive caliphs (lit. 'successors') who led the Muslim community following the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632 – Abu Bakr ( r. 632–634 ), Umar ( r. 634–644 ), Uthman ( r. 644–656 ), and Ali ( r. 656–661 ). During
420-590: A Hidraj from Mecca to Medina. According to the testimony of the transoxanian scholar Abu al-Yusr al-Bazdawi (d. 1099) the Kullabites (followers of the Basrian scholar Ibn Kullab (d. 855)) dayed about themselves, that they are among the ahl as-sunna wa l-jama too. Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari used the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah rarely, and preferred another combination. Later Asharites like al-Isfaranini (d. 1027) nad Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 1078) used
630-501: A Khateeb (one who speaks). A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, and it is estimated over 85–90% are Sunni. Regarding the question which dogmatic tendencies are to be assigned to Sunnism, there is no agreement among Muslim scholars. Since the early modern period, is the idea that a total of three groups belong to
840-642: A brief siege in July 634 ( see Battle of Bosra ), effectively ending the dynasty of the Ghassanids . From Bosra, Khalid sent orders to the other corps commanders to join him at Ajnadayn, where, according to early Muslim historians, a Byzantine army of 90,000 (modern sources state 9,000) was concentrated to push back the Muslims. The Byzantine army was defeated decisively on 30 July 634 in the Battle of Ajnadayn . It
1050-626: A certain act as a religious obligation, another may see the same act as optional. These schools are not regarded as sects; rather, they represent differing viewpoints on issues that are not considered the core of Islamic belief . Historians have differed regarding the exact delineation of the schools based on the underlying principles they follow. Many traditional scholars saw Sunni Islam in two groups: Ahl al-Ra'y , or "people of reason", due to their emphasis on scholarly judgment and discourse; and Ahl al-Hadith , or "people of traditions", due to their emphasis on restricting juristic thought to only what
1260-575: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
1470-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
1680-1081: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
1890-575: A dynastic absolute monarchy that championed the reformist doctrines of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ; the eponym of the Wahhabi movement . 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
2100-418: A famous follower of Ali , encouraged during the Battle of Siffin with the expression, Ali's political rival Mu'awiya kills the sunna . After the battle, it was agreed that "the righteous Sunnah , the unifying, not the divisive" (" as-Sunna al-ʿādila al-ǧāmiʿa ġair al-mufarriqa ") should be consulted to resolve the conflict. The time when the term sunna became the short form for " Sunnah of
2310-583: A few short decades would lead to one of the largest empires in history . Abu Bakr began with Iraq , the richest province of the Sasanian Empire . He sent general Khalid ibn al-Walid to invade the Sassanian Empire in 633. He thereafter also sent four armies to invade the Roman province of Syria , but the decisive operation was only undertaken when Khalid, after completing the conquest of Iraq,
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#17327572032532520-521: A fight. Abu Ubaida himself, along with Khalid, moved to northern Syria to reconquer it with a 17,000-man army. Khalid, along with his cavalry, was sent to Hazir and Abu Ubaidah moved to the city of Qasreen. Khalid defeated a strong Byzantine army at the Battle of Hazir and reached Qasreen before Abu Ubaidah. The city surrendered to Khalid, and soon after, Abu Ubaidah arrived in June 637. Abu Ubaidah then moved against Aleppo , with Khalid, as usual, commanding
2730-580: 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. The sequence of events of
2940-431: A governor ( amir ) and a financial officer called an amil . These new posts were integral to the efficient network of taxation that financed the empire. With the bounty secured from conquest, Umar was able to support its faith in material ways: the companions of Muhammad were given pensions on which to live, allowing them to pursue religious studies and exercise spiritual leadership in their communities and beyond. Umar
3150-487: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
3360-402: A man following them, holding an order to execute them, at which point, the protesters returned to Uthman's home, bearing the order. Uthman swore that he did not write the order and to talk the protesters down. The protesters responded by demanding he step down as caliph. Uthman refused and returned to his room, whereupon the protesters broke into Uthman's house from the back and killed him while he
3570-690: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
3780-423: A movement called ahl al-hadith under the leadership of Ahmad ibn Hanbal . 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. In the 10th century AD al-Ash'ari and al-Maturidi found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalism and Hanbalite literalism, using
3990-639: A new force, which made a stand at the Battle of Nihawānd , some forty miles south of Hamadan in modern Iran . The Rashidun army, under the command of Umar's appointed general Nu'man ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani, attacked and again defeated the Persian forces. The Muslims proclaimed it the Victory of Victories (Fath alfotuh), as it marked the End of the Sasanians , shattering the last strongest Sasanian army. Yazdegerd
4200-549: A perilous march of 5 days, appeared in north-western Syria. The border forts of Sawa , Arak , Tadmur , Sukhnah , al-Qaryatayn and Hawarin were the first to fall to the invading Muslims. Khalid marched on to Bosra via the Damascus road. At Bosra, the Corps of Abu Ubaidah and Shurhabil joined Khalid, upon which, per Abu Bakr's orders, Khalid assumed overall command from Abu Ubaidah. Bosra, caught unprepared, surrendered after
4410-594: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
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#17327572032534620-475: A scholar of Islamic law ( sharia ) or Islamic theology ( Kalām ). Both religious and political leadership are in principle open to all Muslims. According to the Islamic Center of 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
4830-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
5040-470: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
5250-560: A third faction known as Kharijites , who were former supporters of Ali, rebelled against both Ali and Mu'awiya after refusing to accept the arbitration in the Battle of Siffin . The war led to the overthrow of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 by Mu'awiya. The civil war permanently consolidated the divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, with Shia Muslims believing Ali to be
5460-507: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
5670-507: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
5880-578: A vast territory was conquered comprising Mesopotamia , the Levant , parts of Anatolia , and most of the Sasanian Empire . Unlike the Sasanian Persians , the Byzantines, after losing Syria, retreated back to Anatolia. As a result, they also lost Egypt to the invading Rashidun army, although the civil wars among the Muslims halted the war of conquest for many years, and this gave time for
6090-476: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
6300-737: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
6510-590: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
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6720-559: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
6930-514: Is also found in the Qur'an , according to Sunnis. Therefore, narratives of companions are also reliably taken into account for knowledge of the Islamic faith. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Qur'an . Sunni Islam does not have a formal hierarchy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become
7140-530: Is also remembered for establishing the Islamic calendar; like the Arabian calendar, it is lunar , but the origin is set in 622, the year of the Hijra when Muhammad emigrated to Medina. While Umar was leading the morning prayers in 644, he was assassinated by the Persian slave Abu Lu'lu'a Firuz . He appointed Suhayb ibn Sinan to lead the prayers. Before Umar died, he appointed a committee of six men to decide on
7350-711: Is also used on Western research literature to denote the Sunni-Shia contrast. One of the earliest supporting documents for ahl as-sunna derives from the Basric scholar Muhammad Ibn Siri (d. 728). His is mentioned in the Sahih of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj quoted with: "Formerly one did not ask about the Isnad . But when the fitna started, one said: 'Name us your informants'. One would then respond to them: If they were Sunnah people, you accept their hadith. But if they are people of
7560-478: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
