Traditional Islam is simply the sect of Islam which has held the majority position since the time of the Prophet(S). Tradition Muslims are known in Arabic as “Ahl-ul Sunnah” (“those of the Sunnah, those of the Prophet’s example”), also known as Sunni Muslims.

Traditional Muslims believe in the finality of the Prophethood of Muhummad (Peace and blessings be upon him), as well the authenticity and divine nature of the Qur’an. Furthermore, Traditional Muslims scholars derive the religious Law from the combination of the Qur’an and Sunnah. While the Qu’ran is obviously now a written and referenceable document, the question arises as to the meaning of “Sunnah” or “Example”.

Sunni Muslims have formalized the example of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) as it has been communicated in hadith (written accounts of sayings and actions of the Prophet, Peace and Blessings be upon him).

Most American Muslims who call themselves Sunni, know at least this much about their religion, however things get a bit more complicated as you get into the details. This level of belief is what some consider to make them “Sunni Muslims”, but unfortunately this is logical point where recent reformists within the religion have decided to introduce their innovations.

Sunni Muslims are split into four schools of thought (madhabs) when it comes to Religious Law (Shariah). The schools are: Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali, Shaa’fi. Each has their own patriarch or founder, and each is slightly different in the importance they give to various transmitters of hadith and they differ slightly in the methods they use to coming to conclusions. In general these schools are dealing with detailed questions of inheritence and other minute details of daily life.

There are different schools of thought within Aqidah (beliefs) that deal with details such as whether God has a direction.

The point of the matter is that all these schools accept the validity of one another, that there is room for valid scholarly interpretation within Islam is one of it’s greatest highlights.

Recent innovations, which I will speak to later will discourage this point of view. I’ll save more detail for tomorrow.