Sunniteadj.n.

1704 Dictionarium Sacrum seu Religiosum at Caliph Abdalrahman renouncing and Omar declaring Othman his Successor,..this wrought great Divisions between the Sunnite or Orthodox Musselmens, and the Schithites or Followers of Ali.

1733 in tr. Anc. Accts. India & China Remarks 20 The Mahommedan Princes, who adhered to the Sonnite or Orthodox Kalifs.

1825 R. Heber Jrnl. 25 Feb. in Narr. Journey Upper Provinces India (1828) II. xxiv. 76 A new Sunnite teacher..thought proper to distinguish himself by a furious attack on the Sheeite heresy from the pulpit.

1857 J. D. Macbride Mohammedan Relig. Explained 113 There are six collections of the Sonnite Traditions, and four of those of the Shiyahs.

1972 W. M. Watt Infl. Islam on Medieval Europe 41 Many Sunnite theologians..accepted Muʿtazilite methods of argument.

2002 Western Daily Press (Bristol) (Nexis) 13 Sept. 4 Baghdad must end any support for terrorism and stop persecuting its civilian populations, including Shi'ite and Sunnite Muslims, Kurds and Turkomans.

1718 S. Ockley Hist. Saracens II. 87 The Muslemans, (who intitle themselves Sonnites, that is Observers of the Tradition, and Orthodox).

1759 Mod. Part Universal Hist. II. 42 The great schism between the Sonnites, or Traditionists, that is, those of the Moslems who acknowledge the authority of the Sonna, or collection of moral traditions of the sayings and actions of Mohammed, and the Shiites, or partisans of Ali.

1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 54 The Persians happen to be Shiites, or dissenters—the Turks are Sunnites, or orthodox.

1890 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 237/1 We learn from incidental remarks of his that he was a Sunnite.

1934 Isis 20 454 This work composed toward the end of his life shows that he had finally become an orthodox and pious Sunnite.

2001 F. Saleh Mod. Trends Islamic Theol. Disc. 20th Cent. Indonesia ii. 53 The Sunnites claim to be the upholders of the pure and primary expression of Islamic doctrine, which has remained unchanged from the beginning.