7770-463: Is considered in Sunni Islam to have been 'rightly-guided', meaning that it constitutes a model ( sunnah ) to be followed and emulated from a religious point of view. This term is not used by Shia Muslims , who reject the rule of the first three caliphs as illegitimate. After Muhammad 's death in 632 CE (11 AH ), his Medinan companions debated which of them should succeed him in running
7980-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
8190-472: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
8400-512: Is forbidden even if it verifies the truth. 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 ). 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
8610-752: Is found in scripture. Ibn Khaldun defined the Sunni schools as three: the Hanafi school representing reason, the Ẓāhirīte school representing tradition, and a broader, middle school encompassing the Shafi'ite , Malikite and Hanbalite schools. During the Middle Ages , the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt delineated the acceptable Sunni schools as only Hanafi , Maliki , Shafi'i and Hanbali , excluding
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8820-665: Is known among his followers as caliph and Amir-al-mu'mineen , "The Commander of the Faithful". 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. Following the puritan approach of Ibn Kathir , Muhammad Rashid Rida , etc. many contemporary Tafsir (exegetic treatises) downplay
9030-566: Is known as the Battle of the Iron Bridge . The Muslim army defeated the Byzantines and Antioch surrendered on 30 October 637 CE. Later during the year, Abu Ubaidah sent Khalid and Iyad ibn Ghanm at the head of two separate armies against the western part of Jazira , most of which was conquered without strong resistance, including parts of Anatolia, Edessa and the area up to the Ararat plain . Other columns were sent to Anatolia as far west as
9240-438: Is motivated by political discourse or by traditionalist thought alone. 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
9450-468: 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. Founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 944), the Maturidiyyah
9660-574: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
9870-855: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
10080-551: Is recorded by Masrūq ibn al-Adschdaʿ (d. 683), who was a Mufti in Kufa , a need to love the first two caliphs Abū Bakr and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and acknowledge their priority ( Fadā'il ). A disciple of Masrūq, the scholar ash-Shaʿbī (d. between 721 und 729), who first sided with the Shia in Kufa during Civil War, but turned away in disgust by their fanaticism and finally decided to join
10290-513: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
10500-590: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
10710-604: 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. 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. The first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as
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#173275720325310920-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
11130-512: 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: "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... as for whether the Ash’aris or
11340-524: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
11550-561: Is used, for example, in the final document of the Grozny Conference . Only those "people of the Hadith" are assigned to Sunnism who practice tafwīḍ , i.e. who refrain from interpreting the ambiguous statements of the Quran. 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
11760-751: Is used, the Ashʿarites and Māturīdites are meant. This position was also taken over by the Egyptian Fatwa Office in July 2013. In Ottoman times, many efforts were made to establish a good harmony between the teachings of the Ashʿarīya and the Māturīdīya. 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 Fatiha : "As far as
11970-629: 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 Bātinites . 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
12180-416: The sahaba , tabi'in , and tabi al-tabi'in as the salaf (predecessors). The Arabic term sunna , according to which Sunnis are named, is old and roots in pre-Islamic language. It was used for traditions which a majority of people followed. The term got greater political significance after the murder of the third caliph Uthman ( r. 644–656 ). It is said Malik al-Ashtar ,
12390-399: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
12600-426: The Qur'an and sunnah . 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 several other names . Adherents of traditionalist theology believe that the 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
12810-438: The Banu Adi clan. Under Umar, the caliphate expanded at an unprecedented rate, ruling more than two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire and nearly the entire Sasanian Empire . Umar was assassinated in November 644 and was succeeded by Uthman, a member of the Banu Umayya clan, who was elected by a six-person committee arranged by Umar. Under Uthman, the caliphate concluded its conquest of Persia in 651 and continued expeditions into
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#173275720325313020-452: The Battle of Muzieh , then the Battle of Sanni , and finally the Battle of Zumail . These devastating defeats ended Persian control over Iraq. In December 633, Khalid reached the border city of Firaz, where he defeated the combined forces of the Sasanian Persians , Byzantines and Christian Arabs in the Battle of Firaz . This was the last battle in his conquest of Iraq. Khalid then left Mesopotamia to lead another campaign in Syria against
13230-420: The Battle of River , fought in the third week of April 633; the Battle of Walaja , fought in May 633 (where he successfully used a pincer movement ), and the Battle of Ullais , fought in mid-May of 633. In the last week of May 633, the capital city of Iraq fell to the Muslims after initial resistance in the Battle of Hira . After resting his armies, Khalid moved in June 633 towards Anbar , which resisted and
13440-412: The Battle of the Bridge in which Abu Ubayd was killed. The response was delayed until after a decisive Muslim victory against the Romans in the Levant at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636. Umar was then able to transfer forces to the east and resume the offensive against the Sasanians. Umar dispatched 36,000 men along with 7500 troops from the Syrian front, under the command of Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās against
13650-416: The Byzantine Empire to recover. The first Islamic invasion of the Sasanian Empire, launched by Caliph Abu Bakr in 633, was a swift conquest, taking only four months. Abu Bakr sent his general, Khalid ibn al-Walid, to conquer Mesopotamia after the Ridda wars . After entering Iraq with his army of 18,000, Khalid won decisive victories in four consecutive battles: the Battle of Chains , fought in April 633;
13860-404: 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. Traditionalist or Athari theology is a movement of Islamic scholars who reject rationalistic Islamic theology ( kalam ) in favor of strict textualism in interpreting
14070-496: The Innovations , the hadith was rejected." G.H.A. Juynboll assumed, the term fitna in this statement is not related to the first Civil War (665–661) after murder of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān , but the second Civil War (680–692) in which the Islamic community was split into four parties ( Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr , the Umayyads , the Shia under al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbaid and the Kharijites). The term ahl as-sunna designated in this situation whose, who stayed away from heretic teachings of
14280-401: The Koran – Scholars, 6. the Sufi ascetics ( az-zuhhād aṣ-ṣūfīya ), 7. those who perform the ribat and jihad against the enemies of Islam, 8. the general crowd. According to this classification, the Sufis are one of a total of eight groups within Sunnism, defined according to their religious specialization. The Tunisian scholar Muhammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Bakkī (d. 1510) also included
14490-427: The Prophet " (S unnat an-Nabī ) is still unknown. During the Umayyad Caliphate , several political movements, including the Shia and the Kharijites rebelled against the formation of the state. They led their battles in the name of "the book of God ( Qur'an ) and the Sunnah of his Prophet". During the second Civil War (680–92) the Sunna-term received connotations critical of Shi'i doctrines ( Tashayyu' ). It
14700-497: 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. 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. The seeds of metamorphosis of caliphate into kingship were sown, as
14910-410: The Sufis are also part of Sunnism. This view can already be found in the Shafi'ite scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 1037). In his 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 and language scholars, 5.
