“What makes a Sunni a Sunni?” is a question that is most frequently asked. Shaykh Amin offers a valuable preliminary discussion on the issue.

Islamic knowledge is based on three primary sources. They are:

(1) Revelation from the Almighty to the Last of all Prophets, Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
(2) The prophetic intuition of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
(3) The inspired united wisdom of the Companions.

Knowledge derived from these three sources is generally known as traditional Islamic knowledge – or knowledge based on “naql.” A fourth source: analogy – better known as “qiyas” – is also included as a primary source and is accepted as a genuine means by which Muslims arrive at Islamic conclusions. However, “qiyas” is not a source but rather a process by which jurists arrive at legal conclusions. Rulings of Muslim scholars based on “qiyas” have served as legal precedents for Muslims. Revelation from Allah to the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) came with two very distinct manifestations. The first was in the words of the Quran or The Divine Recitation. The Quran is the only form of “recited revelation” (wahi matloow). The recited revelation was a verbatim rendition of the Almighty’s Word and It rightly assumed Divine status amongst Muslims.

The second manifestation of revelation to the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) came in the form of divinely inspired maxims and codes, and was transmitted to the intellect of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam). The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) subsequently translated this type of revelation into words that his companions would be able to understand. This type of revelation Muslim scholars called non-recited revelation, or wahi-ghair matloow In Muslim history, this second type of revelation has generally been referred to by the term hadith.
However, Muslim scholars have always maintained that both recited and non-recited revelation were authentic religious sources for both the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and his companions. Neither the Prophet nor his companions discriminated between the two sources when it came to applying legal rulings based on either of the two. Examples of both are abundantly obvious for even the casual browser. The method of practicing most of the four ritualistic pillars of Islam (salaat; saum; zakaat and hajj) should suffice for the eerie skeptic. The Quran does not mention how these four pillars are to be enacted. The only source by which the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) observed those came from the non-recited type of revelation.

So it is clear that Islamic knowledge and practice for the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) is indeed wahi-based – where non-recited sources are seen as genuine wahi (revelation) also.
It should also become clear that the source of Islamic knowledge and practice for the Companions is actually rasool-based (rasool meaning messenger). The Companions did not have access to revelation themselves but they did witness the revelation to the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) as he taught them their Deen (Islam).

Those who came after the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) relied upon the Companions for their Islamic knowledge and practice. The Companions used their experience with, and training from, the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) in order to teach their students (who became known as the Tabi’een). The Companions encountered issues that the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) did not. They had to use their knowledge of the rasool (messenger) to give legal verdicts (fatwas). The main task of the scholars amongst the Companions was to make it quite clear to their followers the difference between what was revealed to the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and what was not. What the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) determined as either part of Deen or germane to it, the Companions saw as part of the Sunnah and implemented it. The establishment of the Khilafah of Abu Bakr by the Companions; the compilation of the Quran by Abu Bakr; the formalizing of the Taraweeh prayers by Umar; the fixing of the Hijri calendar by Umar; the standardization of the dialects of the Quran by Uthman and the quashing of heresies and post-Islamic theories by Ali all prove that the inspired united wisdom of the Companions is an authentic source for Muslims who came after them. Hence, Sunni Muslims have maintained that the actions of the Companions that were unanimously approved and enacted are also part of the Sunnah.

From this is it is clear that for Muslims who come after the Companions, their source of Islamic knowledge and practice has been Sunnah-based. To reiterate: Islamic knowledge is based on three primary sources. They are: (1) revelation from the Almighty to the Last of all Prophets, Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) (both recited and non-recited); (2) the prophetic intuition of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), and 3) the inspired united wisdom of the Companions.

So, the Prophet’s knowledge and practice is wahi-based; the Companions’ Islam is rasool-based. For all others, including ourselves today, Islam is Sunnah-based. From here we can see why Sunnis call themselves the “Ahle Sunnah wal Jamm’ah” (the People of the Sunnah and the community).