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The Sunni Revival was a period in
Islamic history The history of Islam concerns the political, social, economic, military, and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization. Most historians believe that Islam originated in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE. Muslims ...
marked by the revival of the political fortunes of
Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disag ...
, a renewed interest in Sunni law and theology and the spread of new styles in art and architecture. Conventionally, the revival lasted from 1055 until 1258.
Richard Bulliet Richard W. Bulliet (born 1940) is a professor of history at Columbia University who specializes in the history of Islamic society and institutions, the history of technology, and the history of the role of animals in human society. Early life ...
has proposed that the term "recentering" better describes the period than "revival" or "renaissance". The period is characterized as much by developments within Sunnism as by Sunni relations with
Shia Islam Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
. In particular, it was a period of homogenization of Sunnism as scholars and leaders strove for '' ijmāʿ'' (consensus). Some scholars have argued that the Sunni Revival led to the decline of scientific output in the Islamic world.


Timing

The Sunni Revival followed a period of Shia ascendancy, sometimes called the "
Shia Century The Shi'a Century or Shi'ite Century is a historiographical term sometimes used to describe the period between 945 and 1055, when Shi'a Muslim regimes, most notably the Fatimids and the Buyids, held sway over the central lands of the Islamic world ...
", under the
Fatimid dynasty The Fatimid dynasty () was an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty of Arab descent that ruled an extensive empire, the Fatimid Caliphate, between 909 and 1171 CE. Claiming descent from Fatima and Ali, they also held the Isma'ili imamate, claiming to be the ...
in Africa, Palestine and parts of Arabia; the Hamdanid dynasty in Syria; and the
Buyid dynasty The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Co ...
in Iraq and Iran. During this period, Shia polities controlled most of the Islamic world, including its core areas. The
Abbasid Caliph The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came ...
, the supreme Sunni leader, was under the control of the Buyids, who governed Baghdad, while the Sharif of Mecca was under the authority of the Fatimids. The religious revival began under the Abbasid caliph
al-Qadir Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ishaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن إسحاق, Abu'l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq; 947/8 – 29 November 1031), better known by his regnal name al-Qadir ( ar, القادر بالله, al-Qādir bi’llāh, Made po ...
(). Although subject to the Buyids and politically powerless, he managed to steer an increasingly independent course in religious issues. Backed by the
Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanba ...
traditionalists, al-Qadir transformed the caliphate into the champion of Sunnism, condemning Shia and rationalist ( Mu'tazilite) beliefs with which previous Abbasid caliphs had partially sympathized. The so-called "Qadiri Creed", formulated in 1018, was the first articulation of Sunni beliefs in their own right, rather than defined in opposition to the Shia. The Sunni Revival became a political movement when the Sunni
Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...
conquered Baghdad from the Buyids in 1055, saving Caliph al-Qa'im from being overthrown by the Shia. The period of Seljuk domination lasted roughly a century, until about 1150. They were definitively ousted from Baghdad in 1157. Thereafter a period of Abbasid resurgence and ecumenism followed until the
Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
sacked Baghdad in 1258.


Spread

The chief architect of the political and legal Sunni revival was
Nizam al-Mulk Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (April 10, 1018 – October 14, 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk ( fa, , , Order of the Realm) was a Persian scholar, jurist, political philosopher and Vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising fr ...
(d. 1092),
vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
of the Seljuk Empire. He founded the school which took his name, the Nizamiyya of Baghdad. The chief architect of the theological revival,
al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
(d. 1111), taught at Nizam's school in Baghdad. This was not the first ''
madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
'', but it was by far the most influential and '' nizamiyya'' fashioned after that in Baghdad were founded wherever the Sunni revival spread. They were a major factor in the homogenization of Sunnism during the revival. The figure most associated with the Sunni Revival in Syria is Nur ad-Din (d. 1174), who built twenty ''madrasas'' in Damascus. In 1171,
Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt an ...
, originally a general of Nur ad-Din, abolished the Fatimid Caliphate and brought Egypt into the Sunni fold. His
Ayyubid dynasty The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...
vigorously strengthened Sunnism in Syria, Palestine and Egypt.


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{History of Islam Historical eras History of Islam Sunni Islam Nizari Ismaili–Seljuk relations 11th century in the Middle East 12th century in the Middle East