15120-498: The Taurus Mountains , the important city of Marash , and Malatya , which were all conquered by Khalid in the autumn of 638 CE. During Uthman's reign, the Byzantines recaptured many forts in the region and on Uthman's orders, a series of campaigns were launched to regain control of them. In 647 Muawiyah , the governor of Syria, sent an expedition against Anatolia, invading Cappadocia and sacking Caesarea Mazaca . In 648
15330-729: The Transcaucasus in the north; North Africa from Egypt to present-day Tunisia in the west; and the Iranian Plateau to parts of Central and South Asia in the east. The four Rashidun caliphs were chosen by a small electoral body – consisting of prominent members of the high-ranking companions of the Prophet ;– called shūrā ( شُورَى , lit. ' consultation ' ). The Arabic word rāshidūn (singular: rāshid راشد ) means "rightly-guided". The reign of these four caliphs
15540-568: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
15750-427: The companions of Muhammad to be reliable transmitters of Islam, since God and Muhammad accepted their integrity. Medieval sources even prohibit cursing or vilifying them. 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
15960-510: 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
16170-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
16380-557: The principles of jurisprudence developed by the traditional legal schools . In matters of creed , the Sunni tradition upholds the six pillars of iman (faith) and comprises the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of kalam (theology) as well as the textualist Athari school. Sunnis regard the first four caliphs Abu Bakr ( r. 632–634 ), Umar ( r. 634–644 ), Uthman ( r. 644–656 ) and Ali ( r. 656–661 ) as rashidun (rightly-guided) and revere
16590-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
16800-659: The "orthodox" or "patriarchal" caliphs. The caliphate arose following Muhammad’s death in June 632 and the subsequent debate over the succession to his leadership . Muhammad's close companion Abu Bakr, of the Banu Taym clan, was elected the first caliph in Medina and he began the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula . His brief reign ended in August 634 when he died and was succeeded by Umar, his appointed successor from
17010-884: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Sunni Islam Others In terms of Ihsan : Sunni Islam ( / ˈ s uː n i / ; Arabic : أهل السنة , romanized : Ahl as-Sunnah , lit. 'The People of
17220-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
17430-615: 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 . 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
17640-571: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
17850-779: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
18060-483: The 9th century. It is recorded that the disciple of Ahmad ibn Hanbal Harb ibn Ismail as-Sirjdshani (d. 893) created a writing with the title as-Sunna wa l-Jamāʿah , to which the Mutazilite Abu al-Qasim al-Balchi wrote a refutation later. Al-Jubba'i (d. 916) tells in his Kitāb al-Maqālāt , that Ahmad ibn Hanbal attributed to his students the predicate sunnī jamāʿah ("Jammatic Sunnite"). This indicates that
18270-526: The Ansar for his succession, explained by the genealogical links he shared with them. Whether his candidacy for the succession was raised during Saqifah is unknown, though it is not unlikely. Abu Bakr later sent Umar to confront Ali to gain his allegiance, resulting in an altercation which may have involved violence. However, after six months the group made peace with Abu Bakr and Ali offered him his fealty. Troubles emerged soon after Muhammad's death, threatening
18480-637: The Arabian tribes, which had claimed that although they pledged allegiance to Muhammad and accepted Islam, they owed nothing to Abu Bakr. As a caliph, Abu Bakr was not a monarch and never claimed such a title; nor did any of his three successors. Rather, their election and leadership were based upon merit . Notably, according to Sunnis, all four Rashidun Caliphs were connected to Muhammad through marriage, were early converts to Islam, were among ten who were explicitly promised paradise , were his closest companions by association and support and were often highly praised by Muhammad and delegated roles of leadership within
18690-583: 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. The 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 . In many medieval texts from
18900-641: The Byzantine Empire, after which Mithna ibn Haris took command in Mesopotamia. The Persians once again concentrated armies to regain Mesopotamia, while Mithna ibn Haris withdrew from central Iraq to the region near the Arabian desert to delay war until reinforcement came from Medina. Umar sent reinforcements under the command of Abu Ubayd al-Thaqafi . This army was defeated by the Sasanian army at
19110-476: The Byzantine army was at Fahl, which was joined by survivors of Ajnadayn. With this threat at their rear, the Muslim armies could not move further north nor south. Thus Abu Ubaidah decided to deal with the situation, and defeated and routed this garrison at the Battle of Fahl on 23 January 635, which proved to be the "Key to Palestine". After this battle Abu Ubaidah and Khalid marched north towards Emesa ; Yazid
19320-549: The Byzantine territories. Uthman was assassinated in June 656, and succeeded by Ali, a member of the Banu Hashim clan, who transferred the capital to Kufa . Ali presided over the civil war called the First Fitna as his suzerainty was unrecognized by Uthman's kinsman and Syria's governor Mu'awiya ibn Abu Sufyan ( r. 661–680 ), who believed that Uthman's murderers should be punished immediately. Additionally,
19530-534: The Caliphate's existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in West Asia and Northeast Africa . In Sunni Islam , the caliphate is considered to have been 'rightly guided' (the meaning of al-Rāshidūn ; الراشدون ), meaning that it constitutes a model ( sunna ) to be followed and emulated from a religious point of view. The caliphs are also known in Muslim history as
19740-676: The Christian Arab auxiliaries of the Roman army in a skirmish . Nothing further happened until the third week of August, during which the Battle of Yarmouk was fought. The battle lasted 6 days during which Abu Ubaida transferred the command of the entire army to Khalid. Outnumbered five-to-one, the Muslims nevertheless defeated the Byzantine army in October 636. Abu Ubaida held a meeting with his high command officers, including Khalid, to decide on future conquests, settling on Jerusalem . The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months, after which
19950-594: 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. 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. Sunnis believe
20160-565: The Hanbalis were the first to use the phrase ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah as a self-designation. The Karramiyya founded by Muhammad ibn Karram (d. 859) referred to the sunnah and community. They passed down in praise of their school founder a hadith, according to which Muhammad predicted that at the end of times a man named Muhammad ibn Karram will appear, who will restore the sunna and the community ( as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah ) and take Hidraj from Chorasan to Jerusalem, just how Muhammad himself took
