SECT AND NAME, AN EVALUATION ON THE SECT-NAME RELATIONSHIP AND THE NAMES GIVEN TO THE AHL AL-SUNNAH

The names and appellations that were given by the sects to each others through the Islamic history, were, on the one hand, descriptive and informative, and on the other, this caused an artificial increase in the number of sects. Members of sects have given condemning names to their opponents while denominating their adherents by laudatory names. Because the connotation of the name may please or annoy someone else the abovementioned way of denomination has intensified the antagonism between the sects. As it is seen, there is a relation between the name and sect, either affirmative or negative. In this article, the sect and its formation will be studied firstly, and then the relation between the name and the sect will be dealt with. As an example, the condemning and laudatory names that are used for the Ahl al-Sunna will be evaluated. Consequently, it will be seen that some of the sects are only names, mere verbal designations. For, several names have been given to the one sect, each name’s being regarded as a separate sect led to an artificial increase in the number of sects.