But, as Shafi‘i had pointed out, all these supposedly accurate understandings of the Sunna disagreed with each other. He believed that only by obeying strictly the actual words of the Prophet as transmitted in Hadiths could a true and unified vision of the Sunna triumph. This was the mantra of a dynamic but highly conservative new group with which Shafi‘i identified. Calling themselves the Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a, ‘The People of the Sunna and the Collective,’ their vision of the faith would become known by the abbreviated name of Sunni Islam.