20370-536: The Hanbalites. The late Ottoman thinker İsmail Hakkı İzmirli [ tr ] (d. 1946), who agreed to dividing Sunnis into these three groups, called the traditionalist group Salafiyya , but also used Athariyya as an alternative term. For the Maturidiyya he gives Nasafīyya as a possible alternative name. Another used for the traditionalist-oriented group is "people of Hadith " ( ahl al-ḥadīṯ ). It
20580-701: The Islamic East, the Ahl as-Sunna are also differentiated to the Muʿtazilites. 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. Ibn Taymiyya argued that the Muʿtazilites belong to the Sunnis in the general sense because they recognize the caliphate of the first three caliphs. There is broad agreement that
20790-496: 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.. I don't hold that we should say that they are not from Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah whatsoever" The Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328) distinguished in his work Minhāj as-sunna between Sunnis in
21000-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
21210-470: The Muslim cavalry, under Khalid's command, attacked the Roman army by catching up to them using an unknown shortcut at the battle of Maraj-al-Debaj . On 22 August 634, Abu Bakr died, making Umar his successor. As Umar became caliph, he restored Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah to the overall command of the Muslim armies. The conquest of Syria slowed down under him while he relied heavily on the advice of Khalid, who he kept close at hand. The last large garrison of
21420-402: The Persian . Demands to take revenge for the assassination of Caliph Uthman rose among parts of the population, and a large army of rebels led by Zubayr , Talha and the widow of Muhammad, Aisha , set out to fight the perpetrators. The army reached Basra and captured it, whereupon 4,000 suspected seditionists were put to death. Subsequently, Ali turned towards Basra and the caliph's army met
21630-574: The Persian army. The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah followed, with the Persians prevailing at first, but, on the third day of fighting, the Muslims gained the upper hand. The legendary Persian general Rostam Farrokhzād was killed during the battle. According to some sources, the Persian losses were 20,000, and the Arabs lost 10,500 men. Following this Battle, the Arab Muslim armies pushed forward toward
21840-469: The Persian capital of Ctesiphon (also called Madā'in in Arabic), which was quickly evacuated by Yazdgird after a brief siege . After seizing the city, they continued their drive eastwards, following Yazdgird and his remaining troops. Within a short span of time, the Arab armies defeated a major Sasanian counterattack in the Battle of Jalūlā', as well as other engagements at Qasr-e Shirin , and Masabadhan. By
22050-478: The Persian government was, however, incitement to revolt in the conquered territories and unlike the Byzantine army, the Sasanian army was continuously striving to regain their lost territories. Finally, Umar pressed forward, which eventually resulted in the wholesale conquest of the Sasanian Empire. Yazdegerd, the Sasanian king, made yet another effort to regroup and defeat the invaders. By 641 he had raised
22260-503: The Qadarites here. In the 9th century, one started to extent the term ahl as-sunna with further positive additions. Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari used for his own group expressions like ahl as-sunna wa-l-istiqāma ("people of Sunna and Straightness"), ahl as-sunna wa-l-ḥadīṯ ("people of Sunnah and of the Hadith") or ahl al-ḥaqq wa-s-sunna ("people of Truth and of the Sunnah"). When the expression 'ahl as-sunna wa l-jama'ah appeared for
22470-641: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
22680-554: The Rashidun army raided Phrygia . A major offensive into Cilicia and Isauria in 650–651 forced the Byzantine Emperor Constans II to enter into negotiations with Muawiyah. The truce that followed allowed a short respite and made it possible for Constans II to hold on to the western portions of Armenia . In 654–655, on the orders of Uthman, an expedition prepared to attack Constantinople , but this plan
22890-576: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
23100-464: 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
23310-516: The Sufis in Sunnism. He divided the Sunnis into the following three groups according to their knowledge ( istiqrāʾ ): Similarly, Murtadā az-Zabīdī stated elsewhere in his commentary on Ghazzali's Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn that the Sunnis consisted of four groups (firaq ), namely the hadith scholars ( muḥaddiṯhūn), the Sufis, the Ashʿarites and the Māturīdites. Some ulema wanted to exclude
23520-594: The Sunnah';) is the largest branch of Islam , followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims , and simultaneously the largest religious denomination in the world. 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
23730-518: The Sunni Creed by at-Tahawi (d. 933), the term jama contrasts several times the Arabic term furqa ("division, sectarianism"). Thus at-Tahāwī explains that jama is considered as true or right ( ḥaqq wa-ṣawāb ) and furqa as aberration and punishment ( zaiġ wa-ʿaḏāb ). Ibn Taymiyyah argues, that jama as opposite term to furqa inherents the meaning of iǧtimāʿ ("Coming together, being together, agreement"). Furthermore, he connects it with
23940-666: The Sunnis are concerned, it is the Ashʿarites and those who follow in their correct belief." 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. Twentieth-century Syrian - Albanian Athari Salafi theologian Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani rejected extremism in excluding Ash'aris from Sunni Islam. He believed that despite that their fundamental differences from Atharis, not every Ash'ari
24150-531: The Sunnis: 1. those named after Abu l-Hasan al-Aschʿari (d. 935) Ashʿarites , 2. those named after Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 941) named Maturidites 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
24360-542: The Umayyad Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik , popularized the concept of Sunnah . It is also passed down by asch-Shaʿbī, that he took offensive at the hatred on ʿĀʾiša bint Abī Bakr and considered it a violation of the Sunnah . The term Sunna instead of the longer expression ahl as-sunna or ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah as a group-name for Sunnis is a relatively young phenomenon. It was probably Ibn Taymiyyah , who used
24570-592: The affairs of the Muslims while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial. Umar and Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr , with the Ansar and the Quraysh soon following suit. Abu Bakr adopted the title of Khalīfaṫ Rasūl Allāh ( خَلِيفةُ رَسُولِ اللهِ , "Successor of the Messenger of God") or simply caliph. Abu Bakr embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First he would have to subdue
24780-549: 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 ,
