ABSTRACT
Though what may be called the consolidation of the Sunnite position in Islam does not belong, strictly speaking, to the history of Islamic theology, it forms an essential part of the background. In the latter half of the Umayyad period there took shape what has been called the "general religious movement". In the "general religious movement" of Umayyad times, out of which the Traditionist movement grew, many different opinions had been held; there had been upholders of the freedom of the human will and upholders of the doctrine of Murji'ism, and a few among the Traditionists sympathized with these views. The establishment of the canon of "sound" Tradition may be looked at also in other perspectives. For one thing it belongs to the struggle between Shi'ism and Sunnism. The Sunnite religious and political attitude was supported by a tolerably coherent body of doctrine and was therefore strengthened vis-a-vis its rival.
