The Doctrines of Sunni Theology

S unni theology has been intertwined with politics since the very beginning. After the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, the disputes and debates over the qualifications, responsibilities, and personal conduct of his successors, the caliphs, produced perhaps the earliest theological formulations in Islamic thought outside of the Qur’an itself. Questions regarding the qualifications and status of the imam or caliph ( khalifah ), including his piety (or lack thereof), the qualifications of a believer ( mu’min ), membership in the Muslim community, and the status of Islamic law ( shari’ah ), all retained a central place in subsequent theological discourse for centuries to come. The theological postulates and systems of thought that these early debates initiated then led to the formation of comprehensive schools of theology ( kalam ), which in turn formulated the foundational postulates under which all of Sunni thought, including legal theory, operates. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.