24990-416: The cavalry. After the Battle of Aleppo the city finally agreed to surrender in October 637. Abu Ubaidah and Khalid ibn al-Walid, after conquering all of northern Syria, moved north towards Anatolia taking the fort of Azaz to clear the flank and rear of Byzantine troops. On their way to Antioch, a Roman army blocked them near a river on which there was an iron bridge. Because of this, the following battle
25200-616: The city agreed to surrender, but only to Caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab in person. Amr ibn Al As suggested that Khalid should be sent as Caliph, because of his very strong resemblance to Caliph Umar. Khalid was recognized and eventually, Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab came and Jerusalem surrendered in April 637. Abu Ubaida sent Amr bin al-As, Yazid bin Abu Sufyan, and Sharjeel bin Hassana back to their areas to reconquer them; most submitted without
25410-502: The city in March 636. The prisoners taken in the battle informed them about Emperor Heraclius's plans to take back Syria. They said that an army possibly 200,000 strong would soon emerge to recapture the province. Khalid stopped here on June 636. As soon as Abu Ubaida heard the news of the advancing Byzantine army, he gathered all his officers to plan their next move. Khalid suggested that they should consolidate all of their forces present in
25620-524: 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. Their preferred school of law achieved a new prominence throughout their whole empire although it continued to be followed almost exclusively by followers of
25830-574: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
26040-491: The creed discussing it and agreeing upon some of its principles. 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
26250-434: The different warring parties. The term ahl as-sunna was always a laudatory designation. Abu Hanifa (d. 769), who sympathized with Murdshia , insisted that this were "righteous people and people of the Sunnah" ( ahl al-ʿadl wa-ahl as-sunna ). According to Josef van Ess this term did not mean more than "honorable and righteous believing people". Among Hanafits the designation ahl as-sunna and ahl al-ʿadl (people of
26460-834: The distinction between a broader and narrower circle of Sunnis from Ibn Taimiya, said that Kullabiyya and the Ashʿarīyya are Sunnis in the general sense, while the 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 . The Saudi scholar Muhammad Ibn al-ʿUthaimin (d. 2001), who like Ibn Taimiya differentiated between Sunnis in general and special senses, also excluded
26670-483: 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. A direct reference to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict could not be found. It remains unclear whether the refusal of Isrā'iliyyāt
26880-439: 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)". Ali, during his rather brief regime after Uthman maintained austere life style and tried hard to bring back
27090-533: 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
27300-570: The eleventh year of the Hijri. The year 12 Hijri dawned on 18 March 633 with the Arabian peninsula united under the caliph in Medina. After Abu Bakr unified Arabia under Islam, he began the incursions into the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire . Whether or not he intended a full-out imperial conquest is hard to say; he did, however, set in motion a historical trajectory that in just
27510-587: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
27720-476: 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
27930-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
28140-461: The expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah too and used them in their works to designate the teachings of their own school. According to al-Bazdawi all Asharites in his time said they belong to the ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah . During this time, the term has been used as a self-designation by the hanafite Maturidites in Transoxiania, used frequently by Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi (d. 983), Abu Schakur as-Salimi (d. 1086) and al-Bazdawi himself. They used
28350-447: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
28560-407: The first rightful caliph and Imam after Muhammad, favouring his bloodline connection to Muhammad. The Rashidun Caliphate is characterized by a 25-year period of rapid military expansion followed by a five-year period of internal strife . The Rashidun Army numbered more than 100,000 men at its peak. By the 650s, in addition to the Arabian Peninsula , the caliphate had subjugated the Levant to
28770-406: The first time, is not entirely clear. The Abbasite Caliph Al-Ma'mūn (reigned 813–33) criticized in his Mihna edict a group of people, who related themselves to the sunnah ( nasabū anfusa-hum ilā s-sunna ) and claimed, they are the "people of truth, religion and community" ( ahl al-ḥaqq wa-d-dīn wa-l-jamāʿah ). Sunna and jamāʿah are already connected here. As a pair, these terms already appear in
28980-503: The foundations of a political structure that could hold it together. He created the Diwan , a bureau for transacting government affairs. The military was brought directly under state control and into its pay. Crucially, in conquered lands, Umar did not require that non-Muslim populations convert to Islam, nor did he try to centralize government. Instead, he allowed subject populations to retain their religion, language, and customs, and he left their government relatively untouched, imposing only
29190-421: 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
29400-403: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
29610-458: 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 Rafidites . Sunnis in the special sense are only the "people of the hadith" ( ahl al-ḥadīṯ ). İsmail Hakkı İzmirli, who took over
29820-419: The hand and offered them to the Ansar as potential choices. He was countered with the suggestion that the Quraysh and the Ansar choose a leader each from among themselves, who would then rule jointly. The group grew heated upon hearing this proposal and began to argue amongst themselves. Umar hastily took Abu Bakr's hand and swore his own allegiance to the latter, an example followed by the gathered men. Abu Bakr
30030-420: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
30240-434: The interior, according to Method as practiced by al-Junaid Al- Baghdadi and the "Imams of Guidance" ( aʾimma al-hudā ) who followed his path. In the 11th century, Sufism, which had previously been a less "codified" trend in Islamic piety, began to be "ordered and crystallized" into Tariqahs (orders) which have continued until the present day. All these orders were founded by a major Sunni Islamic saint , and some of
30450-558: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
30660-528: The largest and most widespread included the Qadiriyya (after Abdul-Qadir Gilani [d. 1166]), the Rifa'iyya (after Ahmed al-Rifa'i [d. 1182]), the Chishtiyya (after Moinuddin Chishti [d. 1236]), the Shadiliyya (after Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili [d. 1258]), and the Naqshbandiyya (after Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari [d. 1389]). Contrary to popular Orientalist depictions, neither the founders of these orders nor their followers considered themselves to be anything other than orthodox Sunni Muslims, Many of
30870-550: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
31080-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
