the two wings of government under one Sunni
umbrella. It was during the Seljuk period that the
ideal government of the sultanate was spelled out
by Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092), the vizier to the sul-
tan Alp Arslan and Malikshah. Whereas the caliph
was primarily a religious figurehead, the sultan
should defend Islam from external attack, ensure
internal justice by upholding sharia and support-
ing religious leaders, and develop “civilization” by
maintaining roads, mosqUes, schools, bazaars, and
other infrastructure.
In the 12th century the Abbasid Caliphate was
able to regain some of its power, but only within
Iraq, while the rest of the empire was divided
up among regional sultans. When Baghdad was
destroyed by the Mongols in 1258 even these mini-
mal gains came to an end. Although a survivor of
the Abbasid house was proclaimed caliph in cairo,
authority for the Islamic heartlands remained in
the hands of the mamlUk sultans of Cairo and,
after them, the Ottoman sultans in istanbUl.
When Islam spread to South and Southeast
Asia most rulers continued to use titles derived
from the local languages, but they also adopted
the title of sultan, which conveyed the authority
and legitimacy of a Muslim ruler. In the modern
period some monarchies continue to use the title
of sultan, such as the Sultanate of Brunei and the
Sultanate of Oman.
See also islamic government; ottoman dynasty.
Heather N. Keaney
Further reading: Heribert Busse, “The Revival of Per-
sian Kingship under the Buyids.” In Islamic Civilization
950–1150, edited by D. S. Richards, 47–69 (London:
Bruno Cassirer, 1973); Carole Hillenbrand, “Islamic
Orthodoxy or Realpolitik? Al-Ghazali’s Views on Gov-
ernment,” Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian
Studies 26 (1988): 81–94; Ann Lambton, State and Gov-
ernment in Medieval Islam (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1981); Roy Mottahedeh, Loyalty and Leadership
in an Early Islamic Society (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1980); Nizam al-Mulk, The Book of
Government or Rules for Kings (Siyasat-namah or Siyar
al-muluk). Translated by Hubert Drake (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1960).
sunna (Arabic: custom, tradition,
precedent; pl. sunan)
In Islam the body of idealized precedents for reli-
gious and moral behavior that go with the qUran
is known as the sunna. It is one of the four “roots”
of Islamic law (fiqh). First systematized in the
ninth and 10th centuries, the sunna was based on
the exemplary words and actions of mUhammad
(ca. 570–632), Islam’s prophet, as reported in the
hadith. In addition to its collective meaning, the
term sunna can also mean an individual precedent
found in the hadith.
In order to authenticate the hadith, which are
narratives that were first transmitted orally and
then compiled in books, Muslims developed a tra-
dition of critical inquiry that assessed individual
hadiths according to the reliability and continuity
of the reported sequence (isnad) of individuals
said to have transmitted it. Sunni Muslims hold
the hadith collections of al-Bukhari (d. 870) and
Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (d. 875) to be the most
authentic (sahih) ones, but there are others from
which they derive the sunna, too.
As an example of how a sunna can be con-
veyed by a hadith, let us examine the following
hadith from al-Bukhari’s collection: Zayd ibn
Aslam’s father said, “I saw Umar ibn al-khattab
kiss the [Black] Stone and say, ‘If I had not seen
God’s Messenger kiss you, I would not have kissed
you’ ” (Sahih, Kitab al-hajj). This hadith informs
us, according to a reliable witness, that Muham-
mad kissed the black stone of the Kaaba while
performing the hajj and that the second caliph,
Umar (r. 634–644) also did it, because he saw
Muhammad perform the action. The sunna to
be drawn from this is one that instructs Muslims
that they are permitted to kiss the Black Stone
when they perform the haJJ, based on the prec-
edent set by Muhammad and confirmed by his
companion Umar. This practice is not mentioned
in the Quran, so it constitutes an elaboration of
the Quran’s rulings concerning the hajj. A single
sunna may be supported by one hadith, as in this
case, or many. Conversely, a single hadith may
authorize more than one sunna, depending on the
content of the report.K 644 sunna