The Meaning of Ahlul Sunnah

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As promised I have finally posted this topic. InshAllah it will clear up a lot and benefit people. Please make dua for me I have an interview in two hours for Hartford Seminary to enter their Islamic Chaplaincy Program. While waiting for the interview I will be making my first video inshAllah!!

The Meaning of Ahlul Sunnah

The literal translation of the term Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jainci` a is "the people of the Prophetic Way and the Congregation of the Muslims!' The term denotes the people who follow the Prophetic Sunna and adhere to the largest mass of the Muslims beginning with the congregation of the Companions of the Prophet Aa. Its antonym is Ahl al-Bid` a wal-Daldla which means the people of innovation and misguidance, i.e. non-Sunni Muslims.
Muhammad ibn Sirin (d. 110) said: "We used to accept as true what we heard, then lies spread and we began to say: Name your transmitters. If they belonged to Ahl al-Sunna, their hadith would be accepted while Ahl al-Bida` were identified and their hadith was rejected."15 Confirming this is al-Hasan (d. 110) reaction to someone who requested his isnad: "0 man! I neither lie nor was ever called a liar!' Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161) said: When certain narrators used lies, we used history against them,; " and Ibn al-Mubarak (d. 181) declared: "The isnad is an integral part of the Religion, otherwise anyone can say anything." All this is based on the saying of the Companions and Successors: "Truly, this knowledge is our Religion, therefore let each of you look carefully from whom he takes his Religion.'
The Prophet 41- said: "My Community shall divide into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one: [Those that follow] that which I and my Companions follow."20 Another version states: "My Community shall divide into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one: the Congregation (jama` a):,21
In the same sense, the Prophet- also said: "My Companions are trustees for my Community"22 and "Mankind makes up one portion (hayyiz) and I and my Companions make up one portion [counter-balancing it]:' The complete narration states:-When the verse {When comes the Help of Allah, and Victory} (110:1) was revealed, the Messenger of Allah recited it until he finished it and said: 'Mankind makes up one portion and 1 and my Companions make up one portion. And he said: 'There is no longer emigration (hijra) after victory but there remains jihad and intention (niyya) [for emigration]: 3
Any doubt that the majority is meant by the word jam'a is dispelled by the narrations elucidating jama' a to mean the largest mass or al-sawad zam. The basic sense of this massive majority is that forwarded by the Ulema first and last, beginning with the Sahaba.
To the claim that Ahl al-Sunna is a contested term that no more clearly defines an actual community than does the term -Muslim," the reply is that both are clear definers but with different emphases. A Muslim should feel at home in any Muslim house on the face of the globe, perhaps more so than in that of his own non-Muslim relatives. As for the defining sense of Ahl al-Samna, it depends on the doctrinal or juridical aspect being emphasized. Imam Abu Hanifa said: "Sunna and Jam' a are defined by giving preference to the Two Shaykhs [Abu Bakr and Umar as Caliphs], love of the Two Sons-in-Law [` Uthman and 'Ali], and [the permissibility of] wiping over leather socks [in ablution]."' Of course, Abu Hanifa considered that belief in Divine foreordained destiny (qadar), the vision of Allah in the hereafter, the intercession of the Prophet the uncreatedness of the Qur'an, etc. were also an inseparable part of Sunni doctrine.
Another defining aspect of the term Ahl al-Sunna for the near totality of Sunni Muslims is the fact of belonging to one of the Four Schools. Al-Qadi Ytisuf al-Nabhani said:
Know that to follow one of those Four Schools which the Umma of Muhammad has unanimously agreed upon accepting and following since their founders until now and for as long as Allah wishes, has exactly the same status as following the Book and the Sunna. For these Schools are explanations for the Book and the Sunna. Hence, when the expression Ahl alSunna wal-Jama` a is used in absolute terms - since one thousand years ago until the present day - what is understood is those Four Schools. Therefore, whoever leaves their compass (da'iratiha) is not counted among Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama` a. Nor does anyone leave it other than the people of vain lusts and innovations in every century until now."