31290-432: 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,
31500-483: The lifetime of Muhammad. The first incident of apostasy was fought and concluded while Muhammad still lived; a supposed prophet Aswad Ansi arose and invaded South Arabia ; he was killed on 30 May 632 (6 Rabi' al-Awwal, 11 Hijri) by Governor Fērōz of Yemen, a Persian Muslim. The news of his death reached Medina shortly after the death of Muhammad. The apostasy of al-Yamama was led by another supposed prophet, Musaylimah , who arose before Muhammad's death; other centers of
31710-399: The long conflict between Byzantines and Persians had left both sides militarily exhausted, and the Islamic armies easily prevailed against them. By 640, they had brought all of Mesopotamia , Syria and Palestine under the control of the Rashidun Caliphate; Egypt was conquered by 642, and almost the entire Sassanian Empire by 643. While the caliphate continued its rapid expansion, Umar laid
31920-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
32130-420: 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 . 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
32340-407: The meeting became concerned about a potential coup and hastened to the gathering. Upon arriving, Abu Bakr addressed the assembled men with a warning that any attempt to elect a leader outside of Muhammad's own tribe, the Quraysh , would likely result in dissension as only they can command the necessary respect among the community. He then took Umar and another companion, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah , by
32550-498: The methodology with regard to each school. While conflict between the schools was often violent in the past, the four Sunni schools recognize each other's validity and they have interacted in legal debate over the centuries. There are many intellectual traditions within the field of Shari'ah ( Islamic law ), often referred to as Madh'habs (legal schools). These varied traditions reflect differing viewpoints on some laws and obligations within Islamic law. While one school may see
32760-577: The mid-7th century, the Arabs controlled all of Mesopotamia, including the area that is now the Iranian province of Khuzestan . It is said that Caliph Umar did not wish to send his troops through the Zagros Mountains and onto the Iranian plateau. One tradition has it that he wished for a "wall of fire" to keep the Arabs and Persians apart. Later commentators explain this as a common-sense precaution against over-extension of his forces. The Arabs had only recently conquered large territories that still had to be garrisoned and administered. The continued existence of
32970-641: The most eminent defenders of Islamic orthodoxy, such as 'Abd al-Qadir Jilani , Al-Ghazali , Sultan Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Al-Ayyubi ( Saladin ) were connected with Sufism." The Salafi and Wahhabi strands of Sunnism do not accept many mystical practices associated with the contemporary Sufi orders. Interpreting Islamic law by deriving specific rulings – such as how to pray – is commonly known as Islamic jurisprudence . The schools of law all have their own particular tradition of interpreting this jurisprudence. As these schools represent clearly spelled out methodologies for interpreting Islamic law, there has been little change in
33180-469: The nascent Muslim community. These caliphs are collectively known in Sunni Islam as the Rashidun , or "Rightly Guided" caliphs ( الْخُلَفاءُ الرّاشِدُونَ , al-Khulafāʾ ar-Rāšidūn ). According to Sunni Muslims, the term Rashidun Caliphate is derived from a famous hadith of Muhammad, where he foretold that the caliphate after him would last for 30 years (the length of the Rashidun Caliphate) and would then be followed by kingship (the Umayyad Caliphate
33390-462: The natives of Medina, took place in the Saqifah (courtyard) of the Banu Sa'ida clan. The general belief at the time was that the purpose of the meeting was for the Ansar to decide on a new leader of the Muslim community among themselves, with the intentional exclusion of the Muhajirun (migrants from Mecca ), though this has later become the subject of debate. Nevertheless, Abu Bakr and Umar, both prominent companions of Muhammad, upon learning of
33600-624: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
33810-411: The next caliph and charged them with choosing one of their own numbers. All of the men, like Umar, were from the tribe of Quraysh. The committee narrowed down the choices to two: Uthman and Ali . Ali was from the Banu Hashim clan (the same clan as Muhammad) of the Quraysh tribe, and he was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad and had been one of his companions from the inception of his mission. Uthman
34020-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
34230-527: The orthodox Sunni faith. 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. There were also Muslim scholars who wanted to limit the Sunni term to the Ash'arites and Māturīdites alone. For example, Murtadā az-Zabīdī (d. 1790) wrote in his commentary on al-Ghazalis "Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn": "When (sc. The term)" ahl as-sunna wal jamaʿa
34440-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
34650-581: 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 Quran , together with hadith (especially the Six Books ) and ijma (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
34860-454: The principle of Ijma , a third juridical source after the Book (Quran), and the Sunnah. The Ottoman scholar Muslih ad-Din al-Qastallani (d. 1495) held the opinnion that jama means "Path of the Sahaba " ( ṭarīqat aṣ-ṣaḥāba ). The modern Indonesian theologican Nurcholish Madjid (d. 2005) interpreted jama as an inclusivistic concept: It means a society open for pluralism and dialogue but does not emphasize that much. One common mistake
35070-429: The province of Syria (Syria, Jordan, Palestine) and then move towards the plain of Yarmouk for battle. Abu Ubaida ordered the Muslim commanders to withdraw from all the conquered areas, return the tributes they had previously gathered, and move towards Yarmuk. Heraclius's army also moved towards Yarmuk, but the Muslim armies reached it in early July 636, a week or two before the Byzantines. Khalid's mobile guard defeated
35280-418: The province of Syria. However, it is regarded more as an attempt by Mu'awiya to assume the caliphate, rather than to take revenge for Uthman's murder. Ali fought Mu'awiya's forces to a stalemate at the Battle of Siffin , and then lost a controversial arbitration that ended with the arbiter, 'Amr ibn al-'As , pronouncing his support for Mu'awiya. After this Ali was forced to fight the Battle of Nahrawan against
35490-494: The rationalistic methods championed by Mu'tazilites to defend most tenets of the traditionalist doctrine. 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 Baghdad . While Ash'arism and Maturidism are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", traditionalist theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be
35700-428: The rebel army. Though neither Ali nor the leaders of the opposing force, Talha and Zubayr, wanted to fight, a battle broke out at night between the two armies. It is said, according to Sunni Muslim traditions, that those who were involved in the assassination of Uthman initiated combat, as they were afraid that negotiations between Ali and the opposing army would result in their capture and execution. The battle thus fought
