It is also believed that the Soomras of Sindh, who were Ismailis, adopted
Sunnism under the influence of Syed Jalaluddin Makhdoom Jahaniyan Jahangasht.
Certainly, the Ayyubids presented themselves as champions of
Sunnism and as holy warriors against the Franks, but there are plenty of examples from this period that show them to be much more flexible than their ideological claims might suggest.
Followers of
Sunnism and other Shi'ites mostly believe that al-Mahdi has not yet been born, and therefore his exact identity is only known to Allah (God), other than the idea that he is to be from the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
Andrews) describes the conflicts that raged over the succession to the Prophet, how
Sunnism and Shi'ism evolved as different sects during the Abbasid caliphate, and how the rivalry between the Sunni Ottomans and Shi'i Safavids ensured that the split would continue into the modern age.
It was finally crushed by a counter ideology, that of orthodox
Sunnism spearheaded by an Afghan Saint Akhund Darweza.
Salafists claim that their conservative version of
Sunnism adheres to a literal understanding of the faith that the Prophet Mohammad and his earliest followers practiced.
The IRGC/QF effort of moving these two Sunni/Neo-Salafi groups to Syria was part of a four-pronged Tehran strategy: (1) to under-mine the Saudi leaderships over the 57-state OIC (Organisation of Islamic Co-operation based in Jeddah with its secretary-general being a Saudi former minister), in which Iran is the only Shi'ite member, the 22-state Arab League and Riyadh controls OPEC; (2) to split the Arabs who dominate
Sunnism which accounts for over 90% of a Muslim world of 1.6bn people; (3) to control all the Shi'ite world; and (4) to revive the Persian Empire - first under Safawism, which GCC Arabs claim will ultimately become against Islam.
Critics say Wahhabism's rigidity has led it to mis-interpret and distort
Sunnism, pointing to extremists like al-Qaeda, ISIS or the Taliban.
He draws distinctions between
Sunnism, which he asserts evolved its political roots before it justified dogmatic aspects, and ShiAEism, which he asserts developed its religiosity before it aligned political agendas.
Haykel said that "
Sunnism is much like Protestantism, in the sense that there has never been a single pole that controls it.
Ibadism, a minority sect in comparison to
Sunnism and Shiasm, promotes the idea of not discrimination between the Islamic and the non-Islamic heritage of Oman.
He was recognised as the king of a sovereign nation-state by the UNSC, and as Chief of the Senussi Order, a moderate Sufi movement in
Sunnism called al-Senussiyah.