Islam is one of the world’s largest religions with more than two billion Muslims worldwide. Muslims have diverse ethnic backgrounds and collectively they speak hundreds of languages. There are Muslims living in every country and on every continent – including Antarctica.
There are some beliefs and practices that are fundamental to Islam and thus constitute the fundamental tenets of the faith – for example, that Allah is the one God, and that the Qur’an is his word. However, a closer look at the global Muslim population reveals that Islam is composed of a plethora of diverse communities, cultures and traditions.
The distinctions between Muslims can be broadly understood with reference to the two largest branches of Islam – Sunni and Shia. Each group contains different Muslim communities who emphasise different parts of Islam and practice their faith in different ways. The vast majority of Muslims identify with one of these two strands and accept the same core tenants of Islam.
Sunni Islam can be understood as the world’s largest religious denomination – its members make up between 85-90% of the world’s Muslim population. The countries with the largest Sunni populations are Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Reflecting global trends, the majority of the United Kingdom’s nearly four million Muslims are also Sunni.
Although some may believe Sunni Islam to be synonymous with Islam itself because of the number of Sunni Muslims worldwide, there are several core features that distinguish Sunnis from followers of other strands of Islam.
For example, Sunni Islam has no single religious authority. Muftis are Islamic scholars who have the power to issue ‘fatwas,’ which are legal rulings on a point of Islamic law. Muftis are part of the ‘ulama’ (learned persons), scholars who have traditionally had the role of interpreting the messages of the Qur’an. However, today many Sunnis may also seek inspiration and guidance from a local imam or sermons they find on television or online.
Sunnis derive their Hadith from sources and accounts of the Prophet Muhammed’s (PBUH) daily practice. The name Sunni is in fact derived from the word ‘Sunnah,’ which refers to the body of teachings and practices of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) which were documented by his contemporaries.
All Muslims endeavour to live according to the same fundamental duties, but the two branches categorise them differently. For Sunnis, these are set out in the Five Pillars of Islam – Shahadah (the declaration of faith), Salah (the five daily prayers), Zakah (giving a portion of one’s wealth to charity), Sawm (the act of fasting) and Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca).
Fundamentally, understanding Sunni Islam means understanding the faith of more than a billion people, and appreciating the beliefs that connect a diverse array of different Muslim communities around the world.