35910-494: The rebellious Kharijites , a faction of his former supporters who, as a result of their dissatisfaction with the arbitration, opposed both Ali and Mu'awiya. Weakened by this internal rebellion and a lack of popular support in many provinces, Ali's forces lost control over most of the caliphate's territory to Mu'awiya while large sections of the empire—such as Sicily , North Africa , the coastal areas of Spain and some forts in Anatolia —were also lost to outside empires. In 661, Ali
36120-551: The rebels in the Battle of Dawmat al-Jandal in the last week of August 633. Returning from Arabia, he received news that a large Persian army was assembling. Within a few weeks, he decided to defeat them piecemeal in order to avoid the risk of defeat by a large unified Persian army. Four divisions of Persian and Christian Arab auxiliaries were present at Hanafiz, Zumiel, Sanni, and Muzieh. In November 633, Khalid divided his army into three units, and attacked these auxiliaries one by one from three different sides at night, starting with
36330-435: The rebels were in the Najd , Eastern Arabia (known then as al-Bahrayn ) and South Arabia (known as al-Yaman and including the Mahra ). Many tribes claimed that they had submitted to Muhammad and that with Muhammad's death, their allegiance was ended. Caliph Abu Bakr insisted that they had not just submitted to a leader but joined an ummah ( أُمَّـة , community) of which he was the new head. The result of this situation
36540-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
36750-474: The regions which were not conquered during Umar's reign; hence, the Rashidun Caliphate's frontiers in the east extended to the lower river Indus and north to the Oxus River . After Khalid consolidated his control of Iraq, Abu Bakr sent four armies to Syria on the Byzantine front under four different commanders: Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah (acting as their supreme commander), Amr ibn al-As , Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan and Shurhabil ibn Hasana . However, their advance
36960-420: The righteous) remained interchangeable for a long time. Thus the Hanafite Abū l-Qāsim as-Samarqandī (d. 953), who composed a catechism for the Samanides , used sometimes one expression and sometimes another for his own group. Singular to ahl as-sunna was ṣāḥib sunna (adherent to the sunnah). This expression was used for example by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak (d. 797) for a person, who distances himself from
37170-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
37380-412: 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
37590-536: The short-term for the first time. It was later popularized by pan-Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Rashid Rida in his treatise as-Sunna wa-š-šiʿa au al-Wahhābīya wa-r-Rāfiḍa: Ḥaqāʾiq dīnīya taʾrīḫīya iǧtimaʿīya iṣlaḥīya ("The Sunna and the Shia, Or Wahhabism and Rāfidism : Religious history, sociological und reform oriented facts") published in 1928–29. The term "Sunnah" is usually used in Arabic discourse as designation for Sunni Muslims, when they are intended to be contrasted with Shias. The word pair "Sunnah-Shia"
37800-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
38010-498: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
38220-417: The strategic town of Chalcis made peace with the Muslims for one year in order to buy time for Heraclius to prepare his defences and raise new armies. The Muslims welcomed the peace and consolidated their control over the conquered territory. However, as soon as the Muslims received the news of reinforcements being sent to Emesa and Chalcis, they marched against Emesa, laid siege to it and eventually captured
38430-598: The teachings of Shia, Kharijites , Qadarites and Murjites . In addition, the Nisba adjective sunnī was also used for the individual person. Thus it has been recorded, the Kufic scholar of the Quran Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh (d. 809) was asked, how he was a "sunni". He responded the following: "The one who, when the heresies are mentioned, doesn't get excited about any of them." The Andalusiaian scholar Ibn Hazm (d. 1064) taught later, that whose who confess to Islam can be divided into four groups: ahl as-sunna , Mutazilites , Murjites, Shites, Kharijites. The Muʿtazilites replaced
38640-506: The term as a contrast from their enemies among them Hanafites in the West, who have been followers of the Mutazilites. Al-Bazdawī also contrasted the Ahl as-Sunnah wa l-Jamāʻah with Ahl al-Ḥadīth , "because they would adhere to teachings contrary to the Quran". According to Schams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī (end of the 10th century) was the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah a laudatory term during his time, similar to ahl al-ʿadl wa-t-tawḥīd ("people of Righteousness and Divine Unity"), which
38850-445: 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
39060-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
39270-426: 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
39480-419: The two men. The treaty stated that Mu'awiya would not name a successor during his reign, and that he would let the Islamic world choose the next leader. This treaty would later be broken by Mu'awiya as he named his son Yazid I successor. Hasan was assassinated, and Mu'awiya founded the Umayyad Caliphate , supplanting the Rashidun Caliphate. The Rashidun Caliphate expanded steadily; within the span of 24 years,
39690-429: The unity and stability of the new community and state. Apostasy spread to every tribe in the Arabian Peninsula with the exception of the people in Mecca and Medina , the Banu Thaqif in Ta'if and the Bani Abdul Qais of Oman . In some cases, entire tribes apostatized. Others merely withheld zakat , the alms tax, without formally challenging Islam. Many tribal leaders made claims to prophethood; some made it during
39900-422: The wars of conquest started by Umar. The Rashidun army conquered North Africa from the Byzantines and even raided Spain, conquering the coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula , as well as the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus . Coastal Sicily was raided in 652. The Rashidun army fully conquered the Sasanian Empire, and its eastern frontiers extended up to the lower Indus River . Uthman's most lasting project
40110-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
40320-402: 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
40530-405: Was a hereditary monarchy). Furthermore, according to other hadiths in Sunan Abu Dawood and Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal , towards the end times, the Rightly Guided Caliphate will be restored once again by God. Note that a caliph's succession does not necessarily occur on the first day of the new year. After Muhammad's death in June 632, a gathering of the Ansar ( lit. ' Helpers ' ),
40740-402: Was assassinated by Ibn Muljam as part of a Kharijite plot to assassinate all the different Islamic leaders in an attempt to end the civil war, but the Kharijites failed to assassinate Mu'awiya and 'Amr ibn al-'As. Ali's son Hasan briefly assumed the caliphate for six months and came to an agreement with Mu'awiya to fix relations between the two groups of Muslims that were each loyal to one of
