WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Sunni Islam is by far the largest branch of Islam: its followers make up 87 to 90% of the global Muslim population. The name ‘Sunni Islam’ derives from the term ahl al-sunna wa-l-jama’a (’people of the prophetic tradition and the community’).

Detailed explanation-2: -Four schools comprise Sunni jurisprudence: Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, and Hanbali, the latter spawning the Wahhabi and Salafi movements in Saudi Arabia. Sunnism, a broad umbrella term for non-Shia Islam, is united on the importance of the Quran and practice of Mohammed but allows for differences in legal opinion.

Detailed explanation-3: -Sunnis focus on following the Prophet’s example whereas Shi’a focus on the lineage of Muhammad’s family through a series of Imams. Since the 1970s, and especially since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, there has been growing tension between Sunni and Shi’a communities in parts of the Middle East.