Sunni consensus doctrine sanctified the historical status quo as divine guidance

Evidence

The Sunni Muslims, broadly speaking, stood for the status quo—the maintenance of the existing political, social, and above all religious order. They even had a doctrinal basis for this. After the death of the Prophet and the completion of the revelation vouchsafed to him, God’s guidance, in Sunni belief, passed from the Prophet to the Muslim community as a whole. According to a much quoted saying of the Prophet, “God will not allow my people to agree on an error.” The notion of consensus, embodied in this dictum, was the guiding principle of Sunni theology and jurisprudence, including the political and constitutional provisions of the holy law. History therefore, for the Sunni, is of profound importance, since the experience of the Sunni community reveals the working out of God’s purpose for mankind. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1428

Categorization

• DEFINE: Roots the Sunni doctrine of ijma (consensus) in the premise that divine guidance passed from the Prophet to the whole community after his death.