40950-444: Was defeated , and eventually surrendered after a siege of a few weeks in July 633. Khalid then moved towards the south, and conquered the city of Ein ul Tamr in the last week of July 633. By now, almost the whole of Iraq was under Islamic control. Khalid received a call for help from Dumat al-Jandal in Northern Arabia, where another Muslim general, Iyad ibn Ghanm , was trapped among the rebel tribes. Khalid diverted there and defeated
41160-401: Was first to clear Najd and Western Arabia near Medina, then tackle Malik ibn Nuwayrah and his forces between the Najd and al-Bahrayn, and finally concentrate against the most dangerous enemy, Musaylimah and his allies in al-Yamama. After a series of successful campaigns Khalid ibn al-Walid defeated Musaylimah in the Battle of Yamama . The Campaign on the Apostasy was fought and completed during
41370-522: Was from the Umayyad clan of the Quraysh. He was the second cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad and one of the early converts of Islam. Uthman was ultimately chosen. Uthman reigned for twelve years as a caliph. During the first half of his reign, he was the most popular caliph among all the Rashiduns , while in the latter half of his reign he met increasing opposition, led by the Egyptians and concentrated around Ali, who would albeit briefly, succeed Uthman as caliph. Despite internal troubles, Uthman continued
41580-421: Was halted by a concentration of the Byzantine army at Ajnadayn. Abu Ubaidah then sent for reinforcements. Abu Bakr ordered Khalid, who by now was planning to attack Ctesiphon , to march from Iraq to Syria with half his army. There were 2 major routes to Syria from Iraq, one passing through Mesopotamia and the other through Daumat ul-Jandal. Khalid took an unconventional route through the Syrian Desert , and after
41790-492: Was near-universally accepted as head of the Muslim community (under the title of Caliph) as a result of Saqifah, though he did face contention as a result of the rushed nature of the event. Several companions, most prominent among them being Ali ibn Abi Talib , initially refused to acknowledge his authority. Ali may have been reasonably expected to assume leadership, being both cousin and son-in-law to Muhammad. The theologian Ibrahim al-Nakha'i stated that Ali also had support among
42000-461: Was not carried out due to the civil war that broke out in 656. The Taurus Mountains in Turkey marked the western frontiers of the Rashidun Caliphate in Anatolia during Caliph Uthman's reign. Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
42210-565: Was reading the Qur'an . It was later discovered that the order to kill the rebels did not, in fact, originate from Uthman, but was, rather, part of a conspiracy to overthrow him. Following Uthman's assassination, Muhammad's cousin Ali ( r. 656–661 ) was elected caliph by the rebels and townspeople of Medina . He transferred the capital to Kufa , a garrison city in Iraq. Soon thereafter, Ali dismissed several provincial governors, some of whom were relatives of Uthman, and replaced them with trusted aides, such as Malik al-Ashtar and Salman
42420-430: Was stationed in Damascus while Amr and Shurhabil marched south to capture Palestine. While the Muslims were at Fahl, sensing the weak defense of Damascus, Emperor Heraclius sent an army to re-capture the city. This army, however, could not make it to Damascus and was intercepted by Abu Ubaidah and Khalid on their way to Emesa. The army was destroyed in the battle of Maraj-al-Rome and the second battle of Damascus. Emesa and
42630-417: Was the Ridda wars . Abu Bakr planned his strategy accordingly. He divided the Muslim army into several corps. The strongest corps, and the primary force of the Muslims, was the corps of Khalid ibn al-Walid . This corps was used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces. Other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to bring the less dangerous apostate tribes to submission. Abu Bakr's plan
42840-422: Was the final compilation of the Qur'an. Under his authority diacritics were written with Arabic letters so that non-native speakers of Arabic could easily read the Qur'an. After a protest turned into a siege on his house, Uthman refused to initiate any military action, in order to avoid civil war between Muslims and preferred to negotiate a peaceful solution. After the negotiations, the protesters returned but found
43050-418: Was the first battle between Muslims and is known as the Battle of the Camel . Ali emerged victoriously and the dispute was settled. The eminent companions of Muhammad, Talha, and Zubayr, were killed in the battle and Ali sent his son Hasan ibn Ali to escort Aisha back to Medina. Thereafter, there rose another cry for revenge for the blood of Uthman, this time by Mu'awiya , a kinsman of Uthman and governor of
43260-419: Was the first major pitched battle between the Muslims and Byzantines and cleared the way for the former to capture central Syria. Damascus , the Byzantine stronghold, was conquered shortly after on 19 September 634. The Byzantine army was given a deadline of 3 days to flee as far as they could, with their families and treasure, or simply agree to stay in Damascus and pay tribute. After the three days had passed,
43470-411: Was the major tradition in Central Asia based on Hanafi -law. It is more influenced by Persian interpretations of Islam and less on the traditions established within Arabian culture. In contrast to the traditionalistic approach, Maturidism allows to reject hadiths based on reason alone. Nevertheless, revelation remains important to inform humans about that is beyond their intellectual limits, such as
43680-521: Was transferred to the Syrian front in 634. Before dying in August 634 from an illness, Abu Bakr appointed Umar ( r. 634–644 ) as his successor. Upon his accession, Umar adopted the title amir al-mu'minin , which later became the standard title of caliphs. The new caliph continued the war of conquests begun by his predecessor, pushing further into the Sassanian Empire , north into Byzantine territory, and went into Egypt . These were regions of great wealth controlled by powerful states, but
43890-520: Was unable to raise another army and became a hunted fugitive. In 642 Umar sent the army to conquer the remainder of the Persian Empire . The entirety of present-day Iran was conquered, followed by Greater Khorasan (which included the modern Iranian Khorasan province and modern Afghanistan ), Transoxania , Balochistan and Makran (part of modern-day Pakistan), Azerbaijan , Dagestan (Russia), Armenia and Georgia ; these regions were later re-conquered during Uthman's reign with further expansion into
44100-475: Was used for Mutazilites or generally designations like Mu'minūn ("Believer") or aṣḥāb al-hudā ("people of guidance") for Muslims, who has been seen as rightoues believers. Since the expression ahl as-sunna wa l-jamāʿah was used with a demand on rightoues belief, it was used in academic researches translated as "orthodox". There are different opinions regarding what the term jama in the phrase ahl as-sunna wa l-jama actually means, among Muslim scholars. In
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