Sunni Islam ( /ˈsuːni/ or /ˈsʊni/) is the largest branch of Islam; its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhlu-s-Sunnati wa-l-Jamāʿah (Arabic: أهل السنة والجماعة), "people of the tradition of Muhammad and the consensus of the Ummah" or ʾAhlu-s-Sunnah (Arabic: أهل السنة). For short, in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites or simply Muslims.
Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as the orthodox version of the religion. The word "Sunni" comes from the term Sunnah (Arabic: سنة), which refers to the sayings and actions of Muhammad that are recorded in hadiths (collections of narrations regarding prophet Muhammad).
The primary hadiths Al-Kutub Al-Sittah (the six books), in conjunction with the Quran, form the basis of all jurisprudence methodologies within Sunni Islam. Laws are derived from the text of the Quran and the hadith, in addition to using methods of juristic reasoning (like qiyas) and consensus (ijma). There are a multitude of scholarly opinions in each field; however, these can be summarised as either derived from the four major schools of thought (Madh'hab) or from an expert scholar who exercises independent derivation of Islamic Law (ijtihad). Both are considered valid as differences of opinion (which were present at the time of the early Muslims, the Salaf).
Read more about Sunni Islam: Etymology, History, Companions and Summary, Schools of Law, The Six Pillars of Iman, Sunni Theological Traditions, Sunni View of Hadith
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“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)